From Father Steven - April 7, 2024

Father Steven Clemence • April 5, 2024


Dear Brothers & Sisters,

 

Please see the attached letter from Deacon Joe Cooley about the Unbound Conference here at the parish on April 20th.

 

God Bless,

Fr. Steven

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Dear Immaculate Conception Parishioners, 

 

Blessed Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday! My name is Deacon Joe Cooley. I’m married and was ordained in 2016 to the permanent diaconate for the Archdiocese of Boston. I’m passionate about seeing people come alive in their identity and gifting as a son or daughter of an amazing Father. To that end, I’ve founded the nonprofit HOMe Ministries (Houses of Mercy). We teach, equip, and activate people in freedom and the ways of the Gospel and seek to move faith from the head to the heart and home. I am excited to see what the Lord is stirring at Immaculate Conception. This is my favorite time of year when we celebrate the Lord’s goodness and victory over Satan, sin, and death–for love of you and me! This season of the Church calendar is a profound time of grace in which the Lord is inviting us deeper into healing and freedom in mind, body, and spirit. Jesus died with what we deserve so that we might live with what he deserves–a life filled with an abundance of joy and all the fruits of the Holy Spirit! Thank you, Lord! I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your warm welcome during the Lenten Mission this past March 12-14. In my short three evenings with you, I experienced the beauty of the church building and even more, the beauty of the people of Immaculate Conception. The Lord touched us powerfully as we encountered his goodness! Thank you Jesus, and thank you all!

 

I also want to personally invite you to an Unbound Freedom in Christ Conference on Saturday, April 20 at the parish. This is NOT just another “event” but an opportunity to allow the Lord to bring fresh healing and freedom to our hearts! The following testimonies demonstrate the possibilities from a wide variety of people who have attended a conference or experienced Unbound prayer:

 

· “This is the best day of my life.” –A 10-year-old boy

· “[The Unbound prayer session] was incredibly powerful and, for the first time in a long time, I could laugh with genuine pleasure with my family tonight and have a conversation with a friend without growing distracted by fear and anxiety. The feeling of being under attack has abated and I can breathe.”

· “I arrived home exhausted. I felt like I haven't slept in decades. I think the anxiety from all the years of torment left me today. I felt peaceful and in need of resting with the Lord. I feel fresh and rested now and ready for where the Lord is going to take me next.”

· “I believe for the rest of our lives, this conference will be the linchpin we point to that saved our marriage!”

"Jesus has set me free! And, I did not think I was in dire need of help. I only knew the Holy Spirit was prompting me to ask." Use the QR code to learn more details and register (or register at the door) for the conference. Continue reading next to learn more about Unbound and the Lord’s will that you and I experience and live in deep freedom in our lives.

From Father Steven - August 23, 2026

By Father Steven Clemence • August 19, 2026
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I hope you are enjoying your summer! I, along with some of the youth of our parish, attended the Steubenville East conference in Springfield a few weeks ago. It is a 3 day catholic conference for high school teens to encounter Christ through eucharistic adoration, the sacraments and dynamic sessions all produced by Lifeteen and Franciscan University. The conference was attended by thousands of youth from all over New England with the hope to ignite life long discipleship in our teens. We have asked one of our youth to share with you a bit of his experience. Please see the letter written by Gabriel Torres below. God Bless, Fr. Gabriel ——————————————— Hello and Happy Sunday, or whenever it is that you read this. I am Gabriel Torres and I am a part of the youth group here, at Immaculate Conception. We, the youth, Fr. Gabriel, and a handful of chaperones recently attended a life changing 3 day Steubenville conference in Springfield. And when I say life changing, I really mean it. I thought the same as you, when Cecilia, our religious education director told us about it. I wanted to go, but was kinda doubting that it could be that fun and life changing, as it is a big statement. I thought that it would just be us, listening to priests talk about Jesus, and I would have gone for that, but it turned out to be so much more. On the first day after the first talk and mini worship concert (with a mosh pit and everything), we were asked to come up with one word to describe how we felt about the conference so far. The word that I chose was Connection. And I still agree, and I think anyone that went would agree. Just feeling the connection between yourself and the Lord, and how that connection spread between each signing heart was just purely gorgeous and fulfilling. Seeing thousands of youth come together and praise the Lord was inspiring. The conference was fun with singing and dancing breaks, with people trying to be as close to the music as possible, and games that got the whole center laughing, all the way down to the serious moments when the speakers were speaking the truths of our hearts. The way that you could just raise your hands and pray to the Lord without having to worry what others might think, but instead feeling the connection to those around you and feeling how through God we were all connected, loved, and worthy, brought tears to even those of us who ‘never’ cry. There was just a rawness at this conference that I have never felt anywhere else. So, if you are a youth, teen, or know someone who might be interested in this conference, I encourage you to come next year. If you have friends that are not fully in the faith, or are Christian and not Catholic, invite them. A Christian teen that I got closer to at the conference told us on day one that he didn’t fully understand everything we did or why, but that he believed in Jesus Christ and that he wanted to follow Jesus, wherever it took him. And that was here. Thank you to all who donated to make this possible, and thank you for allowing us to experience the Lord in a new way. Thank you, and God Bless you all. Your brother in Christ, Gabriel Torres

From Father Steven - August 16, 2026

By Father Steven Clemence • August 14, 2026
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I hope you are enjoying your summer! Please see the letter below from Fr. Javier. God Bless, Fr. Steven ——————————————— Hello Brothers and Sisters, Time flies, it has already been a few months since my ordination but I feels like it was only yesterday. The ordination has been a gift and a joy. Thank you all for your support in my formation. I would like to share with you two things that have been close to my heart since my ordination to the deaconate and now the priesthood. The first is on God's Providence and the second is a particular part of the Eucharist. My diaconate ordination marked the end of my time of mission and my return for the final year in the seminary. As many of you might remember I was in mission in American Samoa, Samoa, and a short but impactful time in Saipan. During that time I experienced how God opened doors that I never even knew existed. In difficult times God always had a solution in ways that I didn't expect. In short, I experienced God's Providence and I was awe-struck. I felt that God was my Father who was providing what I needed. Looking ahead into my priesthood, I know that there will be challenging moments but I have these core memorials that serve to remind me that God provides the grace needed to carry out his will. Providence comes to you when you seek out God and his will, everything else falls into place. Now as a priest there is a particular part of the Eucharist that I really enjoy, the Holy sung during the Eucharistic Prayer. "Heaven and Earth are full of your glory". That line has stuck with me because it calls to mind all the wonders that I have seen God work in my life, the life of my family, and in the lives of others. Not only this, but the action of singing Holy, Holy, Holy during the Liturgy fulfills our heavenly calling to one day join the angels and saints in Heaven singing the perpetual praises of God. The Book of Revelations says that they never cease to sing Holy, Holy, Holy. In the Eucharist, and in this moment in particular Heaven and Earth come together. What a blessing to celebrate the Eucharist! I remember you in my prayers, please pray for me. In Christ, Fr Javier Alexis Padilla