From Father Steven - January 21, 2024

Father Steven Clemence • January 19, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

As you may know, we as a parish collaborate closely with two pregnancy help centers, Birthright and First Concern. This weekend we will be having a fundraiser drive for First Concern to help them in their mission to assist women in need. I have asked Megan Paradis, the Executive Director of First Concern, to write a letter to be shared with the parish.

 

God Bless,

Fr. Steven

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This weekend we commemorate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday-a day we set aside every year to focus on the value of every human life. It is estimated that 64 million abortions have been performed in the United States since 1973. The theme for the 51st Annual March for Life is “With Every Woman, For Every Child”, and honors the work of pregnancy centers and maternity homes, focusing on the need to care for mother and child during the nine months of pregnancy and in the years after.

At First Concern PRC we show women that even if the world is telling her it’s too hard to have her baby, we will walk this journey with her. When a woman has decided to carry her child, we continue to offer pregnancy and parenting education, material help she may need, and emotional support. When people look at what First Concern is, we hope that you see our commitment to “Love them both”. We have revised our mission statement to reflect both the women we help, and the children they carry.  Affirming the humanity and life of the preborn child, we empower women and men facing unplanned pregnancies to choose alternatives to abortion by offering education, life skills, compassion and hope.

 

Two years ago, Immaculate Conception generously raised the needed funds for the ultrasound machine at First Concern. I spoke of the lives we hoped to save and the women we hoped to help. As we look back at 2023, the first year we offered ultrasound confirmation services with your partnership, we see God’s hand in all things. We served 56 women with ultrasound, and your support directly saved 23 little lives. Women who are considering abortion are finding us and through compassionate care coupled with ultrasound are choosing life!

 

What we have found since partnering with the medical office is that we are meeting women who have complicated lives, and they have been told that abortion is the solution to a whole host of problems. The nurses and our advocates have worked with women who are homeless, women in abusive relationships, in poverty, or addicted to substances. So often we hear that women with these hardships need access to abortion- we have a had a year with examples where women needed compassionate support to get out of these circumstances AND choose their child. One woman from Guatemala found us when she was already in her 3rd trimester, homeless with a young daughter in tow. She hadn’t had any prenatal care; she didn’t even know her due date. Ultrasound confirmed that she was almost 34 weeks along! We worked quickly to find her shelter, medical care, and community resources. Eventually she and her daughter moved into a maternity home, welcomed a baby boy, and are thriving. August 2023 was our most impactful month yet. We had the privilege of walking with five women who reached out for help as either abortion minded, or undecided about their pregnancies. Our incredible staff educated them on their options, the support they would find on their parenting journey, and provided them with ultrasounds in the medical office. All five of these brave moms chose life for their babies and are grateful for the compassionate support they found inside our doors. Rejoice with us over all these new families, but especially a young woman who pushed back against fear, was referred to safe shelter, and welcomed her twin boys this fall! Your support helped reach these women and empowered them to choose their babies, and we could not be more thankful. Some women visit our centers once, while other women return for weekly support. Through parenting groups, education, and community support, we touched the lives of almost 200 women.

 

This weekend you can help support the life-saving work of First Concern. We have an Amazon wish list with needed baby items for the boutique. Every month we give out up to 5 car seats, several bassinets, dozens of packages of diapers, formula, and many other necessities for babies & toddlers, completely free of charge. We depend on partners to donate these new items, so now it’s even easier to buy through your amazon account and have the items shipped right to us. Another way to support the mission is to give a financial contribution today so that we can change the trajectory of someone’s life tomorrow. The link to donate can be found at firstconcernfriends.org, and there will also be a collection of funds at each mass. Your generous gifts will provide: $2,500 - all the services necessary for 1 woman; $1,250 - ultrasound confirmation services for 1 week; $750 - utilities for 1 month; $500 - google advertising for 1 month; $150 - Brightcourse Education for 1 month. We have been blessed by your care of First Concern through your donations, time, and talents. Thank you!

 

With you, for LIFE,

Megan Paradis, Executive Director

 

From Father Steven - September 20, 2026

By Father Steven Clemence • September 18, 2026
Dear Brothers and Sisters, The first reading today begins with the words: “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near.” St. Paul exhorts the community of Corinth saying, “Today is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor 6:2). Now is the time to be one with the Lord. Our lives change every day. So does the world around us, and so do our problems. However, God is always constant and always at our side. It does not matter when a person comes to faith, as we will hear in the Gospel this weekend. What matters is that he does come to faith. The later a person comes to faith, the more he may have to suffer along the way. God wants to help us in so many ways, but we are not always ready to accept a different plan for our lives—God’s plan instead of ours. I would like to share with you something from my own family. When I was growing up, a banner very similar to the one announcing the catechesis for adults was hanging on the side of the church near my house. My mom would drive in front of it every day and feel a call to be part of it. It was a time in her life when she was soul-searching. She tried different religions and different practices, and, funny enough, there was the answer to her prayers right in front of her. Although she was intrigued and wanted to participate in the talks, she never attended. I apologize if you have heard this story before. A year later, my brother and I had to leave the state with my mother because of the sudden death of her father. That separation of our family was very difficult for my dad. So he went to Mass in that same church. He had not even received his First Communion at the time. There, he heard a similar invitation to the one you will hear at Mass this weekend. Without realizing that our lives were about to change completely, he listened to the call of God and went looking for Him. He attended the talks, received his sacraments, and began going to Church every weekend. When we were reunited, I was shocked to see my dad at church. I myself also attended the talks and later joined the group. That was the beginning of my own journey of faith. You can figure out how it ended! I wanted to share this story because we do not know what God has in store for us. I am sure that you have heard many beautiful things in life and have experienced great moments as well. But what if God is calling you now? Do not be like my mother, who heard the call but left it for another day. Each day I thank God for having brought my father into that church, because there I was also found. This is not magic, and it is not about feeling butterflies in your stomach. It is about having an encounter with the Lord and beginning a journey of faith with Him, just like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and so many others throughout salvation history. God is calling us into His vineyard. He is not checking who is worthy to come. He is not looking for perfect people. He is calling you! Maybe you have been away from the Church for many years. Maybe you have questions about your faith. Maybe you received your sacraments but never had the opportunity to go deeper in your relationship with God. Maybe you are doing well in your faith, but you know that you could go deeper. Or maybe you simply do not know why you feel that you should come. What if God is calling you now? Maybe, like my father, other people will also follow you. And perhaps your decision to come will become important not only for you, but for someone else. My father was that person for me and for many other people even to this day. We say that in the Church there are no coincidences, but providence. Fr. Gabriel, Fr. Victor, and I have all experienced this way of Christian initiation that is now being offered to our parish. Everything begins with a series of talks that will take place on Mondays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. in Meehan Hall, the building by the parking lot. The talks are about one hour long. We will have babysitters available, free of charge. There is no registration. There is nothing you have to prepare. The sessions are independent from one another, so if you miss one, there is no problem. You simply have to come and listen. The team giving the talks is made up of parishioners who have been on this journey for some time and who now want to share what they have received with our parish. And this year, the invitation has the image of the Annunciation. Today, the angel Gabriel comes also to you. He comes into your life, into your struggles, into your questions, and perhaps even into your desire to follow God. And the first words of the angel are: “Do not be afraid.” Why? Because THE LORD IS WITH YOU. Maybe you have been waiting for the right moment. Maybe you have told yourself, “I will go another day.” Maybe you have been thinking about coming but have never taken the step. Today is the day of salvation. “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near.” Do not wait for another day. Come and listen. Maybe you do not know what God has in store for you. Neither did my father. Neither did I. But maybe this invitation will be the beginning of something that will change your life—and perhaps the lives of others through you. All are welcome. God Bless, Fr. Steven

From Father Steven - September 13, 2026

By Father Steven Clemence • September 11, 2026
Dear Brothers and Sisters, The other day, I was talking with a priest about the need to evangelize within the parish. Usually, when we speak about evangelization, we imagine going out to reach people who are not coming to Church. Besides that, there is also a need, at times, to catechize the folks who are already in the Church. The primitive Church, especially during the first centuries, lived among small communities. For a person to be baptized, there was a long and serious period of preparation and training in the faith. However, with Constantine coming into power and Christianity becoming recognized by the Roman Empire, the Church became full of people who received the sacraments but were not necessarily deeply initiated into the faith. They were “sacramentalized,” but not necessarily catechized. In other words, people were initiated into the Church, but did not necessarily have deep roots in their faith. This reminds us of the parable of the Sower (Mt 13:18-23). When people receive the Kingdom of God, there are different reactions. One does not understand it; another receives it with great joy, but when trouble or persecution comes, quickly falls away. Still others hear the word, but worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word, and it bears no fruit. Finally, there are those who hear the word and understand it, bearing much fruit—thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold. Maybe those first reactions are familiar to you. Then one can ask himself: If you are not part of the last group, then, How can you be in it? Please understand that this is not simply a matter of the moral character of each person. Rather, it has to do with the type of soil and the surroundings that can either help or kill the Word of God in one’s heart. Therefore, we might need help cultivating the seed that we have all received in Baptism and protecting it from the dangers that can prevent it from growing. Sometimes I get asked: Where should a person who is rediscovering the faith, or someone who is new to the Church, start? There is so much material out there. Even for those who stopped their faith formation at the age of 15, with Confirmation, where can one continue their Christian formation? The Catholic Church has approved an itinerary of Christian formation that is focused on this. Pope Saint John Paul II called it “valid for society and for today’s times.” The world has changed dramatically in these past decades. Many of the values that we grew up with have been put aside and ignored by many. Besides relativism, one of the greatest dangers that we are facing is individualism, especially with the development of cellphones, screens, and social media. The Virgin Mary has inspired this Christian initiation to be lived as a group, as a community of people coming together—not online, but in person—as we have always done since the very beginning of the Church. Technically, even before that, the people of Israel came together under the tent in the desert. On Monday the 21st, we will begin this Christian initiation with catechesis for adults and youth (13+) on Mondays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. at the building by the parking lot, Meehan Hall. Everyone is invited to come. We will have babysitters available to help for free. One does not need to register or to come to all the sessions. Since the catechesis are independent from one another, if someone can only make one of the days, that is also okay. Even if you are not interested, or you are already engaged in another activity in the parish, maybe you know someone who could benefit from it. The presenters will be parishioners, together with myself. So please, pray for us!!! You know I need lots of help. The final consideration I invite you to reflect on is whether this comes from God or not. If it does, then the invitation is not just from me, but from God. How many times do we not want to do something? Here, it is not about what we want or do not want. Rather, it is about asking what the will of God is for us. You may have seen the cards or the banner with the picture of the Annunciation. Today, God also comes to you, inviting you not to be afraid and to allow Christ to be born in you. Maybe this is the time to take another step in your faith. Maybe this is the time to allow the seed that was planted in you at Baptism to grow deeper roots. Do not be afraid. Come and listen. Come and see what God may be preparing for you.  Please pray about it, and I hope to see you there. God Bless, Fr. Steven