From Father Steven - May 25, 2025

Father Steven Clemence • May 23, 2025

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

We would like to congratulate Fr. Mateus on his Ordination last week! He has been assigned to St. Patrick’s Church in Brockton, MA. Please keep Fr. Mateus in your prayers.

 

I would like to share a letter that Bishop Henning recently wrote for the Pilot.

 

God Bless,

Fr. Steven

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During my time as the Bishop of Providence, I came to appreciate the great importance of the Portuguese-speaking community in that state. Among the parishes of the Diocese of Providence, there are 10 that were established to provide pastoral care in Portuguese. The beautiful feasts of those communities are a beloved element of life in Rhode Island, with processions, music, and delicious food. The most important of those feasts is that of Santo Cristo (Holy Christ), the most popular devotion in the Azores and one that has spread to Portuguese-speaking communities around the world.

 

The feast of Santo Cristo dates to the late 17th century. At the time, a new convent was being established in the Azores, and the Holy Father gave the sisters an image of the suffering Christ at the moment that he is presented to the crowds after his scourging. This tradition of an "ecce homo" or "behold the man" painting or sculpture is a common theme in Christian art that depicts Christ at a moment of great physical suffering, even as his face shows tranquility. The particular image possessed by the convent in the town of Ponte Delgado in the Azores also includes beautiful robes placed about the shoulders of the Lord. This addition, not present in the biblical scene, came about as an act of devotion. The Portuguese Crown gave permission to honor the image of the Lord by clothing it in royal robes. Catholics of Azorean descent in places like New England will often send such robes to the feast to be blessed and then used at home to clothe replica statues of the Santo Cristo for their own churches and feasts.


Last year, while serving in Providence, I received a kind invitation to visit the Azores to take part in the feast Mass and processions of Santo Cristo. I agreed, as I had seen the great faith of the people in my ministry, and I felt a great desire to join in this beautiful devotion to the Lord Jesus at the place where it began. So next week, I will make a brief weekend visit to the islands to take part. While honored to be going, I will need a prayer or two as I have been asked to preach in Portuguese. Maybe I should ask for prayers for those who will have to hear me do so!


New England and California have the largest populations of Portuguese speakers in the United States. Immigrants from the Azores, Portugal, Cape Verde, and Brazil are an important part of our region and of our Catholic parishes and communities. I am so grateful for the lively devotion they have brought to our shores and for their witness of deep and abiding faith and strong family life. Of course, they have also made significant contributions to the wider community.


In the case of the immigrants from the Azores, many arrived in the 1950s and 1960s after a series of devastating volcanic eruptions in the islands forced many thousands from their homes. Then-Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts co-sponsored special legislation to receive refugees from the volcano, and many thousands arrived in New England, where they have made enormous contributions to the local economy. They have returned the welcome shown to them many times over with their hard work and service to the United States in the armed forces.


Over the many years of the Santo Cristo feast, the sisters of the convent point to a number of miracles that have taken place, including deliverance from earthquakes. As I make my pilgrimage to Ponte Delgado and the Feast of Santo Cristo, I will pray for our beautiful archdiocese and its families and communities. I will pray for all the immigrant communities that have brought their faith and contribution to the Archdiocese of Boston. I will pray that we will see the miracle of the Lord's own love and self-sacrifice and that it may touch our hearts with ever greater love for those in need. Over these last six months, you have been my miracle, and I will pray that God may grant you and yours many miracles.

 

From Father Steven - August 30, 2026

By Father Steven Clemence • August 28, 2026
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I was very happy that I finally had the opportunity a month ago to speak about vaping addiction among the youth. Today, I would like to speak about addictions in general that affect and hurt our families, parish, community, and, above all, ourselves. First of all, it is important to understand that usually no one likes to have an addiction. Substance abuse is not something a person simply chooses to become trapped in. Rather, very often, it is the only resource that a person finds in their struggle. The other day, I was talking to a social worker at the hospital about how we have lost so many of our coping skills. We no longer have the resilience that we used to have in the past. Addiction is often more than a bad habit or a lack of willpower. For many people, it can be connected to pain, trauma, loneliness, or an attempt to cope with difficulties they do not know how to face in healthier ways. Therefore, it can often be understood as a cry for help from someone who is suffering. Once we understand that people may turn to drugs, alcohol, or other substances in an attempt to relieve their pain, we also need to recognize that repeated substance use can produce real changes in the brain and body. A person can develop tolerance, dependence, and powerful cravings that make stopping extremely difficult. This is why addiction cannot simply be reduced to a lack of willpower. What may have begun as an attempt to cope with pain can eventually become a dependency that is very difficult to overcome without help. Anyone who suffers from substance abuse does not need judgment, but love and compassion. As Catholics, we believe that love conquers all things. We also believe that for God, nothing is impossible. Therefore, if there is someone in your family, in your circle of friends, an acquaintance, or even a stranger, let us go the extra mile and be compassionate. Christ does not abandon the person who is suffering. He goes out of His way to bring love and consolation, like the Good Samaritan. He certainly suffers with that person. If Christ does this for us, how can we, as His disciples, do anything less for those who are suffering? The more involved I become in helping people here in Marlboro, the more I discover the many resources available through the city and other agencies. I will try to pull together a sheet with different resources in the community and leave them in the church for those who need them. If someone struggles with alcoholism, drug or medication abuse, or some other sort of addiction, YOU ARE NOT ALONE…and YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE ALONE. God wants to help, and so do we. It is okay; we all have problems, and the solutions at times can seem so far from our reach that we give up. Maybe now is the time to get up and start walking back to the Father’s house, like the Prodigal Son. Maybe now is the time that, together, we will overcome the struggles that lead to addiction.  I invite everyone in our parish to join us for the Overdose Awareness Day ceremony here at the Immaculate Conception Church on Monday August 31 at 7:15pm. Let us come together to remember those whose lives have been lost (you may bring their picture), support those who continue to struggle, and pray for their families and loved ones. Always count with your prayers to you and your loved ones, God bless Fr. Steven

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