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 - July 19, 2026

By Father Steven Clemence • July 17, 2026
Dear Brothers and Sisters, As you may remember, Fr. Gabriel and I were away on a retreat in Italy these past few weeks. I would like to share a bit of my experience with you. Hopefully, in the near future, he will be able to share his experience as well. You may know that the three of us priests were formed in a missionary-diocesan seminary called Redemptoris Mater , which is a seminary that was first created by Pope Saint John Paul II in Rome. His desire was to have priests who belonged to the diocese and, at the same time, were missionaries (either outside the diocese or within it) to assist in the new evangelization born after the Second Vatican Council. Also, the vocations to this seminary come from the Neocatechumenal Way, which is an itinerary of Christian formation that is present all over the world. This way, those who feel called by God to this specific mission can also continue the growth of their faith in this reality. From Rome, other bishops also desired to have such priests in their own dioceses. In 2005, Cardinal Seán requested that this seminary begin here in Boston, and that's how we all ended up here. Well, this retreat we attended was for all the priests ordained in the approximately 40 Redemptoris Mater seminaries present throughout the Americas (North, Central/Caribbean, and South). We were about 800 priests who were able to be there. It took place in Porto San Giorgio, which is on the Adriatic Sea. The initiators of the Neocatechumenal Way were there to give us a word of encouragement, to help us convert, and to rest. We were given a special place in St. Peter's Square for the Pope's Audience, and later we celebrated Mass inside the Basilica, at the Chair of St. Peter. We also went twice to Loreto, which houses the walls of the house of Mary in Nazareth. We also had the opportunity to be sent throughout all of Italy to announce the Kingdom of God two by two for four days, like the Apostles, without money, a cellphone, extra clothes, or a place to sleep... no securities, except God. We only took the Bible and the breviary. I was assigned to the city of Trent, where the famous council took place 500 years ago. After the retreat, I was able to visit the house of St. Maria Goretti, her tomb, and the place where she died. On my way back, I had a 24-hour layover in Barcelona, where I got to visit the Basilica of the Holy Family and the Shrine of Montserrat. What impacted me the most was being reminded of what God has done in my life. There were a few old friends from my childhood and people whom I have met along the way (Fr. Adriano sent his greetings to everyone). At every step of the way, He was there leading me, comforting me, and lifting me up when I fell. It was good also to rest in the Lord. No, I did not watch the World Cup games, but I had something much better: a time of intimacy with God. Running around all day, every day sometimes takes the focus away from my mission. Like Martha, we can tend to important things and leave the Lord behind. If anything, it is by being close to Christ that I will be enabled to help some people. Lastly, we were also presented with a beautiful symphony performance. In it, they sang the words of St. Victorinus of Pettau, who is an impressive saint from the early Church: "Having come as the Lion to conquer, He became the Lamb, taking upon Himself the wickedness of man, so that He might lead him from death to life."  The mission of the priest is to be Christ to the people. As we heard last week, Jesus is meek and humble of heart. The only answer to the suffering of people is to become a lamb and die for them out of love, just like Christ. The Lion came to conquer and was made the Lamb to die because He loves me. In the retreat, I see that God gives me His Spirit to (hopefully) be a lamb who dies for others. Please keep praying for me and be patient, as I still have a long way to go! God Bless, Fr. Steven

From Father Steven - July 12, 2026

By Father Steven Clemence • July 10, 2026
Dear Brothers and Sisters, This week I would like to bring to your attention a very important matter. Recently, electronic cigarettes were developed, and they have become widely popular among teenagers today. Also known as vaping, they can have all sorts of shapes and colors, but they are nonetheless nicotine-based cigarettes that are immensely harmful to consumers. Here in town, there is a petition to ban the sale of nicotine products to the younger generation (the ban would be for anyone born after Jan. 1, 2010). Vaping is like smoking cigarettes; however, vapes are odorless, widely accessible, and very discreet. The electronic device can be as small as a USB drive. You may have seen people with a pen-like device that produces a white smoke, at times with a sweet smell. Many of the flavors come in fruit and candy flavors that appeal to youth. E-cigarettes produce an aerosol, which users inhale from the device and exhale. The aerosol can contain harmful and potentially harmful substances, including: nicotine; ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs; flavoring such as diacetyl, a chemical linked to a serious lung disease; volatile organic compounds; cancer-causing chemicals; and heavy metals such as nickel, tin, and lead. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, e-cigarettes are not safe for youth, young adults, pregnant women, or adults who do not currently use tobacco products. E-cigarettes have not been approved by the FDA as a smoking cessation device, and additional research is needed to help understand the long-term health effects of e-cigarette use. Furthermore, e-cigarettes contain nicotine. Nicotine is a highly addictive substance. According to the Surgeon General, because the brain isn’t fully developed until the mid-20s, youth and young adults are uniquely at risk for long-term effects of exposing their developing brains to nicotine. These risks include nicotine addiction, mood disorders, and permanently lowered impulse control. Nicotine also changes the way synapses are formed, which can harm the parts of the brain that control attention and learning. Another danger is that other substances may be used with vaping, such as cannabis/marijuana or other CBD or THC products, which could cause a person to become high. The latest reports from the CDC from 2024 show that 43.6% of students (both middle and high school) report current use of vaping. Another study reports that 63.9% of students who currently use e-cigarettes reported wanting to quit or having tried to quit. I have seen firsthand the destructive power of vaping among our youth. Unfortunately, many parents are not aware of their use. They even hide and use them in their schools. They are too young to understand the harm caused by vaping and the future consequences it can have. Nicotine pouches are increasingly more popular among youth. Therefore, in order to help them, we are supporting the Nicotine-Free Generation program that is currently being revised by the Board of Health, and it will be presented to the mayor. The idea behind it is to aid those already using nicotine products. The city will offer robust smoking cessation programs, ensuring adolescents and adults alike have the resources to quit. Additionally, by restricting access to nicotine products, we can deter adolescents from starting to use these harmful substances, significantly reducing the risk of lifelong addiction and potential cancer.  Therefore, at the end of the Masses for the next two weeks, we will be collecting signatures from those who would like to support this petition. God Bless, Fr. Steven