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A Message from Our Pastor 05-22-2020Dear Parishioners:
Happy Memorial Day weekend to everyone! We have so much to be grateful for as a Nation as we remember in a special way the heroes of our past and present - the men and women of our armed forces throughout the history of this great Country up to this very day, so many from right here in this area, who made the supreme sacrifice so heroically, so courageously, and so selflessly to preserve us in freedom.
We cannot thank them enough. They embody the values of faith, family, patriotism, service, and sacrifice that made this Country great. Our gratitude to them is even more fervent this year as we have had over the past two months a little taste of what it would be like to live deprived of some our fundamental freedoms for which they died, especially our religious liberty. May the Lord bless and strengthen our Nation and our troops in harm’s way today and keep us always One Nation Under God.
We also have much to be grateful for as a Parish in the accomplishments of our young parishioners who are graduating this Spring. This is always such a great time of year as we are at the threshold of the Summer and so many of our young people are graduating from colleges and universities, high schools, and elementary schools. Even though this special time in their lives is much different this year, we all the more hold these young parishioners of ours in our hearts and our prayers. They are a source of great pride for our parish and we love them dearly. May they stay close to our Lord Jesus and His Church as the beautiful plan He has for their lives unfolds in the years ahead.
We also have much to be grateful for as a Parish as we hold another “young parishioner” in our hearts and our prayers: Our beloved Pastor Emeritus, Monsignor James P. Sullivan, as we congratulate him and thank him with all our hearts on his 50th Anniversary of Ordination to the Priesthood this month. Monsignor Sullivan was ordained a Priest of Jesus Christ on May 30th, 1970.
For the last half century Monsignor Sullivan poured out his heart and soul in humble service to the people of God in this Archdiocese, and for the last fifteen years for the people here at St. Martin de Porres Parish and School. What a blessing he was to this Parish and how blessed I am to inherit the fruits of his labor. He was an extraordinary Pastor and is an extraordinary Priest, and we could never thank him enough for all he did to make our Parish and School the beautiful and vibrant place that it is today. God bless Monsignor Sullivan on his Golden Jubilee, a beautiful witness to fidelity and sacrifice that our Church today so much needs to see.
We come now to the Seventh Sunday of Easter which places us within the nine-day period between the Ascension of the Lord which we just celebrated on Thursday and Pentecost Sunday next week. Just before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He told his disciples to go back into the City and wait for Power to come from on High. Jesus knew that they were still too weak to preach the Gospel boldly to a hostile world. They needed help from Heaven. They needed the Holy Spirit. So for nine days they gathered with Mary in the upper room and prayed for the coming of the Holy Spirit – the first novena.
We are no different. We need help from Heaven to remain faithful in this difficult world. We need the Holy Spirit. How often we are filled with anxiety and uncertainty, as so many of us are right now. We need to pray as the Apostles did with Mary. Mary is our model of strength and of prayer in times of adversity. She will always lead us to Jesus and show us how to be open to the Holy Spirit who comes to us and gives us the inner strength and peace to handle whatever is going on in our lives as we place everything in God’s hands knowing that He is with us. Let us pray that most simple and powerful prayer that our Lord will always answer: “Come Holy Spirit.” At the end of the day, that is all we really need to handle anything and to fear nothing.
Finally, we are getting closer each day to the day when we can begin to return to the Sacraments and be together again at Mass. Many of you probably have received the Flock Note from the Archdiocese about Cardinal Dolan’s Press Conference yesterday and an outline of the plan to come back to Church gradually. Below is a brief summary of the plan we have received from the Archdiocese for returning to public worship.
Thank you again for your faith, your love, your prayers, and your support of our Parish. You have been so faithful in keeping up with your regular support of our Parish in these difficult times and I cannot thank you enough. Know that we love you and miss you and are always here for you. Let us continue to pray for each other and for everyone. May God bless us all.
Sincerely in Christ,
Rev. Matthew J. Furey
A Brief Summary:
Returning to Public Worship
The return to public worship in our Churches will be a gradual process. There are five phases to the process. The exact start dates and details for each phase are not yet known but will follow in the weeks to come. This will take a lot of patience on our part, including us priests. We all cannot wait to just get going.
In the first phase all churches will be open for private prayer throughout the day, although many churches like ours have been open all along. This will also include being able to have Confessions again. We will resume our regular Saturday afternoon Confessions beginning next Saturday, May 30th, at 3:45pm. We still cannot use the confessionals in the Church but will have to be outside the Church. Both the priest and penitent must wear a mask and maintain social distancing. Also, please keep at least six feet apart from the person in front of you and behind you in line.
The next phase will begin with Baptisms and Marriages resuming limited to only 10 in attendance, followed by daily Mass and Funeral Masses which will also be limited in attendance. We will keep you informed as soon as we learn more about the particular details and start dates of these phases.
The last phase will be resuming the Celebration of Sunday Mass which will be limited to 25% of the Church’s capacity at each Mass. For us that is about 150 people. All will need to wear masks to enter the Church. If need be, we will add extra Masses to our Sunday Schedule. The obligation to attend Mass will remain suspended until further notice. Those at a higher risk for COVID-19 (those over 65 or who have underlying health conditions) will be urged NOT to come to church for Mass until it is safer to do so. We will try to have at least one Sunday Mass live streamed for those who should or need to stay home. Again, we will know more details and when this final phase will start in the weeks to come.
Here at St. Martin’s, we are in the process now of preparing for everything that must be done so that we will be ready for the start of each phase.
Once we are able to have public Mass again on Sundays and Saturday evenings, we will have to have a team assembled for each Mass to seat families, couples, and individuals to ensure that the proper social distancing is kept in the pews and on the Communion lines and to clean and sanitize the church between each Mass. We are in the process of ordering enough cleaning supplies to clean and sanitize the Church after each Mass (pews, door handles, bathrooms, etc.) and an adequate supply of hand sanitizer which will be in dispensers installed at the doors. More to come on this in the weeks ahead.
We have a lot of work and planning to do. I will keep you informed of all developments. Please be patient as we strive to do everything properly for the health and safety of all.
Let us be at peace.
Fr. Matthew
Congratulations
Msgr. Sullivan
on the 50th Anniversary
of your Ordination
Your Lifelong Devotion and
Faithful Service to the Lord
has touched countless hearts
You have been a Blessing to us all -
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messages from our pastorMay 15, 2020
Dear Parishioners
We continue to pray that all of you and your loved ones are safe and staying well. We are praying for you everyday and continue to be here for you if you need us.
This separation from each other at Mass and from the Sacraments has been going on way too long. I know how deeply so many are longing to come back to Mass and receive our Lord in the Eucharist or find forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I find myself praying as we hear in the Psalms, “O Lord, How long?”
There does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. Although there are no specific dates yet as to when we can start gradually coming back to Mass, the Archdiocese has begun the work of developing a protocol for the careful and gradual reopening of our churches as soon as it is deemed safe to do so. There will be a limit on the number of people who can attend each Mass as well as baptisms, weddings, and funerals, and physical distancing and sanitizing practices will have to be put in place, but it will be great to just start coming back. It will be done slowly and in phases for the safety of everyone in our community. Once the plans are finalized and we receive more detailed guidance from the Archdiocese, we will inform you and get started immediately.
In addition to not being able to have Mass with our people, we priests are also very frustrated that nursing homes and hospitals have not been letting us in for the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. There is, however, a team of priests that has been organized throughout the Archdiocese, and two priests here in Dutchess County, who have been trained, equipped, and are living in quarantined quarters to minister to the sick in hospitals and nursing homes, especially to those with COVID-19. Please let us know if you or anyone else needs a priest and we will do everything we can to arrange for it.
On a different note, I want to thank you again for your concern and support for our parish during this difficult time for all of us. With so many keeping up with their weekly envelops or signing up for electronic giving, we have been at about two thirds of our normal weekly income the last few weeks, and our Easter Collection is not terribly far off from last year’s. I know so many are struggling financially and in so many other ways right now. We can only do the best we can and you certainly are. I also want to apologize once again because I continue to hear that some were put off by the mailing last week about supporting your parish. Again, those brochures were not sent out from our rectory but are bulk mailings that are sent from the Archdiocese to everyone under the name of their parish because many parishes are severely struggling right now. We are very blessed here at Saint Martin de Porres because of your love and your constant and generous support of our parish. Again, I thank you with all my heart.
Most importantly we are now preparing for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which is just two weeks away. That is what Jesus was preparing His disciples for in the Gospel for this Sixth Sunday of Easter as He says to them on the night before He died: “ If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you.”
Jesus makes a clear connection between loving Him, obedience to His Commandments, and the Gift of the Holy Spirit. In the thinking of the world, obedience to God’s Commandments is seen as a restriction on our freedom. According to the ways of the world, freedom means to do whatever I want, however I want, whenever I want, and with whomever I want. However, we are made by God and for God. Authentic freedom of the children of God is not freedom to do whatever we want, but the freedom to do what we ought - to obey God and keep His Commandments.
The Peace that Jesus wants to give us is only possible when we are free from selfishness - free to love God with our whole heart and mind and soul and strength, and to love one another the way He loves us. His gift of Peace is the Holy Spirit who brings us into communion with God and with one another, enabling us to think with the mind of Jesus, to see others through the eyes of Jesus, and to love with the Heart of Jesus.
Peace in our hearts does not depend on what is going on outside of us, but on what is going on inside of us, on the Holy Spirit who remains with us and is within us. How much we need His Peace in our hearts right now, a Peace that remains deep within even in times of trouble, a Peace that nothing in this world can give or take away. May God bless us all.
Sincerely in Christ,
Rev. Matthew J. Furey
May 8, 2020Dear Parishioners:We continue to thank God for this beautiful month of May, the month of Mary. We also continue to miss you so much in Church and are waiting anxiously with all of you to hear something from the Archdiocese about when and how we will be able to return to Mass. I pray with all my heart that all our families are safe and staying well. We priests are here for you. Please call us if you need us.This morning after Mass we did a special Benediction outside the Church, as Father Charles held the Blessed Sacrament in the Monstrance for a blessing upon our people and our community as an expression of our faith in the healing power that flows from Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. I hope you take some comfort in knowing that this was done and in our solidarity in prayer before the Real Presence of our Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.I want to say to all our moms this weekend: A very Blessed and Happy Mothers’ Day! While we honor our Blessed Mother Mary throughout this beautiful month of May, this Sunday we honor in a very special way our own mothers, living and deceased, as well as all those heroic grandmothers, foster mothers, godmothers, aunts - all those women who have loved a child with a mother’s heart.In St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome there are beautiful marble statues sculpted so many centuries ago, each depicting one of the Christian virtues. Each statue is of a woman. For example, the virtue of Justice is depicted by a woman with the scales of Justice in her hands, the virtue of Faith is depicted by a woman with a crucifix in her hands. The one that moves me the most is the statue depicting the virtue of Love. The statue is of a woman with three young children, one in her arms and two with their arms wrapped around her legs.To people of every time and place, a mother with her children has been a universal image of love. One author wrote: “Mothers are special agents of God’s love, of His care, of His protection, of His presence. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creature, for God joins forces with a Mother in performing His ongoing creation of human life – there is nothing more glorious than to be a mother.” How a mother’s love mirrors for us so beautifully the life-giving, unconditional, strong, and tender love of God. God bless all our moms!Mothers’ Day is one of things that makes this such a beautiful time of year along with so many other wonderful events that normally would be coming up in our Parish, especially First Holy Communion for our children and Graduation for the eighth graders in our School. Our children were so excited about receiving their First Holy Communion and we were all excited for them. Although First Communion will have to be postponed to the Fall, it will come, and it will be just as beautiful and special for our children and for all of us, perhaps even more so.I know how disappointed our eight graders are, too, with all the special events they had coming up this Spring culminating with their Graduation Mass and Ceremony in our beautiful Church. They are truly an exceptional group of young people and we will do all that we can to honor them and do something special to express our love and admiration for them as they prepare to move on from our school to the new and exciting things to come in High School and beyond.This has indeed been an unprecedented year in the history of Saint Martin de Porres Parish and in the history of our Country. Even though our School building is empty every day now, our School is still up and running, our teachers are still teaching, and our children are still learning.I am so grateful to our Principal, Mr. Greg Viceroy, and our teachers for the incredible work they have been doing in so quickly embracing new technologies and adapting to new teaching methods to make the difficult transition to distance learning at home go so well. I appreciate so much, too, our School Office staff, Mrs. Burns and Mrs. Glynn, who have been working hard at home to keep our school running smoothly. And in a special way I want to express my gratitude to the parents of our children who have had to make so many adjustments in their lives to keep their children learning at home and growing closer to Jesus in all of this. Check out our School’s new Facebook page to see the beauty and spirit of our school (go to the website at www.smdpschool.net and go into parent portal and click on Facebook).I also want to express my admiration and appreciation for our Director of Religious Education, Cindy Fratto, and Annemarie Pagano in our Religious Education Office. Mrs. Fratto and Mrs. Pagano have been working so hard to keep our Religious Education Program going smoothly, and along with our Catechists and Parents, to keep our children learning about Jesus and our beautiful Catholic Faith at home.If our children come to know and believe in the love God has for them and stay close to Him always as He is always so close to them, they will have everything they need to be happy and to face any challenge that life throws at them. That is what Jesus wants us to know in the beautiful Gospel we have at Mass for this Fifth Sunday of Easter on Mothers’ Day. It can be daunting for all of us to understand the meaning of our lives, where we are going, and how to get there. Jesus says to us in this Sunday’s Gospel: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” We need to listen to Jesus and follow Him in this difficult world. As Saint Pope John Paul II put it: “Jesus is the answer to every question that troubles the human heart.”In the midst of whatever is troubling your heart right now, hear these words of Jesus in this Sunday’s Gospel speaking to you personally: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in Me. In My Father’s House there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself so that where I am you also may be.”Remember, Jesus is saying these words to His disciples on the night before He suffered and died for us, knowing how devastated they would be after His horrible death on the Cross the next day. In this Gospel we hear Jesus speaking to us directly about Heaven. It is such a consoling thought that God has a plan for each and every one of our lives, a plan that extends far beyond the limits of this world, for when God gives life it is forever and He has so much more in store for us beyond what we can see and fully understand right now. What He needs from us to fulfill His plan for our lives is our faith, our trust, our patience, and our perseverance.Therefore, Jesus implores us: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in Me.” May our faith in Jesus be renewed and deepened in this beautiful Easter Season so that His Peace may remain deep within our hearts in the midst of all we are going through right now, a Peace that this world cannot give or take away, a Peace we will have perfectly and forever in that place Jesus promised He has prepared for us in His Father’s House.As a final matter, I just want to express again my deep appreciation to all of you who have been keeping up with your weekly support of our Parish with your envelopes or through WESHARE. We also have been able to secure a loan through the government’s Payroll Protection Program, which should be forgiven in the end, to pay the salaries of our employees and teachers in our School for the next eight weeks, which is a tremendous help.I also realize that many have received something in the mail about signing up for WESHARE and supporting our Parish. Please know that this comes from the Archdiocese and not from the Rectory. You have already been so generous in your support of our Parish and I cannot thank you enough.Let us stay close to God in all of this and continue to pray for each other and for everyone. We love you and are praying for you every day, especially when we offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Let us not let this current separation cause us to be separated spiritually. We are always united with our Lord and with one another in prayer, especially in the Eucharist at Mass.We know that God is with us, that our lives are in His hands, and that all will be well. “Jesus, I trust in You.” May God bless us all.Sincerely in Christ,Rev. Matthew J. FureyPastor05-01-2020 Mary, Mother of the Church, Pray for Us
Dear Parishioners:We have arrived at this beautiful month of May as nature is bursting forth with new life, a reminder of the Resurrection which we continue to celebrate in this Easter Season. May is so beautiful, too, because it is dedicated in a special way to our Blessed Mother, Mary, and is the month in which we will honor our own mothers in a special way next Sunday on Mothers’ Day.How beautifully a mother’s love mirrors for us the tender and unconditional love of God. A mother’s love is so special in God’s plan, that He wanted His own Son to have one. At His birth in Bethlehem, Mary held the baby Jesus in her arms. At His death on Good Friday, she held Him in her arms again as He was taken down from the Cross. And it was from the Cross just before he died that Jesus gave His Mother to us to be our Mother. Jesus’ mother was so precious to Him that He wanted to share her with us, so much does He love us.On this first day of this beautiful month of May dedicated to our Blessed Mother, the Bishops of our Country are asking us to turn to Mary in a special way for protection from this global pandemic of the coronavirus as they renew the consecration of our Country to the care of our Blessed Mother, the Mother of the Church. Our beloved United States was originally placed under the care of our Blessed Mother in 1792 by Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore, the first bishop of the United States. In 1846, the bishops attending the Sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore named the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, as the Patroness of the United States, which was approved the following year by Pope Pius XI.Archbishop Gomez of Los Angeles, the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said of today’s re-consecration that: “This will give the Church the occasion to pray for Our Lady’s continued protection of the vulnerable, healing of the unwell, and wisdom for those who work to cure this terrible virus.” Archbishop Gomez went on to say: “Each year the Church seeks the special intercession of the Mother of God during the month of May. This year, we seek the assistance of Our Lady all the more earnestly as we face together the effects of the global pandemic.”The renewal of the consecration of our Country to Our Lady, Mother of the Church, seeking her intercession during this pandemic is to occur today, Friday May 1st, at 3:00pm.We prayed the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament this morning after Mass and offered the prayers of consecration along with a prayer to include our Parish as part of the Consecration. It is attached here so that you can pray today in union with our Bishops in this earnest plea for Our Lady’s help in this pandemic.Mary always leads us to Jesus who assures us that He is with us always, protecting us and guiding us through the difficult terrain of this world to the green pastures of Heaven where there will be no more sickness, no more sorrow, and no more death. That is what we are reminded of on the Fourth Sunday of Easter this weekend, traditionally called Good Shepherd Sunday, because each year on this Sunday we are given the image of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, taken from the tenth chapter of the Gospel of St. John.The image of the Good Shepherd reminds us that Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” If we are not following Him and listening to His voice, we are going to lose our way in this difficult world. There are so many other voices out there that seek to lead us astray, which Jesus calls thieves and robbers. Jesus says to us in the Gospel for this Sunday: “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Jesus, I trust in You.May our beautiful parish always be a place where the voice of the Good Shepherd is heard, and where His Love is alive and felt by all every day. Please know that we love you, we miss you, we are here for you, and we are praying for you every day. May God bless us all.
Sincerely in Christ, Rev. Matthew J. Furey
A message from your Pastor. Blessed Third Sunday of Easter 4-26-2020
Dear Parishioners:
I just want to tell you once again how much we love you and miss you, and that Fr. Charles, Fr. Walter, and I hold you in our hearts at the Masses we offer every day.
Even though things are so different this year, we continue to celebrate this beautiful Easter Season as the Joy of the Resurrection spills over into the days leading up to the Ascension and Pentecost. This is such a beautiful time of year with so many wonderful events that normally would be coming up in our parish and school, such as First Communions, Baptisms, Weddings, and Graduation. These and so many other things, unfortunately, are on hold for now as we wait and see how things will unfold in the weeks ahead.
It is sad for me to think that this Saturday, April 26th, was to be the day of First Holy Communion for the second graders of our School and the next two weekends for the children of our Religious Education Program. Our children are so precious and were so excited about their First Communion as we all were. They remind us of the excitement we should all have every time we receive Holy Communion because every time we are receiving Jesus, Himself. First Holy Communion will happen, and it will be just as beautiful and special, we just need to be patient and trust in the Lord. The same goes for our eighth graders who had so many special events coming up this Spring culminating with their Graduation Mass and Ceremony in our Church. We love them so much and hold all of them in our hearts. We will have their Graduation Mass and Ceremony in our Church, hopefully still in June if at all possible.
Let us stay close to God in all of this and continue to pray for each other. Let us continue to pray for an end to this pandemic, for a cure for this virus, for those who are infected by it, their families, the doctors, nurses, healthcare professionals, EMT’s, first responders, and caregivers who are tending to them, for those who are working to provide the things we need to live during this time, for those who are affected emotionally or financially by this economic shut down, and for those who have died and for their grieving families who are not even able to have the consolation of a Funeral Mass at this time.
We continue to be concerned about the needs of those in our parish and community who are struggling right now. It is such a frustration for us priests to not be able to do all things we were ordained to do for our people at this time. But please know that we priests are still here for you. If someone is close to death, please call us and we will come. We are also here if you just need to talk. Although we are not able to hear Confessions as we normally do, you can call to make an appointment for Confession. In addition to us priests and deacons, one of our parishioners who is a psychologist has offered her assistance to anyone who may be depressed, anxious, is grieving, or just needs to talk to someone during this difficult time.
Please let us know, too, if anyone is struggling financially or if any of our elderly are in need of help with things like getting food or medicine. You can also make donations of food or money to our Parish to help those in need. With the assistance our Knights of Columbus gives to so many and Parish funds we have from your donations to help those in need, we would like to be of assistance to the extent we can for anyone who is struggling right now.
I also want to thank all of you who have been doing your best to keep up with your support of our Parish during this time. Through weekly envelopes being mailed in or dropped off at the Rectory and contributions being made electronically through online giving (WESHARE), we are getting about 50% of our usual weekly income. Our Easter Collection so far is a little more than 50% of what it would normally be at this time. Obviously, this will have more and more of a negative impact on the financial health of our Parish as time goes on as we continue to pay the salaries and benefits of our employees, utilities, maintenance, etc. Again, I thank you for your love and support of our Parish and just encourage all to try to continue your usual support as best you can at this difficult time for all of us.
All of this is affecting every one of us on so many levels. It is precisely at times when we feel most distraught that Jesus meets us and walks with us. That is what we see in the beautiful and powerful Gospel from Saint Luke for the Third Sunday of Easter this weekend (Luke 24:13-35). On the night of the first day of the week, the day of the Resurrection, we hear that two disciples of Jesus were walking away from Jerusalem on the way to a town called Emmaus, distraught and disappointed after the crucifixion of Jesus that first Good Friday. And then Jesus walks along side of them, although they did not recognize it was the Lord. Jesus walks beside them in their sadness and despair, meeting them where they were at in order to bring them to where He wanted them to be.
Jesus opens their minds to the meaning of the Scriptures and how they foretold that the Christ had to suffer in order to enter into His Glory. He laments their hardness of heart and how slow they were to believe. And when they arrived at their destination the two disciples say to Jesus: “Remain with us.” They realized that their hearts were burning as Jesus spoke to them on the way and they wanted him to remain with them. And it happened, that while they were at supper Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them – the same thing He did at the Last Supper and continues to do through His priests at every Mass. It was at that moment that they recognized it was the Lord, Jesus, and that He was alive and with them still.
How profoundly this journey of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus mirrors our own lives. We, too, can get so weighed down by fear, worry, anxiety, grief, disappointment, and sin. We, too, can be so slow to believe and to trust in the Lord. We, too, can fail to recognize that Jesus is walking with us at every moment. He knows what is in our hearts. He knows what we are going through. And it is there that He meets us and guides us to where He wants us to be.
And nowhere in this world do we experience His Presence in a more real and powerful way than in the Eucharist. May our desire to receive Jesus in the Eucharist intensify during this time of exile when we cannot come together for Mass. May our appreciation for how important the Mass is to our lives and what a gift it is be increased exponentially.
Read the life of any of the Saints and you will find great suffering and great devotion to the Eucharist. May we come to realize in these difficult days what they came to realize: that we cannot live without the Eucharist. May God bless us all.
Sincerely in Christ, Rev. Matthew J. Furey -
PrayersAct of Spiritual CommunionMy Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire You in my soul. Since I cannot now receive You Sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. As though You were already there, I embrace You and unite myself wholly to You; permit not that I should ever be separated from You. Amen.
Prayer to St. Michael the ArchangelSaint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly hosts, by the power of God, cast into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.A Prayer in Time of Need:Loving Father, our life and our hope, come to our aid in this difficult and uncertain time.Look with mercy on all who suffer from the coronavirus.Bless them and their families with Your healing, consolation and peace.Guide and be with all who care for them.Give wisdom and insight to those working to stop the spread of this disease, and help them find a way to cure it.Console our anxious hearts, strengthen our faith, and give us the grace to trust in Your goodness.Restore communities affected by the virus to wholeness and health, and in your loving mercy, give Your help and protection to all.Through Christ our Lord. Amen.Prayer to the Virgin Mary for Protection:O Mary, you shine continuously on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope.We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick.At the foot of the Cross you participated in Jesus' pain, with steadfast faith.You, Our Lady of New York, know what we need.We are certain that you will provide, so that, as you did at Cana of Galilee, joy and feasting might return after this moment of trial.Help us, Mother of Divine Love,to conform ourselves to the Father's willand to do what Jesus tells us:He who took our sufferings upon Himself, and bore our sorrows to bring us,through the Cross, to the joy of the Resurrection. AmenWe seek refuge under your protection, O Holy Mother of God.Do not despise our pleas - we who are put to the test - and deliver us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin
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Saint Martin De Porres
Rev. Matthew J. Furey, Pastor
Fr. Charles Achi, Parochial Vicar
118 Cedar Valley Road
Poughkeepsie, N.Y. 12603
Parish Phone: (845) 473-4222
Fax: (845) 473-4223
Email: smdppok@optonline.net or
smdpnorman@gmail.com
School 845-452-4428
Religious Education 845-471-8728 -
Mass Times
All Masses throughout the Archdiocese of New York have been canceled Until further notice
All activities & classes are also Cancelled until further notice
Sunday Masses
Saturday Vigil: 5:00pm
Sunday: 7:30, 9:30, 11:30am
& 5:00pm
Weekday Masses
Monday to Friday: 6:45am, & 12:15pm
Saturday: 8:00amHoly Day & Federal Holiday Masses
Please consult the bulletinSacrament of Penance
Saturday: 3:45pm to 4:45pm
or at the Rectory by appointment -
Welcome!
Good and gracious God,
On this 57th Anniversary of
St. Martin de Porres Parish
we give You thanks for the grace and blessings bestowed on us throughout these fifty-six years.
We give You thanks for the many priests, deacons, women religious and faithful laity who have shared their vision, talent, and hard workwith the people of this parish. Have mercy on all who have gone before us. Bless, keep and inspire all in our parish community.
As we continue our earthly pilgrimage, send down Your Holy Spirit. Touch our hearts anew with the love of Jesus Christ. Enlighten our minds and strengthen our hands. Prompt in each one of us a desire to serve one another, regardless of circumstance. Fill our homes, our Church, and our parish with Your presence. Give us the desire and zeal to be always building up the Body of Christ. Amen -
online giving
Click here for Parish online giving opportunities
https://stmartindeporres.churchgiving.com
Cardinal's Appeal https://secure.archny.org/site/Donation2;jsessionid=00000000.app20102a?df_id=1480&mfc_pref=T&1480.donation=form1&NONCE_TOKEN=9844D006C70BCD2E6C3E943BF52CCE51&_ga=2.170126304.1703848964.1549290998-169030377.1541621436
Renew/Rebuild
Please rmember to designate St. Martin de Porres as your churh
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Today's Readings
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Reading 1 Acts 25:13b-21Responsorial Psalm 103:1-2, 11-12, 19-20abGospel Jn 21:15-19
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News from the Vatican
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Pope Francis expressed his gratitude to a Jesuit-run refugee center in Rome for its continued care for migrants and refugees fleeing war, persecution and hunger.
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