St. John Paul II Parish

We look forward to worshipping and praising God together again this weekend. Please click on the following links for the new protocols we need to observe. 

Please click on the following links to read the details :

Update in English.  

Update in Spanish 

Most merciful and Triune God,
We come to you in our weakness.
We come to you in our fear.
We come to you with trust.
For you alone are our hope.

We place before you the disease present in our world.
We turn to you in our time of need.

Bring wisdom to doctors.
Give understanding to scientists.
Endow caregivers with compassion and generosity.
Bring healing to those who are ill.
Protect those who are most at risk.
Give comfort to those who have lost a loved one.
Welcome those who have died into your eternal home.

Stabilize our communities.
Unite us in our compassion.
Remove all fear from our hearts.
Fill us with confidence in your care.

Jesus, I trust in you.
Jesus, I trust in you.
Jesus, I trust in you.
Amen.

Dear Friends:

I have some good news to share.  We are working to sign a purchase and sale agreement from a church that offered $450,000 for the entire property at St Hedwig church and rectory.  About a year ago, we put it on the market for just under half a million dollars, and a few months ago dropped it to $485,000.  The whole time, we had about half a dozen prospective buyers look at the property and received two previous offers.  One was too low to even mention, and the other was for $370,000.   Right now, the plan is to close on the sale in early July.  This new offer is a Godsend at this time, and we thank God for it, as well as St Joseph and the Blessed Mother, whose powerful intercession I am convinced helped with this miracle.  Let us pray in thanksgiving for it, and for its completion, if this be the will of God.

Another blessing continues to be how people have been supporting the Parish by sending in their offerings through the mail or dropping them off at the Ministry Center.  We haven’t crunched the numbers to know exactly, but it is not outrageous to say that we are receiving the same amount of financial support now as we were when we had public Masses and collections.  Thanks be to God and to you, God’s generous and faithful people.  It is deeply appreciated.

One of the ways we have used your stewardship is to invest money in things that help us offer a very high-quality live-stream of our Masses and other prayers and devotions, such as the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet.  These include WiFi in the church and a system that allows us to use two cameras and audio which feeds right into the system so there are smooth, audible, and reliable broadcasts.  The whole system costs under $2,500, but this is money well spent.  Even after we resume public Masses, these are going to be limited to a specific number of people, and those in high-risk groups may well want to keep participating at Mass from home through Facebook.  And the capabilities we have will help us live-stream services such as baptisms, weddings, and funerals.  Such capability will help us continue to reach out to our faith community so people know they are still connected.

One example of how technology has helped us do this is the video Mother’s Day greeting we broadcast before and after Masses this past Sunday. It was a beautiful montage of our young First Communion candidates and their families, catechists and parish staff wishing mothers a Happy Mother’s Day.  We thank all who participated, especially Fr Wilmar, whose inspiration it was and who produced the video with much ingenuity and labor, with great love and enthusiasm.

We also continued our tradition of having a Mother’s Day raffle, when we sell chances for someone to win a basket of scratch tickets to give to (or at least share with) Mom.  We raised $2,044 as part of our Pre-International Festival fundraising.  Alas, several pre-Festival events, such as a flea market and bingo, had to be canceled, as was the Festival itself, but we will have these funds when, pray to God, we will be able to have the Festival.  Many thanks to Cayetano “Junior” Garcia, Tari Altiery, and Sister Rosa Maria for organizing and promoting the raffle to make it a success.

And at 1:00 pm on Mother’s Day, we continued the tradition of giving mothers, grandmothers, Godmothers, and all kinds of spiritual mothers a rose to show how much they are appreciated.  Of course, we couldn’t do it after Masses as in the past, but we did distribute them to all who came to the parking lots of Notre Dame church and the Wells school, just as we did palms on Palm Sunday.  Thanks to all those who helped with this effort: Jim Keyes, Father Wilmar, Deacon Juan, Sister Rosa Maria, Matt Hart, and Pam Goodnow.  We had some roses left over, but that gave us the opportunity to have our home Ministers of Communion bring some to the doorsteps of homebound mothers who have not been able to receive Communion in months because of the “shelter in place” restrictions the state recommended because of the virus.  We used the rest of the leftover roses to decorate the church for our live-streamed Masses.

I pray everyone is doing well, healthy, and safe.  I am feeling great and consider myself fully recovered from my bout with the COVID-19 Virus.  I have had the time to either walk or run for an hour on most days.  I have been blessed, mostly with your prayers, love, support, meals, cards, texts, and phone calls.  We have a beautiful faith community that is not only surviving, but I believe thriving even in the midst of the coronavirus craziness.  Let us thank God and each other for that.

Dear Friends

OUR 54-DAY ROSARY NOVENA to combat the COVID-19 Virus got off to a good start last Tuesday, May 5th, and will conclude on Saturday, June 27th. So many, not only in our parish but around the Diocese, have generously and graciously cooperated with God’s plan to storm Heaven with prayers asking for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Please click here for the details

en español

Notre Dame Church - 446 Main Street, Southbridge, MA
St. Mary Church - 247 Hamilton Street, Southbridge, MA

Welcome!
If you are new to our parish, please introduce yourself after Mass to a member of our staff, so we may better serve you. 
¡Bienvenido! Si usted es nuevo en nuestra parroquia, preséntese después de la misa a un miembro de nuestro personal, para que podamos servirle mejor.

Morning Prayer

Evening Prayer

Rev. Kenneth Cardinale Pastor/Párroco ext. 103 krcardinale@gmail.com
Rev. Wilmar Ramos Associate Pastor/Vicario ext. 104 ramosq01@gmail.com

Sor Rosa Maria Campos, RODA Asistente Pastoral ext.107 SrRosaMaria.stjp2@gmail.com
Mrs. Madeleine Brouillard Business Manager 508-765-3701 ext. 105
MaddieB.stjp2@gmail.com
Deacon Juan Guzman juangzmasr53@gmail.com
Mrs. Bev Loconto Parish Secretary 508-765-3701 ext. 110
BevL.stjp2@gmail.com
Mrs. Margaret Farrand Rental Coordinator 774-318-8083 MargeF911@aol.com