Roman Catholic Parishes of the

Spring has sprung -- finally! With the change of seasons, our Cluster is announcing a change in our weekday Mass schedule. Effective May 6, 2019, the Monday morning Mass will be at St Catherine of Sienna in Norway. The Tuesday morning Mass will be at St Joseph Church in Bridgton. The revised schedule reduces travel time of our busy priests. It therefore allows more efficient and effective use of their valuable time. The new Monday and Tuesday Mass locations coincide with Parish office hours so our priests can meet with staff and parishioners after celebrating Mass. Please help spread the news of the schedule change to friends and fellow parishioners. Consider joining other parishioners at a weekday celebration -- attending Mass is a great way to start or end your day!

   We are a vibrant and faith filled community driven by the Spirit to welcome all to Christ. Our mission is to grow in our Roman Catholic faith and to reach out to help each other and the larger community by using our individual gifts through fellowship, prayer and the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. In this way we proclaim the Gospel in the spirit of faith, hope and charity, through worship, ministry, and outreach to those in need.

  Our cluster consists of St. Catherine of Sienna, Norway; Our Lady of Ransom, Mechanic Falls; St. Mary's, Oxford (Summer Only); St. Joseph, Bridgton; and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Fryeburg.
 

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Our Lady of Ransom Renovation Milestone Celebrated

https://portlanddiocese.org/milestone-renovations-our-lady-ransom

Never worry about forgetting your offertory envelope again! You can make your weekly offering automatically from your debit, credit, checkings, or savings account! You can also print coupons to place in the collection baskets so you can continue to show that you are supporting your worshipping community.

ALL SECOND COLLECTIONS ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR ONLINE GIVING!

To get set up, please visit the webpage for your parish:

http://cluster30stteresa.weshareonline.org (St. Teresa of Calcutta)
http://cluster30stjoseph.weshareonline.org (St. Joseph)

“As I grow older,” reflected the older gentleman parishioner, “I lose my friends and those life time friendships.  The one relationship I have not lost, is the one I have with God.  That one remains, but it also has changed over the years.”

This was just one of several observations made by parishioners at the inaugural presentation of Catholic Charities Maine’s “Aging Friendly Parishes” workshop held at Our Lady of Ransom Parish Hall  in Mechanic Falls recently.  This 3 hour presentation by the agency’s longtime administrator of services for the Elderly, Don Harden, covers both the practical as well as the spiritual aspects of aging.  This comprehensive look at growing older is designed to create conversations on some of the key questions of aging, including:  How do we live healthy, engaged, secure lives as we age?  How do we perform in the role of caregiver for our loved ones?  What are the spiritual questions of aging?  What are the Blessings of aging?  And, as a faith community, how can we assess the “age-friendliness” of parish and buildings to ensure we all can “age in place” in our home parish.

This workshop provides some interesting statistics about our state’s aging population.  Among them are these facts:  Maine has the oldest median age in the country, the highest concentration of baby boomers per capita, the lowest 0-18 years old population, a high rate of Alzheimer’s and related dementias, a higher than average poverty rate for those over 65, and by 2025, over a quarter of Maine’s population will be age 65 or older.  The impact of these facts on aging and others are covered in the first half of Don’s presentation.  Mr. Harden gives a wide ranging view of the many practical aspects of aging, from medical to financial to family concerns.  The information provided in this section gives the audience an excellent opportunity to both learn and share with one another the helpful tips everyone needs to know to navigate the road to healthy, successful aging.

The second part of the workshop is spent on the spiritual aspects of aging.  Using the book, “The Gift of Years:  Growing Older Gracefully” by Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister, Don leads the group through a discussion on the Blessings of Aging. These “Blessings," according to Sr. Joan’s book, are Perspective, Time, Freedom, Newness, Tale Telling, Relationships and Transcendence.  The group at Our Lady of Ransom had a lively and thought-provoking discussion on these “Blessings."

Also, throughout his presentation, Mr. Harden, provided the group with exercise and survey opportunities to assess how they were doing individually in the aging process, as well as taking a look at how age-friendly their parishes are.  Don’s 3 hour session moved along very briskly and, at the conclusion, participants left feeling that it was a Saturday morning well spent!

.        For more information, call (207) 956-1457 or email psm@ccmaine.org.    
         For the schedule of these workshops in other locations, click here.

If there is no school due to weather in any of our school districts (SAD 17, RSU 16, SAD 72 and SAD 61), there will be no daily morning Mass in ANY of our churches. This will help keep our priests, sacristans, musicians and all of our parishioners safe during inclement weather and keep them from having to travel. We will do our best to post cancellations on our Facebook page (The Parishes of the Western Maine Lakes and Foothills) and on TV stations WCSH6, WMTW, and WGME. Weekend and evening Mass cancellations will be posted on the above news channels and on our Facebook page. Office closures will also be posted on our Facebook page.