BURRILLVILLE – The newest bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, the Most Rev. Bruce Lewandowski, performed the sermon at St. Theresa Church and Shrine in Harrisville at last Sunday’s Mass, and afterward stayed for the church’s annual volunteer appreciation dinner.
Lewandowski was installed as the 10th bishop of Providence on Tuesday, May 20 by Pope Francis. He was most recently an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, he said.
The bishop said he is planning to attend Masses at as many churches as possible in his new state over the coming weeks.
“I’m trying to, as soon as I can, visit as many people as possible. This weekend I was in four places, and I’m going to continue,” he said. “I want to see where people are living their Catholic lives.”
The bishop’s visit to Harrisville fell on his birthday, and the pastor of St. Teresa’s, Rev. Jose Parathanal, and the other the coordinators of the volunteer dinner presented a large cake for him and the approximately 120 volunteers being honored.
“It’s my birthday, coincidentally,” Lewandowski said. “I’m getting old.”
Parathanal said he invited the Bishop to the appreciation dinner.
“I wanted him to come today, because it’s a wonderful function to honor so many of the volunteers make this church run so beautifully,” he said.
This Parathanal’s fourth year as pastor, and was the church’s the third annual volunteer dinner, he said.
“When people do something, we have to acknowledge them. Here, they can come together and see each other and socialize. It’s a community building thing,” he said. “In 2023 we celebrated 100 years of the shrine. That brought a lot of people here. They came from New Jersey, New York, Colorado. A big group of 50 to 60 people came. Without the volunteers we wouldn’t have been ready to receive them. We are so lucky these volunteers enjoy the satisfaction of doing things for the shrine.”
Volunteers Roy Najecki of Glocester and John Bowman of Burrillville, have worked together on projects involving the outdoor shrine for the past three years, Najecki said.
“We are going to be painting benches next,” he said. “We replaced some of the wood that was rotting. We did the sanding of the handicapped ramp, and the ramp inside the house, you know, to make it safer for people. We repaired the ceiling, replaced the washing machine. It’s about keeping the grounds clean, power washing.”
“We put solar lighting in at the Stations of the Cross,” Bowman added.
“A major upcoming project for us is going to be a prayer garden,” Najecki said.
Najecki said that although he was an accountant before he retired, he always loved working with power tools on projects.
“We need a reason to buy more tools,” he joked. “No, but it’s things I can do, and I have the ability to do. I always liked the outdoors and helping the church in God’s name, helping to make the church more appealing. I’ll do it as long as my health allows.”
“He has the tools, I’m just the apprentice,” Bowman added.
Another volunteer, Lorraine O’Rourke of Smithfield, said the volunteer dinner honors everyone who has done anything in the past year to better the church.
“Oh, it’s for everyone; lectors, cleaning crew, homilists, choir, altar servers, the volunteers for the bazaar and the annual feast day,” she said. “We have lots of volunteers and of course we have the Sisters next door.”
O’Rourke is herself a lector, an extraordinary minister and she also helps to clean the church, she said.
The church was very full for the 5 p.m. Mass for the Bishop’s visit, and O’Rourke was impressed by the his ability to command the room during his sermon.
“He has a wonderful voice,” she said. “I didn’t know what he sounded like, and he just has a great voice. And while he was speaking, you didn’t hear anyone make any noise, no coughing or moving around or anything.”
In his sermon, Lewandowski spoke about the need to listen for God despite all the noise of busy lives.
“I think we are busy people. We live in a fast paced world,” he said. “In our world today we can forget about God in school, we can forget about God when we are shopping, we can forget about God at the pharmacy, the hospital. We can forget about God in politics, we can forget about God in church and at home, even among our family and friends.”
“But Jesus says we are coworkers. He says ‘I need you to be the bells, the whistles, the notifications that wake people up.’ When was the last time you told somebody the great things the Lord has done for you?”
“A great thing that God has done for me is bringing me to Providence,” said the bishop. “I never knew I was coming here until a couple of months ago. When you leave here today, I want you to leave in the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember Jesus never forgets us.”
