Dearest Parishioners of Sacred Heart Church,

Greetings from Father Fullum, Deacon Peter, the Sisters of our Convent and myself!

A prayerful reminder that as we approach the end of the Easter Season, this Thursday is Ascension Thursday. Soon it will be Pentecost! The Ascension is the glorious, triumphant entry of Our Lord into His Heavenly Kingdom, and return to the Eternal Father. He will no longer be visible with the physical eyes of His Apostles and disciples. Now, they (and we) will “see” Him with the eyes of Faith, especially in the Holy Eucharist.

Please offer up in your prayers this week those who have died…We remember Salvatore Lombardo, and especially our own Sister Margaret Raibaldi, CSJ, who served Sacred Heart Parish so faithfully and with such zeal and love. Sister Margaret retired the year before I arrived, so I never worked with her, but I did experience her legacy and presence in the many wonderful projects and traditions she established for our parish. I am so grateful for the few times I met her these past three years I have been here as Pastor. Instead of a letter from me this week, I have asked Father Fullum to write a reflection about Sister Margaret. On behalf of Sacred Heart Parish, I would like to offer our heartfelt gratitude to her and our prayers for her eternal peace and joy with the Lord Jesus for whom she served so well.

With love and blessings,

Father Fred+

By now, most of you know of the passing of Sr. Margaret to her eternal rest. She arrived in Sacred Heart Parish about 35 years ago and at that time was given the job description of “bringing Christ’s love and compassion to all the members of Sacred Heart.” Over the years she has fulfilled that challenge with dedication and love. She immediately set up the Food Pantry which was very small at that time, and as you know has now grown to feeding over 150 families and unfortunately that number still increases.

Sister then turned her attention to the homebound. She set up a St. Vincent de Paul Society where all the members had to be Eucharistic Ministers. Her idea was to take care of both the spiritual and physical needs of the homebound; and she met once every month to see how both these needs were being fulfilled. For those who have lost a loved one she would send a sympathy card for one year, every three months, to remind the families that they were being prayed for and she especially prepared and invited them to share in our special All Souls Mass. Along with this, she set up the Bereavement Ministry to help people through their difficult times. She conducted mid-life seminars, trained lay couples to give Baptismal instructions, conducted in-home Pre-Cana sessions, set up and taught the RCIA program and set up special classes for adults needing the Sacrament of Confirmation.

As part of the Liturgy Committee she instituted the idea of the Christmas Giving Tree, the Blessing of Expecting Parents, the special Thanksgiving Celebrations, the Crowning of Mary, and the Blessing of Animals. The day after 9/11 she organized a truck and went down to Ground Zero with food to feed the first responders.

She was my right-hand helper. Anytime there was a need for a new program or a new committee, Sr. Margaret would organize it. These are just a few of her accomplishments in those 35 years. Her last basic project was the creating of a committee to make prayer shawls for the sick and homebound.

Sr. Margaret was a dear personal friend; I called her every night since she retired and she was always interested in the events taking place here at Sacred Heart and in the people and their problems. I will truly miss her but we must not be sad, because I am sure that when she presented her job description to Jesus our Lord, He said to her, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter now into your Father’s kingdom.”

Fr. Fullum

Dearest Parishioners of Sacred Heart Church, May this beautiful Ascension hymn bring you closer to the mystery of the Hidden and Glorious Jesus and fill your spirit with peace.