• Coronavirus Update - 3/17/20

  Dear Friends in Christ,

   

  Below are the updated directives from the Archdiocese of New York promulgated by Timothy Cardinal Dolan for all parishes in areas in the Archdiocese of New York. (As of Sunday, March 15, 2020 at 8pm)

   

  1.  All public Masses are canceled beginning Saturday, March 14 at 4pm until further notice.  This includes future Sunday Masses as well as weekdays.

   

  2.  Churches will remain open for private prayer. Our Lady of Loretto will be open from 8am to 8pm.

   

  3. Funeral and weddings will be permitted but should be limited to family members only. Families will be encouraged (not mandated) to bury their loved one, and arrange for a Memorial Mass celebrated later.

   

  4.  Parish baptisms celebrations should be limited to family only, if they cannot be postponed.

   

  5. Upon reasonable request, confessions may be heard, in the church by appointment.  Our Lady of Loretto Church will have confessions each Saturday from 4pm to 5pm with a priest in confessional.

   

  6.  Scheduled Confirmation dates will be discussed with each bishop with possibility of date changes.

   

  7.  Advise people to be spaced three to six feet away from one another while in the church.

   

  8. Parishes will continue with increased cleaning and sanitizing efforts. At Our Lady of Loretto all pews have been sanitized with bleach solution. We need volunteers to do this on a regular basis.

   

  9. The obligation to keep the Lord's Day Holy can be fulfilled by maintaining a family prayer life including daily Scripture readings, and watching Holy Mass on TV.  www.catholicfaithnetwork.org.  www.saintpatrickscathedral.org/live.

   

  10.  Effective Monday, March 16th until Friday March 20, Catholic schools will be closed with the possibilty of a lengthier closure. 

   

  11.  Beginning Saturday, March 14 until at least Monday, March 23, in-person Religious Education and youth ministry programs are suspended.

   

  12.  Parish business offices may remain open.  Our Lady of Loretto Parish Office will be open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays from 9am to 3pm. *Unless staff sickness occurs.

   

  13.  Priests shall use all precautions when visiting and anointing the sick at home, nursing homes and hospitals.  Protective clothing and gear should be warn as directed by medical professionals at these facilities.  

   

  14  Daily Holy Masses will be offered in private (without congregations) by Father Lutz and Father Fernando during this time, fulfilling the daily Mass intentions as printed in the bulletin.  

  

   

   

  15.  Eucharistic Adoration will continue each Monday night from 7pm to 8pm for private Prayer.  A Daily Rosary may be offered at 8am. 

   

  16.  Public Stations of the Cross on Fridays at 7pm is suspended, but parishioners are encouraged to pray the Stations privately in church or at home.

   

  17.  We need to be mindful of follow the directives of National and State Health Officials at all times to keep your families healthy and not endanger the lives of others. 

   

  18.  Above all pray each day that Almighty God may lift this pandemic from the face of the earth. 

   

  If you have any questions, concerns or need spiritual direction, confession and emergency anointings of the sick, please contact me or Father Fernando at any time. Parish Office: 845-265-3718. E-mail: [email protected]   We sincerely miss seeing each of you! Be strong ! God will hear our daily prayers! Help and encourage one another in Christ.

   

  **PLEASES FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO ALL YOUR CATHOLIC FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK.

   

  Your devoted priests in Christ,

  Father Thomas Lutz

  Pastor

  Father Ajith Fernando

  Associate priest

• 
  

  February 14, 2020

  Memorial of St Valentine, bishop & martyr

  Jubilee Year of Our Lady of Loreto

   

  Dear Friends,

   

  "He has done all things well.  He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."  Matthew 7:36-37

   

  Please excuse my long absence from writing my Weekly Message, there is no shortage of current events to write about, globally and locally.  I must first thank the incredible generosity of the parishioners of Our Lady of Loretto Church, especially during the past Christmas Season and beyond.  Your generosity in volunteer hours in time, your gift of your talents, and generosity of donations is immensely appreciated!

   

  The Lenten Season is soon beginning on Ash Wednesday, February 26th.  It is amazing how many people seek to have Blessed Ashes crushed into their foreheads, many do not regularly attend church, but this ritual finds special meaning in our busy lives. "Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return." Perhaps we should administer ashes each Sunday of the year? The churches might be full!  I have arranged to have extra Masses added for the Lenten weekdays.  Beginning on Ash Wednesday and all Lenten weekdays, we will offer a 7:30pm Mass along with the regular 8:15am Mass. I hope workers will find this time helpful to make a special Lenten practice of daily Mass.

   

  This past week, our parish celebrated a wonderful Mass of Healing with the Anointing of the Sick on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes: World Day of the Sick. Over 65 people attended and were blessed with miraculous Lourdes water.  Many people suffer greatly from all types of chronic and deadly illnesses, we pray for their complete healing and daily struggles.  

   

  I have arranged to have a Parish Mission beginning Saturday, May 9th through Wednesday, May 13th.  Father Brian Mullady, O.P. will preach and lead the Parish Mission. Fr. Mullady has programs on EWTN and preached throughout the United States. Google his name and see his YouTube video clips. I am delighted to have him lead our Parish Mission this year!

   

  Pope Francis has designated 2020 a Jubilee Year of Our Lady of Loreto.  Our parish has prepared a wonderful Pilgrimage to the Shrines of Italy including the Shrine of the Holy House of Loreto!  We will depart Dec. 1st and return Dec. 11th.  Contact our parish office for full details. In addition to the pilgrimage, the parish will host a Jubilee Year music concert to raise donations for some of our teens to attend.  More details will follow in the coming weeks. 

   

  I am indeed grateful for all your do for our great parish!
• November 2, 2019

  All Soul's Day

   

  "I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne and scrolls were opened. Then another scroll was opened the book of life.  The dead were judged according to deeds, by what was written in the scrolls." Revelation 20: 12-15

   

  If you ever have a chance to visit Rome, you need to visit the Capuchin Friars Bone Crypt beneath Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappucini Church.  It contains the sketetal remains of 3,700 bodies of Capuchin friars buried by their order.  The artistic display of thousands of bones of the human skeleton are used to form intricate designs in plaster ceilings, walls, and ornaments.  The display is not meant to be macabre, but a silent reminder of the swift passage of life on earth and our own mortality.  There are six bone crypts, the last skeleton holdings a scythe in it's right hand, a symbol of death which cuts down everyone like wheat in a field, while it's left hand holds scales, symbolizing the good and bad deeds weighed by God when He judges the human soul.  A placard in five languages declares; "What you are Now we used to be; what we are now you Will be."  Holy Mass is celebrated for the repose of their souls each day, and their grimacing skulls silently remind each visitor to "remember you are dust, and unto dust you shall return."  During my last visit to Rome in 2008, I brought my sister, sister-in-law, and two teenage nieces with me to the Capuchin bone crypt, needless to say it made a lasting impression upon them. 

   

  Each All Souls Day the church quietly reminds us of our mortality, and urges us to offer Masses and prayers for the dead.  Everyone of us experience the sadness of death, especially those whom we loved the most.  Love is stronger than death, as Jesus taught and demonstrated by his passion, death and glorious resurrection.  Sadly, so many Catholics have forgotten the spiritual work of mercy to pray for the dead by having Masses offered for the repose of their souls.  Many Catholic kings and queens of Europe left small fortunes to monasteries, convents, and churches for the sole purpose to offer Masses for their long departed souls. Some have been dead for centuries, but monks and priests faithfully offer Masses for them according to their wishes. Consider having Masses offered for a loved one or stranger during the coming months. The fruits of the Mass assists with their final purification, and at the same time sanctify our souls.  May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

   

  Yours in Christ,

  Rev. Thomas Lutz

  Pastor
• September 24, 2018

  Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham

   

  Dear Friends,

   

       In 2008 I was fortunate to join a band of merry ole fans of the great English Catholic writer G.K. Chesterton on a tour of England.  The trip itinerary was packed with visits to places associated with the life, literary works and burial place of this great heavy weight of 20th century English authors. Along the journey across the beautiful English countryside, we made a pilgrimage stop at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk.  The shrine history began in 1061 when a pious noblewomen Richeldis de Faverches, had a mystical Marian apparition in which the Virgin Mary instructed her to build a replica of the Holy House of Nazareth.  After the Holy House was built, it soon became the most popular shrine in all of England alongside Canterbury and Glastonbury. The Kings of England up to Henry VIII made royal pilgrimage to the Holy House of Walsingham, and the king's candle burned night and day before the statue of Our Lady. A large Augustinian priory church was built to enclose the Holy House, and a Slipper Chapel was built one mile out from the Shrine for pilgrims to remove their shoes and walk the last mile barefoot. During the English Reformation in 1538 the Shrine at Walsingham was destroyed and Our Lady's statue brought to London where it was burned along with other trappings of Catholic worship and veneration. It wasn't until 1896 when Catholic convert Charlotte Pearson Boyd purchased the Slipper Chapel building, which had become a cattle barn, that a new 20th century shrine would rise again. An Anglican Shrine also was built so a steady stream of new pilgrims have made the journey to honor Our Lady. Today, the shrine welcomes pilgrims from around the world. Pope Francis raised the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham to the status of a minor basilica in 2015. The United States National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is located in St. Bede's Church, Williamsburg, Virginia.

   

  Today's feast of Our Lady of Walsingham has a great deal in common with our parish dedicated to Our Lady of Loretto.  The Holy House of Loretto located in the Italian town of the same name, was brought stone by stone by "angelic" crusaders to safety in Loretto from the invading forces of Mohammedans.  A huge major basilica now encloses the Holy House of Loretto, where hundreds of canonized saints and popes have visited and prayed, along with millions of tourists.  

   

  Holy Reminders: Remember to keep Holy the Sabbath Day by attending Mass. Have you recently experienced the Mercy of God in the Sacrament of Confession?

   

  Yours in Christ,

  Rev. Thomas Lutz

  Pastor