St. Matthew – Tolland and St. Bernard – Rockville celebrate their first year as a combined Catholic Community

On Sunday September 18th St. Bernard Church in Rockville and St. Matthew Church in Tolland celebrated their first anniversary as yoked parishes with a Mass and Community Picnic at Star Hill Family Athletic Facility in Tolland, CT. Fr. Rick Ricard celebrated the Mass along with Fr. Bill Olesik, Fr. Jeffrey Ellis and Deacons Michael Berstene and Ronald Freedman on the turf fields in Star Hill’s Dome for over 600 parishioners (on blankets and in lawn chairs)! Afterward, the community celebrated with a picnic, games, face painting and raffle prizes.

In a letter to both parishes after the picnic, Fr. Rick reflected on the experience saying, “There are many instances in my priesthood when I reflect on an interaction, a meeting, a liturgy or an event and realize that God’s Grace was flowing in abundance at that moment or in that situation. I believe in my heart of hearts that our Community Mass and picnic was one of those very powerful moments.”

He continued, “When I reflect on our gathering I can’t help but be moved by the experience of Celebrating Mass in the Dome with six hundred people surrounding the Lord’s Altar. It was amazing to look out and see such a strong cross section of our two parishes joining together in prayer to give thanks to our God. The worship was beautifully enhanced by the talent of our combined choirs and I am very grateful to our directors for organizing the choir and music so beautifully.”

Fr. Rick went on to say, “The many games and sports, led by our teen volunteers, were a great success and everyone had a blast in the beautiful facility. It was wonderful watching our youth interacting with each other, laughing and having some good-ole-fun.”

He also said, “I think what was most pleasing to me was simply having the opportunity to be with my two parishes interacting as one family. When I walked around the facility I was convinced that we were all experiencing the Church in the modern world; a community using their time, talent and treasure to build up the Kingdom of God in our midst.”

And he concluded his letter to the parishioners by saying, “Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make our day so wonderful from set up to take down, from parking cars to donating raffle prizes, from face painting to check in. You were all a blessing. And finally thank you to our pastoral council picnic subcommittee. You were a terrific team and the results of your hard work were very obvious to all in attendance. I thank God for the gift you are to our yoked community.”

The experience was such a success; next year’s date has already been reserved!