Dear Parishioners,

We are deeply grieved to inform you that Father Vincent Coppola, C.S.C. died Friday morning, October 2, 2020 at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. 

Thank you for all the prayers you offered for his recovery. If we were not to receive this miracle, we now commend him to the Lord in gratitude for his life and his ministry as a priest here in our parishes. Father Vincent was well loved and appreciated for his deep involvement with all of us in the parishes.  Fr. Vincent suffered with many health complications in recent months, unrelated to the cancer he conquered when ministering here.  We pray for his mother and family, for all of the parishioners he served in New Jersey, as well as the entire Congregation of Holy Cross with whom he was still a member at the time of his death.  He will be buried at the Holy Cross cemetery at Stonehill College.   We will keep you informed of details as we know them and at some point soon we will have a Mass of the Resurrection for him at Sacred Heart Saint Francis Church.  

On July 29, 1853, the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, was formally created by papal brief under the leadership of the first bishop, Louis de Goësbriand.  At this time there were 10 churches and approximately 20,000 Catholics being served by five priests. The Diocese was very much a missionary Diocese with limited resources and a small congregation of Catholics sprinkled throughout the vast state.  The terrain was challenging, and the mostly Protestant state did not welcome Catholicism.

Bishop de Goësbriand spent most of his quarter-of-a million-dollar inheritance to travel throughout the state to spread the Good News and build churches, schools and homes for the most vulnerable. The fruits of his labor paid off. By 1891, the number of Catholics more than doubled to 48,000 with 78 churches. In addition, he helped found eight academies and 16 parochial schools in the Diocese with seven congregations of women religious to staff them.By the time he died in 1899, he had spent his entire fortune; he had only $2.12 to his name and a few old suits, noted Father Lance Harlow, rector of St. Joseph Cathedral who wrote a biography of the bishop in 2001. "Bishop de Goësbriand, even though he was raised in a well-respected and well-to-do household, lived in austere simplicity," said Kathleen Messier, assistant diocesan archivist. "In several biographical accounts of Burlington's founding bishop, his Christ-like love of the poor has often been noted."

Today we find the Diocese of Burlington is again missionary territory, similar to what Bishop de Goësbriand faced but with new challenges: Covid-19, declining population and a generation of young people disinterested in joining any type of formal religion.We must face these challenges with the same fortitude and faith as our first leader, Bishop de Goësbriand, and create new ways to engage young people and lay leaders, while keeping our faith community connected during the pandemic and continuing to support the most vulnerable among us. When the pandemic closed our churches, we increased our communication by live-streaming almost 200 faith engagement activities including weekly and Sunday Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, daily rosary, daily scripture reflections and many other faith engagement opportunities. We continued to provide emergency aid to families — many impacted by Covid-19 — moved our Catholic education online and guided our parishes to safely open for the public celebration of the Mass when the stay-home-order was lifted.

It is with an abundance of joy and gratitude that Bishop Christopher Coyne has announced the first phase of the reopening of our churches to celebrate daily Mass beginning June 1 and Weekend mass June 6/7 using the previous schedule. The obligation to attend Sunday Mass remains lifted until further notice, especially if you are part of a vulnerable population and/or have an underlying health condition.

Please approach the celebration of Mass with charity and love for our clergy and faith community by following the protocols:

• Stay home if you are sick or not feeling well
• Wear a mask in Mass.
• Sanitize your hands upon entry.
• (Due to a shortage of sanitizer, please bring your own if possible).
• Sit in designated pews and respect social distance between others of 6 feet or more unless you are one family unit.
• Refrain from congregating in tight areas or entering cordoned off areas.
• Follow the protocols to receive Holy Communion as directed at Mass.
• Follow our church protocols regarding registration due to the 25% capacity limit. 

At Sacred Heart St. Francis de Sales this means no more than 100 people at any Mass and at St. John the Baptist the limit is 70 people per Mass. 

 For more details about church protocols please click here: