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Pastor's Greeting
As Pastor of Immaculate Conception Church I am very happy to welcome you to our Website. We are a Roman Catholic Faith Community who worships Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We firmly believe as Catholics that Jesus Christ is Lord and that over 2,000 years ago He established a Church that the Gates of Hell will never prevail against. As Catholics we believe that the Pope is the Head of the Church as designed by Christ whilst He walked among us. He proclaimed to St. Peter, You are Rock (Tu est Petrus) and on this Rock, I will build my Church (Mt. 16:18). The Church of which Christ was speaking is the Roman Catholic Church, by which He feeds His flock with the sacraments. The Sacraments the Church celebrates are tangible signs of God’s presence, love and mercy among us.
As a community of faithful, Immaculate Conception Church profoundly has at its core, the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Jesus established the Sacrament of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday, at the Last Supper (The Passover Meal) when He took bread and gave it to His disciples and said: “Take this all of you and eat of it. This is my Body which will be given up for you.” And likewise He took the cup and said: “Take this all of you and drink of it. This is the cup of my Blood which will be given up for you. Do this in memory of me.” Mt. 26:26. Likewise, Christ, in John’s Gospel in the Bread of Life Discourse, told His disciples: Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, you have no life within you. For whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him and I will raise him up on the last day (Jn 6:51). It should be noted that the 66th verse of the same chapter states: As a result of this teaching, many stopped following Him. All the words of Scripture are inspired and need to be followed with one’s whole heart and soul as the Catholic Church has taught from its founding. This is why as Catholics we believe that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is an obligation and we must keep Sunday Holy by attending Mass as expressed in the Third Commandment. If a Catholic misses Mass on Sunday (or the Vigil Mass on Saturday evening) without grave reason it is a mortal sin and he or she needs to go to the Sacrament of Confession before receiving Communion again.
Christ didn’t only intend for His Body and Blood to be received, but also worshiped. That is why Immaculate Conception Church has a 24 hour / 7 day a week Eucharistic Adoration Chapel. There is never a time in our parish, when the Eucharist is not Adored, Honored and Worshiped by the faithful.
Immaculate Conception Church as a faithful Catholic Community is dedicated to honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary. We firmly believe in her title Theotokos (Mother of God), as she is referred to in Holy Scripture by St. Elizabeth, Who am I, that the Mother of my Lord has come to visit me? Lk. 1:43. Through Holy Scripture the prediction of Mary has been fulfilled in the Catholic Church when she states: From this day all generations will call me blessed. Lk. 1:48. Jesus is God, and Jesus followed the 10 Commandments perfectly, and did not exclude any of them. The 4th Commandment is Honor your Father and Mother. Jesus honors His Mother in following the 10 Commandments, and honoring Mary then, is worthy of imitating Jesus. Mary is our Mother as she was given to us by Christ Himself as He hung upon the Cross. Woman behold your son. Son behold your Mother. And from that hour he took her into his home. Jn. 19:26. By Christ referring to His Mother as Woman and not Mother or Mary, He is referring to her title as the New Eve, whereby she has become the Mother of all the Faithful, Who is my mother, who are my brothers and sisters, but those who follow me. Mt. 12:46-50. Her intersession is vital to all Christians. If it were not, why would have Christ performed His first miracle through her intersession at the wedding feast of Cana? He was not intending to perform a miracle there because his hour had not yet come. Jn. 2:4. Yet due to His mother’s beckoning He performed His first miracle changing water into wine.
As Catholics, we do not subscribe to the errant belief of Sola Scriptura, as taught by Martin Luther, Scripture Alone. We believe that although Christians must use Sacred Scripture to form theological beliefs, our beliefs are not based on Scripture alone, but based on Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, which are equally important given their One source, God. Every Christian community is based on a tradition that has been passed down to them over the years or centuries. The Tradition of the Catholic Church has been handed down to Her by Christ Himself which is why She is the Deposit of the fullness of Truth. The Catholic Church was not founded by a man, like Martin Luther, King Henry VIII, John Knox or John Calvin, but by Christ Himself.
Once again, as Pastor of our beautiful parish, I welcome you to our Website. If you haven’t visited Immaculate Conception Church, I invite you to do so. We receive many visitors from all over who wish to see the art work in our beautiful sanctuary.
May almighty God bless you and keep you close to our Lord’s Sacred Heart and His Mother’s Immaculate Heart.
Pax vobis omnibus.
Rev. Giacomo Capoverdi
Parish Mission Statement
We, the parish family of Immaculate Conception Church, Westerly, Rhode Island,
seek to be unified with the Father through an ever growing union with Jesus Christ;
and we are strongly devoted to His mother,
under whose patronage our parish is dedicated to God.
We strive to model the unity of Jesus' followers whose way of life was described as,
"They devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles and to the communal life,
to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers." (Acts 2:42)
Through the sacraments, liturgical prayer, religious education and pastoral care,
we continue to strive for a deeper relationship with God through service to His people;
"This is how all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
(John 13:35)
Immaculate Conception Parish is in the Diocese of Providence (Rhode Island) under the auspices of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).