“The Lord’s ways are not our ways.” Bishop Robert McManus, leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester says, certainly defining the just completed, strange and challenging Lenten period.

“For Catholics, three or four months, if that’s what it turns into, without being able to attend Mass or receive the sacraments is very hard, but my hope is that once we’re able to return to Mass and the sacraments, we’ll appreciate being back together, and receiving the sacraments much more.” Bishop McManus states.

Bishop McManus has been repeatedly asked why he thinks the coronavirus has devastated the world during Lent. “Maybe God’s allowing this to happen now because He’s trying to tell us something.” Bishop McManus continues. “I hope people are really listening, and responding, as it’s a two - way street.”

“Our priests are trying to do so many things to reach people who need faith more than ever before.” Bishop McManus says. “I’m so proud of the way our priests in our parishes have responded to this challenge.”

There are about one hundred and twenty active priests in the diocese, half of them are over sixty years of age, and half under sixty.  When it became clear that the coronavirus was going to be devastating to the community and parishes, Bishop McManus asked twenty of the priests under fifty years of age to engage in a special ministry to the sick.

These twenty priests began calling on parishioners in hospitals, and going to hospitals when Catholics from around the diocese needed the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. “They did this with such an apostolic zeal, with priests getting multiple calls daily, and put themselves in potentially dangerous situations, and I’m so proud of them.” Bishop McManus continues.

On Palm Sunday, Catholics were invited to drive to, parish church parking lots, and stay in their cars in a line.  Lay people handed out palms, while priests stood at a safe distance and blessed the occupants of each car.  “A number of people were in tears.” Bishop McManus says. “This adaptation of distributing palms was a sign of our tangible relationship with the church.”

Throughout Lent, the diocese and individual parishes adapted and created new ways to reach out to Catholics as well as anyone else interested.  Masses from the Cathedral and from parishes all over the diocese were live streamed, shown on television, and posted on YouTube.

Bishop McManus laments that about sixty thousand Catholics attend Mass weekly in the diocese, which is only about twenty five percent of the Catholics here.  “However, during this Lent, we had something like forty - four thousand people viewing Mass, which is very encouraging!” he exclaims.

“Being able to only participate in the Mass online has, I hope, revived the reality of a spiritual communion, through the prayer that is shown during what would be the time people would receive the Body and Blood of Christ, and through prayers that anyone might be saying at that time of the televised Mass.” Bishop McManus continues.

According to Bishop McManus, social media has been a great blessing, a way to stay in touch with people. Had the pandemic occurred twenty - five years ago, media and social media would not have existed in the way they do now, and people would not have been able to stay in touch with one another as people are able to now.

Even with these means of communication, and televising Mass as well as other ministries and programs, people are still struggling with isolation and feeling separated from their faith.  Bishop McManus was saddened to receive many emails from people begging him to allow them to attend Mass.

“Faith tells me God is in charge ultimately, which is so difficult, especially for those who have lost someone because of this virus, or during this time.” Bishop McManus says. “But God will bring us through this.”

Bishop McManus suggests that this may be a time of fasting, fasting from the eucharist, the Mass, and the sacraments. “Hopefully, we’ll all come through this fast with a deeper appreciation for how important the sacraments are to our lives.” He states.  “We don’t realize what we have until we lose it.”

Throughout Lent, Bishop McManus has been visiting hospitals, and blessing the healthcare workers putting themselves in compromising situations in those hospitals. At UMASS, the blessing was broadcast to all the rooms, so every healthcare worker and patient could hear and see the blessing.

“As difficult as it is to believe, our faith tells us that everything works together for good.” Bishop McManus concludes.  As a people of God, we’re all called to live our life in faith.

------------------------------------------------------------30-----------------------------------------------

Worcester Bravehearts Hope for a Season!

In spite of the uncertainty surrounding all kinds of gatherings, the Worcester Bravehearts are planning for the 2020 baseball season!

Although General Manager Dave Peterson has been furloughed, he’s still on the telephone and runs into the office a couple of days per week, making sure the organization is as prepared as any entity can be in these strange times.

The team’s roster is set for the season, with an expanded roster due to some colleges are allowing student / athletes an additional year of eligibility because of the shut - down effecting all schools. A few of the local players include: Nick Martin, Kevin Hummer, and John West from Shrewsbury; Carson Hauben from Grafton; Hunter Reynold from Marlborough; and Jordan Kjoniksen from Westborough.  “We’ve already found homes for the summer for most of the players, although we do need a few additional homes, if anyone is interested.” Peterson says.

With the roster set, Peterson is working at preparations such as ordering signs, contacting ticket holders who regularly celebrate birthdays at the park, and making other plans for the start of the season.  “I’m making plans for the purchase of everything from baseballs to bats to uniforms and other equipment.” Peterson continues. “However, we can’t place those orders until we know for sure that we’ll be playing this summer!”  The team has a number of purchases to make that would make no sense to complete now, until the current restrictions are allowed to end, from all those kinds of equipment to contracting buses for away games and concessions.

“When people do go back to work and restrictions on being together at events are relaxed, we’ll have a lot to do in a very short period of time, we’ll all have to work harder than ever, in every business and organization, because everything will be compressed into August, September, and October.” Peterson says. “People will be re-booking events like weddings, graduations, even the Boston Marathon, and most every business from restaurants to caterers ( and the Bravehearts are owned by a catering and tent rental business ) to limousine companies to hair stylists and barbers will be working very long days trying to recover some of the income we’re all losing now.”

There is a great deal of uncertainty. “We just have to take one day at a time and see what happens at the beginning of May.” Peterson says. “Without May and June, our business would be so affected that we couldn’t operate this year, and we’d have to wait until 2021.”  Peterson believes that so long as the season opens by mid-June, the team would still have a positive impact on the community, and complete a season.  The team will also have to work with Holy Cross in regards to the use of the ballpark, and right now Holy Cross is closed to students, and the school is also waiting out the spread of coronavirus cases.

It would be very disappointing for the season to begin after the two morning games in early June when the team hosts field trips to these games and provide Baseball in Education Days.  Prior to those games, the schools get a curriculum that involve students being asked questions about subjects like math that apply to many aspects of life, including baseball. Four thousand area students attend the games, and prior to the games, are asked questions about those subjects and topics. 

“In any event, I have to maintain a positive outlook.” Peterson states. “We’re going to figure out ways to entertain people, after all that’s our business, and generate revenue in the offseason.”  A number of entertainment focused possibilities are being discussed by team officials, but no decisions have been made yet, as the hope is the coronavirus crisis will have been successfully mitigated by the summer.

So, as with so many other kinds of businesses and organizations, the Worcester Bravehearts will wait and see how successful physical distancing and other measures to halt the rapid spread of the coronavirus are, and go from there.

To learn more about the Worcester Bravehearts, and to stay updated about the season, visit the website: www.worcesterbravehearts.com 

---------------------------------------------------------------30---------------------------------------------------------------

More on wrestling!

Although Beyond Wrestling has postponed future wrestling events, along with the opening of a pro wrestling school in Worcester for the time being, Drew Cordeiro, President of the wrestling promotion invites anyone, particularly wrestling fans who are searching for entertainment right now, to go to YouTube or the promotions live streaming channel to watch matches!

“We’ve been looking to expand in Worcester, where we have quite an enthusiastic fan base for our matches held at the White Eagle venue, and include a pro wrestling school as well.” Cordeiro says. “Our plan is to do instruction on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then live events every Thursday, as well as on other dates.”

“Beyond Wrestling has been a promotion that offers wrestlers an opportunity to learn and entertain fans at the same time, and we’ve had a number of wrestlers who are now in promotions such as the WWE, AEW, NXT, and promotions in Japan.” Cordeiro continues. “Some of those more familiar wrestlers include: Sasha Banks, Kevin Owens, Drew Coulette, and the Viking Raiders, and many others.”

Cordeiro asserts that because the Beyond Wrestling has a large online distribution platform, wrestling for the promotion is a good way to become noticed by the larger promotions in the United States, Europe, and Japan.  Beyond Wrestling can be found online at www.Independentwrestling.tv  or on YouTube/beyondwrestling. The YouTube channel has attracted 2 million viewers.

One distinct way that Beyond Wrestling is unique in how they train as well as the matched made is that women are sometimes wrestling men.  “Few wrestling schools are run by women, so women tend to be trained by men anyway.” Cordeiro explains. “Our creating inter-gender matches, which provide women a way to learn and advance more quickly by wrestling men, is one of our signatures.”

Beyond Wrestling and Cordeiro will be opening up a pro wrestling school and organizing events as soon as it makes sense to do so.  In the meantime, if you’re a pro wrestling fan, and are searching for entertainment, visit one of the online sites. 

Are you a pro wrestling fan and searching for something to watch?  

New England Championship Wrestling is celebrating their 20^th anniversary, and the promotion has quite a few shows on YouTube!

NECW founder and President Sheldon Goldberg is very upbeat about his promotion, despite the inability, at the moment, to put on live shows!

“We’ve always been active in fundraising for local charities, youth and school groups.” Goldberg says. “As we’ve approached the 20^th anniversary, I’ve been analyzing and evaluating what NECW has been and accomplished, and looked at where we want to go from here.”

In the first 20 years, NECW has also included in shows a number of stars before they became famous, including Koffi Kingston, John Cena, Sasha Banks, ( her first professional match was in NECW ) Becky Lynch, ( her first match in America was for NECW ), and others.

“NECW was not responsible for their careers, but we’ve been an important step for a lot of people.” Goldberg states. “There is nothing like seeing that kid you helped along show up on national television!”

Goldberg’s background was in theater production and publicity. He knew people in the wresting business, and always thought it was great show business.  While Goldberg works full time for an insurance company, wrestling is still his passion.

The next step for Goldberg and NECW is finding, then purchasing, a venue.  “Venues have always been a challenge for smaller promotions, and ‘we’d like to establish our own.” Goldberg explains. “It’s difficult for any business to be open when you want to be open if you don’t have your own shop, your own venue.”

“We’re searching for a first - class venue that would hold 300 to 500 people.” He continues. “It would have to be family friendly and television friendly, and we’d anticipate running a number of nights per week, as I have absolutely no doubt the audience is there!”

The plan would be to not just have the live audience, but also live stream the shows. “NECW had 2 successful runs on television over the years, and we have terrific experience with television as well as online and social media platforms.” Goldberg says.

But right now, fans can go to YouTube and watch many past productions.  You can access through the NECW website:  www.NECW.tv    Something fun to watch while we wait for the world to recover!

Randy Rothwell: Joy of My Desire & Glory to the Lamb