Our Pastor’s Message
Remembering Father Alves
The Meaning of a Life

By Father Jim

On Friday, February 8th, Father Eugene Alves, our longtime pastor and senior priest, passed away surrounded by his devoted and loving family. After hearing this sad news and looking through some boxes in a rectory closet, I found some wonderful old photographs of Father Alves, including one from his first Mass, which was celebrated fifty-eight years ago this month at Our Lady of Good Voyage Church. As a priest for almost sixty years, Father Alves celebrated an untold number of daily and weekend Masses. He baptized thousands of babies and adult converts. He offered First Holy Communion to generations of young disciples. He heard an untold number of confessions and absolved millions of sins. He presided over the weddings and funerals of countless numbers of family, friends, and fellow parishioners. He visited the sick, comforted the afflicted, counseled the troubled, and offered good advice both in private and on the front steps of this historic church.

Shortly after Father Alves died, I was blessed to visit with his family. Reflecting on his ministry, his niece, Anita, said that every single family in Gloucester and Rockport probably has a photograph of her uncle from some community event, parish celebration, or family gathering. That prompted me to think about the tumultuous times during which Father Alves lived and served as a priest: Vietnam; Vatican II; the Civil Rights Movement; the assassinations of Mar- tin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy; the social and political upheaval of the late sixties; the cultural and sexual revolutions of the seventies and eighties; the rise of computer and digital technologies; deadly terrorist attacks; seemingly endless wars; and a sexual abuse crisis that goes on and on. Father Alves also served under four archbishops and six popes. Through it all, Father Alves stood calmly at the helm, charted our course, and led us forward — ever confident that our community could do anything as long as we worked together.

Needless to say, Father Alves was not perfect. From personal experience alone, I know that he could be difficult, stubborn, and sometimes uncompromising. But beneath that hard exterior lived an exceptionally kind, decent, and generous man. Father Alves was singularly dedicated to Our Lady of Good Voyage Parish and its parishioners. He was a good and faithful priest who gave his entire life — heart, mind, body, and soul — in service to God’s people without ambition, avarice, or bitterness. He loved his priesthood and his parish family. In so many ways, Father Alves was larger than life: and he will live on in the hearts and memories of generations of parishioners who were blessed to know him, to love him, and to learn from him.

During funerals, Father Alves would often say that death doesn’t make sense unless you have faith. With humility, I might add that life itself doesn’t make sense unless we are willing to love and serve others. On the same day that Father Alves died, Pope Francis said: “Life has value when we give it, when we give it in love, when we give it in truth, and when we give it to others in everyday life.” One might think that the Holy Father was thinking about Father Alves when he shared these words with the world! May God bless Father Alves. May God bless all who grieve his passing. And may God bless us with the courage, grace, and perseverance to give to others what Father Alves gave to all of us — a life so well-lived; a life so truly dedicated to prayer, fellowship, and service. Our Lady of Good Voyage, pray for us!

Reverend James M. Achadinha, Pastor
Catholic Community of Gloucester & Rockport
Contact: frjim@ccgronline.com

CCGR Weekly Newsletter (2-17-19) 
Bringing Home the Word (2-17-19)
Watch: The Pope Video (February 2019)

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Adult Faith Formation
Winter Day of Prayer & Reflection
Prayer & Healing with the Children of Fatima
Saturday, February 23rd