Monitor Mag Nov 2023 CMA

MONITOR

THE

Official publication of The Diocese of Trenton

Vol. 5 • No. 2 • NOVEMBER 2023

MAGAZINE

HISTORY in the Making

A new shrine dedicated to Blessed Carlo Acutis was recently blessed by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., and inaugurated by the personal prayer of the beatified teen’s mother during her visit to the Diocese of Trenton.

This month’s IN FOCUS begins on page 11.

ALSO . . .

FROM THE BISHOP: Reflection on seeking and finding truth SPECIAL REPORT: Prayer response to conflict in Holy Land ANNIVERSARY BLESSINGS: Couples celebrated for love, fidelity

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Antonia Salzano Acutis kneels before the relic of her son, Blessed Carlo Acutis, in the newly-dedicated shrine that bears his name in St. Dominic Church, Brick. The Eucharistic Miracles website he designed inspired the Diocese of Trenton’s traveling exhibit of the same name, which has been hosted in numerous parishes throughout the past year. See coverage pages 11-17.

Mike Ehrmann photo

MONITOR

THE

Official publication of The Diocese of Trenton

MAGAZINE

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ON THE COVER

45-55

Couples celebrating milestone wedding anniversaries embrace at the Bishop’s Anniversary Blessings Mass in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral Oct. 22.

Contents 7-9  From the Bishop

Bishop O’Connell speaks about the Catholic Church’s search for truth through the ages

18-20  Special Report Confronting the crisis in the Holy Land, and the Christian response

22-25  We Believe Catholic schools celebrate annual Mass with Bishop; Mission Sunday renews call of support; young artist receives national award for mission-themed artwork

28-29  Synod The XVI Synod of Bishops examines worldwide feedback, calls for continuing participation

60-65  In the Parishes Visitation Parish looks back on 75 years; Forty Hours devotion in St. Hedwig’s; White and Red Masses honor healthcare and legal professionals; Mount Laurel parish hosts Rosary Rally; Monument to Unborn blessed in Willingboro parish

REGULAR FEATURES 42 ¡ Church

56-58 ¡ Insight from Father Koch, Mary Morrell; Question Corner

43 ¡ World & Nation

74 ¡ Fun & Games

November 2023

 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 3

Peces

Obispo recuerda a parejas de aniversario que su matrimonio es un ‘Sacramento de Dios’ POR MARY STADNYK  Directora Asociada y ROSE O’CONNOR  Administradora de Redes Sociales y Digitales

S

ophia Cerullo tenía lágrimas en los ojos cuando asistió a la Misa de Bendición por Aniversario de Bodas que dio el obispo el 22 de octubre.

Una feligresa de la Parroquia de San Juan Bautista, Allentown, Cerullo estuvo feliz de visitar la Catedral de Santa María de la Asunción, Trenton, por primera vez y presenciar que sus padres, Michael y Janet, renovaron sus votos matrimoniales ante el Obispo David M. O’Connell, C.M. “Estamos emocionados de recibir estas gracias del obispo al bendecirnos en nuestro 25 aniversario, tanto como pareja como familia”, dijo Janet Cerullo. “Hoy, vamos a orar por una abundancia de gracias que nos servirán mientras nos encaminamos a nuestros próximos 25 años”.

Los Cerullo estuvieron entre las casi 300 parejas de toda la diócesis que asistieron a las Misas de Bendición de Aniversario de Bodas que dio el obispo este 2023. El obispo O’Connell celebró una Misa el 8 de octubre en la Concatedral de San Roberto Belarmino, Freehold, para parejas de Una pareja de aniversario escucha el Evangelio durante la misa del 22 de octubre.

Hal Brown foto

los condados de Monmouth y Ocean que cumplen un año, 25, 50 o más años de matrimonio este año. La misa del 22 de octubre se celebró en la catedral para parejas de los condados de Burlington y Mercer.

Las Misas de Bendición de Aniversario de Bodas que celebra el obispo han sido una de las favoritas en la Diócesis, brindando una oportunidad para que las parejas renueven sus votos matrimoniales y reciban una bendición especial del obispo.

Después de las misas, las parejas son invitadas a recibir una bendición individual de uno de los sacerdotes concelebrantes y un certificado que marca su hito. Este año, después de cada celebración hubo comida, música y baile.

“Su matrimonio ha sido algo muy humano, alfo que satisface el deseo en los corazones de todos nosotros de compartir nuestras vidas unos con otros”, dijo el obispo O’Connell, “pero su matrimonio también ha sido un Sacramento de Dios”.

“Este sacramento los ha unido, los mantiene unidos en un vínculo de amor que se ha hecho más fuerte, más profundo, más santo con el paso del tiempo. Sus ingredientes son una mezcla de paciencia, dedicación y compromiso, frustraciones y tolerancia, risas y lágrimas, trabajo y descanso, familias con hijos o familias de solo ustedes dos, todo mezclado en el misterio y la plenitud del amor conyugal. Depende de ustedes, con la gracia de Dios, abrazar esa maravillosa receta todos los días, durante todo el día”, dijo el obispo. Lea la historia completa en TrentonMonitor.com.

Obispo inaugura el Santuario Diocesano del Beato Carlo Acutis POR MARY STADNYK  Directora Asociada

U

n aire de emoción y reverencia impregnó la comunidad parroquial de Santo Domingo en Brick, el 1 de octubre, cuando unos 1.200 fieles se reunieron por todo el complejo de la iglesia para presenciar la dedicación por parte del Obispo David M. O’Connell, C.M., de un nuevo Santuario Diocesano al Beato Carlo Acutis y para orar con su madre que estaba de visita desde Italia.

Expresando que era un “honor y un privilegio” darle la

Sigue en 75

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November 2023

¡Lee más en línea! Visita trentonmonitor.com/ peces para ver más historias en español de toda nuestra diócesis y del mundo. La exposición Milagros Eucarísticos sigue ganando amplio reconocimiento Dios quiere que la gente lo conozca y lo alabe en su propia lengua, dice el Papa El Papa pide que no se impida la entrada de ayuda a Gaza y llama a la liberación de todos los rehenes En servicio de oración sinodal, el Papa pide una reforma migratoria enfocada en los más vulnerables

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 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 5

Readers’ Corner

A study in contrasts of human emotion A message from

RAYANNE BENNETT Associate Publisher

I

t is not everyday that one gets to meet the mother of a beatified person, a young man on a path to sainthood. But that is what happened this month when Antonia (Acutis) Salzano visited St. Dominic Church in Brick to witness the establishment of a new diocesan shrine dedicated to her late son and his devotion to the Eucharist.

The joy was almost palpable for the St. Dominic Parish and School community, who filled the church to capacity for this extraordinary and historic occasion.

The smiles and reverence shown in the photos from this special event tell the story. Even young students knew how important this was and how privileged they were to take part.

This November issue of The Monitor Magazine is filled with coverage of many other truly joyful events and experiences, perhaps most notably the two Anniversary Blessing Masses celebrated

by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., honoring 300 couples from across the Diocese. This is echoed in page after page of parish and Catholic school celebrations, marking milestones of ministry; honoring those who serve others; recognizing achievement. There is indeed much to be grateful for.

 “The content in this magazine mirrors the human experience.”

But co-existing in this magazine with all of this joyful content is reporting on one of the most horrific eruptions of violence and dehumanizing barbarism that the world has seen since the Holocaust. News reports on the Oct. 7 attack on innocent Israelis by members of the terrorist group Hamas has been excruciating to see. At the same time, witnessing the toll that the response by Israel has taken on innocent Palestinians in Gaza evokes profound despair because we feel helpless to stop it. We fear that there will be a widening of this violence, pulling in other countries,

Give thanks to God for all His gifts, especially faith, family, and friends.

With grateful prayers and best wishes this Thanksgiving!

Most Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M., J.C.D. Bishop of Trenton

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November 2023

including the United States. There is a grim sense that we are on the brink of something that cannot be controlled or quelled.

The jubilation of welcoming the mother of a likely future saint, contrasted with the depths of sadness, grief and worry spurred by the conflict in the Holy Land . . . the content in this magazine mirrors the human experience. The throughline running through this range of emotions – the lifeline that keeps us grounded, connected, hopeful and grateful – is, of course our faith in Jesus Christ and our ability to pray.

May we always be aware of how close God is at our darkest hours; may we always remember how blessed we are in times of joy.

We hope that you will pray with us for the many needs and intentions in this issue, and we will continue to pray for all of you. God bless.

COMING UP ON TRENTONMONITOR.COM . . .

Bishop O’Connell’s messages on: All Souls Day and All Saints Day National Vocation Awareness Week PLUS ongoing coverage of developments in the Holy Land And wrap-up of the first session of the Bishop’s Synod on Synodality

Freepik image

From the Bishop

T

St. Thomas Aquinas, from the Demidoff Altarpiece, tempera on poplar by Carlo Crivelli, 1476; in the National Gallery, London. Public domain.

here have been many definitions of “truth” presented throughout human history. But which one is true, which one is accurate?

In the 13th century, the Church’s greatest Catholic philosopher and theologian (in the A Message from opinion of many), BISHOP DAVID M. St. Thomas Aquinas, O’CONNELL, C.M. defined truth as the “conformity of the mind to reality (Summa Theologiae or Theologica 1.21.2).” In other words, Thomas believed and taught that “truth” is the agreement between the intellectual representation of a concept or a thing and the way that concept or thing actually exists.

To understand his explanation, note that Thomas acknowledged two elements to truth: (1) reality or that which actually exists independent of the human intellect and (2) the correct intellectual grasp of that which exists. His definition is not that difficult to understand. It makes sense.

The Summa as it is popularly called was Thomas’ effort to present a compendium of all knowledge and learning based upon the ancient philosophical thought of Aristotle (384-322 BC). It attempted to demonstrate truth as the relationship between the nature of reality and human experience. I find his explanation not only reasonable but instructive, convincing and useful.

As a Catholic thinker, Thomas focused a great deal of his teaching and writing on the “truth” of God’s existence and the Continued on 8

November 2023

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 7

From the Bishop

Church is connection between reason, faith Continued from 7

reality of God’s involvement in our world. These “truths” can be known by reason, he asserts, as well as faith. One does not need to be a philosopher or theologian, however, to see the connection between reason and faith.

True enough, the Catholic Church considers the existence of God to be absolute truth and the non-negotiable foundation of all that the Church believes and teaches – the reality to which the human mind conforms! Once acknowledged and believed, the truths of our Catholic faith inspire and motivate how we live our  “The Church... daily lives precisely as believers.

We depend upon the Church to helps us help us understand God’s role in our lives. God is not simply the recogunderstand nition of our human intellect and reason. God reveals himself to us and God’s role invites us to believe and enter into an in our lives.” active relationship with him through our faith.

God created us and loves his creation. The Church believes, teaches and helps us to understand and grasp what that actually means. To accomplish that goal, the Church depends upon God’s revelation in and through his Word. The Church fulfills its purpose and mission as Church by interpreting his revelation and offering that interpretation in and through the teachings it imparts.

The history of the Catholic Church is the story of the Catholic Church doing precisely that, interpreting and applying the revelation of God. The history of the Catholic Church is an encounter with the truth of God in human life and experience, sharing that truth for the belief of its members.

That truth is the source of the Catholic faith and all that the Church believes and teaches now and has believed and taught throughout the ages.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the turning point and center of Free pik im human history as the very age revelation of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the actual Word of God made flesh. “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” ( John 1:14).

The Lord Jesus Christ revealed himself as “the Truth” when he declared “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one 8 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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November 2023

comes to the Father except through me ( John 14:6).” He is the human personification and revelation of God. At his Baptism in the Jordan and, again, at his Transfiguration the scriptures note the words of his heavenly Father, “This [the Lord Jesus Christ] is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him” (Matthew 17:5).

During his life on earth, the Lord Jesus Christ called 12 men to be his apostles and established the Catholic Church on this foundation. In response to Peter’s declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ’s identity, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), the Lord Jesus Christ replied: “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so, I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:17-20).

This is the scriptural affirmation of the institution and origin of the Catholic Church by the Lord Jesus Christ’s own words and intention and the scriptural foundation of the authority he gave to Peter and his successors: the authority to proclaim truth.

The Catholic Church has, indeed, used its divinely established authority to teach truth over the past two millennia through successive popes and bishops in union with them, the “hierarchical magisterium.” Although much of what the Church believes and teaches as truth is rooted in mysteries that defy the explanation of reason and our senses, those same mysteries call for faith and belief in their truth.

In fact, membership in the Catholic Church requires such faith. As St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in his universally famous Eucharistic hymn, Tantum ergo, “what our senses fail to fathom, let us grasp through faith’s consent.”

What has developed in the Catholic Church through its belief in God, in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Son, in divine revelation through Scripture and Tradition, and through the teaching of the Church’s magisterium over the centuries has come to be known as the “deposit of faith.”

Manuscript cover detail by St. Thomas Aquinas. Public Domain

Bishop’s Scrapbook In our own day, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: 84| The apostles entrusted the ‘Sacred deposit’ of the faith (the depositum fidei), contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the whole of the Church. “By adhering to [this heritage] the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. So, in maintaining, practicing and professing the faith that has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the bishops and the faithful.”

85| “The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.” This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.

86| “Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully.

All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith.”

87| Mindful of Christ’s words to his apostles: “He who hears you, hears me,” the faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives that their pastors give them in different forms.

88| The Church’s Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes, in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith, truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection with these.

89| There is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the dogmas. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure. Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of faith.

90| The mutual connections between dogmas, and their coherence, can be found in the whole of the Revelation of the mystery of Christ.

“In Catholic doctrine there exists an order or hierarchy of truths, since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian faith.”

I recommended reading these references from the actual text of the Catechism to take note of the sources of their citations.

Returning to the Thomistic definition of truth with which I initiated these considerations, what the Catholic Church believes and hands on as truth in the deposit of faith – its doctrinal affirmations as well as its moral teachings – is conformed to the divine reality that is its source and the source of the teaching authority of the Church.

St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) said it well almost a thousand years before St. Thomas Aquinas: “Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.”

I hope to share some more reflections on the truth of Church teachings soon. In the meantime, love and live your Catholic faith.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., has a busy schedule during the fall months. Shown are a couple of stops he made in October. Full coverage inside and on TrentonMonitor.com

Bishop O’Connell poses with Father Leandro Dela Cruz, pastor of St. Ann Parish, Lawrenceville, at the pastor’s 40th anniversary celebration of ordination Oct. 21. Staff photo

Following the Oct. 22 Mass he celebrated in Corpus Christi Church, Willingboro, Bishop O’Connell enjoyed mingling with parishioners during a brunch reception. Ron Maniglia photo November 2023

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In Focus

Bishop dedicates new diocesan Shrine of Blessed Carlo Acutis The relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis, seen here in its reliquary, was installed in its new shrine chapel Oct. 1 in St. Dominic Church, Brick.

Mike Ehrmann photo

Mother of teen on path to sainthood prays with Brick parish community

BY MARY STADNYK  Associate Editor

A

n air of both excitement and reverence permeated the parish community of St. Dominic in Brick, Oct. 1, when some 1,200 worshipers gathered throughout the church complex to witness the dedication

by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., of a new Diocesan Shrine to Blessed Carlo Acutis and to pray with his mother who was visiting from Italy.

Expressing that it was an “honor and privilege” to welcome Antonia Salzano, the Bishop referred to the path that her son is on, saying, “I can’t imagine what it’s like to be the mother of a saint.”

Bishop O’Connell said, “My brothers and sisters, what a great joy it is for all of us today in the Diocese of Trenton, but especially here in St. Dominic Parish, where we will dedicate our first Shrine to Blessed Carlo Acutis.”

Blessed Carlo Acutis was 15 years old when he died in 2006. In his brief life, Carlo had a deep devotion to the Eucharist and the intense desire to help others learn more about it. He became known for developing a website catalogue of Eucharistic miracles Continued on 12

November 2023

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OOOOOOOO A teen’s legacy of devotion In Focus

Continued from 11

as a teenager. Carlo died from leukemia Oct. 12, 2006. He was beatified by Pope Francis Oct. 10, 2020 and his remains are displayed at the Church of St. Mary Major in Assisi. He became the first millennial to be beatified by the Church in 2020.

CELEBRATION OF THE FAITH The extraordinary celebration began with the 9 a.m. Mass, which was livestreamed on screens in the parish chapel and school gym, as well as across the parish and diocesan websites, where it was viewed by more than a thousand faithful.

Bishop O’Connell, principal celebrant, was joined at the altar by Father Brian P. Woodrow, pastor, and concelebrating priests from the parish and nearby parishes. Students from St. Dominic School and religious education program were included, singing in the choir, serving at the altar, carrying the school banner in the entrance procession or presenting a bouquet of flowers to Salzano.

In his homily, the Bishop used the day’s Gospel to emphasize how all are called to do the right thing for the right reason.

“It would be best if what we said matched what we did the first time around, but that’s not always the case,” the Bishop said. “It’s not simply a matter of our words or what we say but rather, what we do that makes a difference in life.”

Bishop O’Connell observed that “for the Christian, conversion is a way of life, it is a process,” although for some folks, conversion takes a lot longer than for others.

“In every case, the old saying proves true: ‘actions speak louder than words,’” the Bishop said. “I’m not saying that words are not important, but if they don’t lead to actions, they remain just that, words.”

FORGING TIES WITH BLESSED CARLO Following Communion, Father Woodrow thanked the Bishop for his support of the parish’s establishing the Shrine and for naming Blessed Carlo the diocesan patron saint of Catholic schools and youth.

Speaking to Salzano, Father Woodrow said, “Words cannot express our affection and our love for you and the fact you are here blessing us with your presence at St. Dominic’s,” he said. “It is

Antonia Salzano, mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis, is escorted by Bishop O’Connell at the Oct. 1 shrine dedication Mass in her son’s honor. Mike Ehrmann photo 12 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

 November 2023

an honor to have you with us here today,” Father Woodrow said, as the congregation erupted into applause.

Reviewing the history of the Shrine’s establishment, Father Woodrow explained that Father Marian Kokorzycki, parochial vicar, obtained a relic of the young man while attending a pilgrimage to Assisi in 2021. The relic was received in the parish April 28, 2022, at which time Bishop O’Connell forged a new bond between Blessed Carlo and the youth and Catholic students of the Diocese.

Father Woodrow spoke of Carlo’s having led a deep prayer life, radiating joy that originated from his encounters with the Lord through frequent reception of the Eucharist and other Sacraments.

After the final blessing, the congregation was asked to remain seated in their pews while Salzano, the Bishop and the clergy processed out of the church to the Shrine for the dedication ceremony.

Salzano carried the reliquary and placed it on a pedestal in the Shrine.

Following the dedication, Salzano returned to the church to address the congregation. She rounded out her visit by greeting parishioners and signing copies of the book she authored.

Referring to the Shrine and relic of her son, Salzano acknowledged how heartened she was to see “signs of Carlo” in St. Dominic Church.

“This is a work of God,” she said, then led into her talk about the Eucharist, which was of utmost importance to Carlo.

“God wants us to be awakened toward the Eucharist,” she said. Using her son’s well known quote, “The Eucharist is the highway to heaven,” Salzano spoke about the “Eucharist being the Real Presence of God among us,” adding that God promises to be with us until the end of the world.

“And he is with us always,” she emphasized.

Recalling how Carlo often said that encountering Jesus is much easier today than it was when Jesus lived more than 2,000 years ago, Salzano pointed out that Continued on 14

OOOOOOOOO

Blessed Carlo’s mother Antonia Salzano is presented with a crucifix and flowers by students from St. Dominic School, Brick.

Mike Ehrmann photos

St. Dominic Church was filled with attendees for the Oct. 1 shrine dedication Mass, which was also live-streamed on diocesan digital media.

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 13

OOOOOOOO ‘Only Jesus can transform the world’ In Focus

Continued from 12

back then, Jesus went about his mission, was always surrounded by lots of people and it wasn’t always easy to have personal contact with him.

Today, people can walk into any Catholic church and encounter Jesus in the tabernacle. Salzano added that it would bother her son to know that concerts, sporting events and films featuring famous actors would draw crowds but attending church and visiting Jesus in the tabernacle did not.

“Carlo would say, ‘It’s because people don’t understand the importance of the Eucharist,’” his mother said, then emphasized that “the Eucharist is the most powerful thing we have in the world. That’s because [the Eucharist] is God among us.”

Salzano reminded the congregation that all people, regardless of their uniqueness, are called to holiness and “to be perfect like Christ is perfect.”

“To become holy, we need the help of Jesus,” she said. “Only Jesus can transform the world.”

A GREAT DAY OF GRACE “What a fun day today was,” Father Woodrow said as he

watched the gymnasium fill up with people who stood in line, hoping to get a chance to greet Salzano and autograph her book.

“This is the Catholic Church now,” he said.

“It’s alive. There are families here, there are youth here, the Bishop is here, the kids are excited about Carlos Acutis,” Father Woodrow said, noting that every age demographic was present for the Mass.

State Assemblywoman and St. Catharine Parish, Holmdel, parishioner Vicky Flynn spoke of the privilege it was to present a proclamation on behalf of the state to Salzano.

“What an honor it is to welcome Carlo’s mother to the U.S.,” Flynn said. She added how inspired she is by Salzano’s willingness to carry on her son’s legacy. Flynn shared that she was inspired by Carlo, “who is someone that young people can look to, to help keep them grounded and reliant on their faith.”

Hailey Curcione, a fifth grader in St. Dominic School, has been enlightened by all she has learned in class about Blessed Carlo and how “he’s really a good person inside and outside.”

Madeline Petillo, a third grader, honestly admitted her surprise at learning that someone who “liked video games like I do can become a saint.” She added that she thought it was “pretty cool” that a Shrine has been set up in Blessed Carlo’s honor at St. Dominic’s and looks forward to learning more about the future saint.

MOM TO MOM

Congregants pray during the Blessed Carlo shrine dedication Mass in St. Dominic Church. Mike Ehrmann photo

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Hearing Salzano speak resonated with several mothers in attendance.

“We’re witnessing history today,” said Mary Jane Petillo. “It’s not too often that you get to live history being made.” She added she was heartened that Salzano called upon people to pray the Rosary daily.

As a mother of three teenage daughters – 14, 17 and 19 – Flynn said she hopes they will be inspired by Blessed Carlo, who was their contemporary before he died at age 15.

“I hope that my daughters will learn from Blessed Carlo about how important faith is,” she said.

Kelly Curcione found the Mass and hearing Salzano’s talk to be “amazing,” and she is happy that her daughter, Hailey, is excited and interested in having someone who is her age to pray to and view as a positive role model.

Curcione said she couldn’t help but think about Salzano from the perspective as a parent who endured the heart-wrenching loss of a child at a young age.

“I can’t imagine what she went through, it’s sad,” Curcione said. “I look at my daughter and all I want to do is give her a hug.”

When asked how she would advise families who suffered the loss of a child, regardless of circumstances, Salzano said she would try and encourage them to place their grief in God’s hands, to remember that their child is now safe with Jesus and is no longer in danger and that one day, they will be together.

“They will meet again,” she said.

OOOOOOOOO

Blessed Carlo’s relic is displayed in the foreground as Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., joined by priests of the Diocese, celebrates the Oct. 1 shrine dedication Mass in St. Dominic Church, Brick. Mike Ehrmann photos

For a news video on the St. Dominic Mass and the latest Eucharistic Moment with Bishop O’Connell, visit YouTube.com/trentondiocese

Faith Features: New book on Blessed Carlo, film on Eucharistic miracles

BY EMMALEE ITALIA  Contributing Editor

B

lessed Carlo Acutis’ mother published a book on her son, and it will be followed by a feature-length film on the Eucharistic miracles the teen loved to promote during his short life.

“My Son Carlo: Carlo Acutis Through the Eyes of His Mother,” by Antonia Salzano Acutis, delves into the life of the teen who desired to bring people to Jesus, as he did for his mother.

“This was his secret: that he had a constant, intimate relationship with Jesus,” she says in the book. “He did not consider it to be something just for him. He was convinced that this relationship was accessible to all.”

In “My Son Carlo,” Antonia Acutis shares for the first time the intimate, private moments of her son’s life, including his final days in vivid detail before he died of leukemia at the age of 15. In her own words, the author shares how she was forever shaped by his remarkable life.

Meanwhile, a prominent Italian filmmaker hopes to make his in-production film, “The New Manna,” available free of charge to parishes so that the message of the Eucharist may be further spread, in the spirit of Blessed Carlo’s life mission.

After an Oct. 1 Mass at St. Dominic’s Parish, Brick, to welcome Antonia Acutis as the new Shrine of Blessed Carlo Acutis was dedicated, attendees received a first look at the trailer for “The New Manna,” which showcases Eucharistic miracles against a backdrop of biblical scenes.

FILM TRAILER: www.eucharisticmiraclesmovie.com

Angelo Libutti, the film’s director and co-writer, introduced his project to those in attendance as “something beautiful, as good as all the movies I did for Avengers, for Marvel, for Disney.” The 51-year-old is also a 3D animator and has worked in special effects departments for several Hollywood studios.

“I’ve been working in Hollywood since I was 16. I know that as soon as this movie comes out, it’s going to be the end of my career in Hollywood,” Libutti said. “And I do it because I don’t care – somebody has to do it.”

Antonia Salzano Acutis signs copies of her book after the Oct. 1 Mass in St. Dominic Church, Brick.

November 2023

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 15

OOOOOOOO In Focus

Faithful visiting St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold, are seen through the exterior veil of the Eucharistic Miracles exhibit as they view the panels in one of its rooms. Mike Ehrmann photo

Eucharistic Miracles exhibit continues to gain wide-reaching recognition

BY EMMALEE ITALIA 

and Family Life.

Contributing Editor

A

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

powerful witness of Christ’s Real Presence, the Eucharistic Miracles exhibit based on the website created by Blessed Carlo Acutis has circulated through 24 parishes of the Trenton Diocese since September 2022, and reservations for its display have already filled the next 12 months of the calendar.

Attesting to its popularity, and in concert with the National Eucharistic Revival, the exhibit’s travel in two-week intervals will now include parishes in the Camden and Metuchen Dioceses, and even the Archdioceses of Newark and Philadelphia.

Comprehensive information on the diocesan website is believed to have contributed to the exhibit’s attendance.

“We have even received phone calls from other states asking to host the exhibit,” said Josue Arriola, director of the diocesan Department of Evangelization

As of mid-October, the audio recording of “Miracles of the Eucharist: Across the World,” including six segments – one for each “room” of the circular display – was downloaded 2,497 times worldwide.

The audio is accessible via QR codes within the display; its script incorporates introductory content from the Blessed Carlo Acutis website.

“Our exhibit is an experience,” Arriola said of the room design, which was a collaboration among various artists, inspired in part by observing museum exhibits. “We decided to display the miracles chronologically … It’s mainly photos [so that it’s] accessible to all ages.

You’re immersed – and you encounter the miracle of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament at the end.”

Parishes that wish to host the exhibit need a dedicated space – the display is 26 feet wide by eight feet tall – but all the logistics are handled by a diocesan crew.

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November 2023

William Rodas, member of the Pescadores de Hombres (Fishers of Men) ministry in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral Parish, Trenton, has managed the exhibit’s building, teardown and

Children in the religious education program of Sacred Heart Parish, Riverton, genuflect before the Eucharist as they visit the Eucharistic Miracles exhibit in the parish family center gym. Photo courtesy of Fran Stinsman

OOOOOOOOO transportation between each display site since January.

“We take care of everything,” he said.

“We just need someone to hold the door for us.”

When discussing the logistics with Arriola, Rodas and he agreed “we need to find people who really love [the Eucharist] and want to learn about the miracles.” He then invited members of his ministry group to be part of the team; they often listen to the audio files as they drive the exhibit to its next location.

“This is a way we can pass down the faith to parishes and help to grow Eucharistic Adoration,” Rodas said, “especially with the children, since they are the future of the Church.”

After his parish received the display, Arriola was notified by a deacon that he witnessed the crew of about a dozen men kneeling in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in the exhibit before building it.

“William said ‘this is what we do every time – we talk to Jesus … We want to be in touch with him, and we pray for the people who are going to be here,’” Arriola said. When there are several days between the exhibit’s assigned locations, “they bring the panels to their houses and retouch them, so the display is always like brand new.” The Pescadores de Hombres members even donate their moving sti-

pend from the Diocese to needy families of Guatemala.

INSPIRING DEVOTION “It’s just magnificent; I hope many people take advantage of the opportunity to see it,” said Fran Stinsman, recently retired pastoral associate at Sacred Heart Parish, Riverton, which hosted the exhibit Oct. 15-27. “We can take for granted what we’ve had all along.”

Stinsman estimated 150 people have seen the exhibit at Sacred Heart. The parish opted to use a repository rather than a monstrance to display the Eucharist in the exhibit so it could be secured overnight.

“It should be emphasized with the children that Blessed Carlo, who died at 15, was very young when he compiled this,” Stinsman offered, noting that parish religious education coordinator, Bonnie Campbell, arranged for several classes of students to view the exhibit.

People were “impressed by the number of miracles, and that so many were in very recent history,” said Deacon Frank Golazeski of St. Ann Parish, Lawrenceville, which displayed the exhibit Sept. 26Oct. 13.

He hoped that those who viewed it took away “not simply a rote belief that the consecrated elements are Jesus, but that they can see it as a reasonable idea

to believe in.”

“God speaks to us in several ways,” he continued. “One of those is through the miraculous events in salvation history.

The exhibit cannot merely be a means of deepening the belief of the faithful but can also be the tipping point for anyone on the Real-Presence fence.”

WHERE WILL THE EXHIBIT BE NEXT? Parishes of the Dioceses of Trenton, Camden, Metuchen and Paterson, and Archdioceses of Newark and Philadelphia will host the Eucharistic Miracles exhibit: 2023 Dates:

Nov. 6 to Nov. 20 • Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Maple Shade Nov. 27 to Dec. 11 • St. Jude Church, Blairstown (Metuchen Diocese) Dec. 12 to Jan. 1, 2024 • St. David the King, Princeton Junction 2024 Dates:

Jan. 2 to 15 • Our Lady of Grace, Fairview (Archdiocese of Newark) Jan. 15 to Jan. 30 • St. Denis, Manasquan Feb. 11 to Feb. 24 • Christ the King, Haddonfield (Camden Diocese) March 6 to March 23 • St. Benedict, Holmdel March 23 to April 6 • Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Feasterville Trevose, Pa. (Archdiocese of Philadelphia) April 12 to April 26 • Our Lady of Sorrows, Linwood (Camden Diocese) May 1 to May 14 • St. John the Baptist, Fairview (Archdiocese of Newark) May 15 to May 29 • St. Veronica, Howell June 1 to June 15 • St. Mary, Wharton/ Dover (Paterson Diocese) June 24 to July 8 • St. Catherine Laboure, Middletown July 14 to July 28 • St. Thomas More, Manalapan Sept. 22 to Oct. 5 • Sacred Heart, Trenton

November 2023

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 17

Special Report

Pope appeals for unimpeded aid into Gaza, release of all hostages VATICAN CITY (CNS) • Pope Francis again called for the release of hostages taken from Israel by Hamas militants and for allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“I am always thinking about the serious situation in Palestine and Israel,” the Pope said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 25.

“I encourage the release of hostages and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he said, and “I continue to pray for those who suffer, to hope for avenues toward peace in the Middle East and martyred Ukraine and in other regions wounded by war.”

More than 200 people were believed to be held by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza after their attacks on Israel Oct. 7. While some aid was coming in from Egypt, Israel has imposed a full blockade on Gaza.

The Pope spoke the morning after Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Vatican’s permanent observer at the United Nations, told the Security Council that although dialogue seems impossible right now, it is the “only viable option for a lasting end to the cycle of violence” that has plagued the Holy Land.

“Amidst the escalating violence, it

Israel mourns the loss of entire families in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack. Itai and Hadas Berdichevsky, upper left, were killed sheltering their twins, who survived the attack; Tamar and Yonatan Kedem with children, lower left, were all killed; Deborah and Shlomi Matias, upper right, were killed sheltering in a safe room, protecting their son, who survived.

On the lower right is an Israeli grandmother, now dead, shown with her granddaughter, who is alive and discovered that Hamas posted the execution of her grandmother on her own Facebook page. OSV News photo/Facebook is imperative for the authorities of the state of Israel and the state of Palestine to demonstrate audacity to renew their commitment toward a peace based on

justice and respect for the legitimate aspirations of both sides,” said the archbishop.

“The Holy See remains convinced that the two-state solution still offers hope for such a peace,” he said during a Security Council open debate Oct. 24 on “the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.”

“In the most absolute terms and unequivocally,” the archbishop said, the Holy See condemns “the terrorist attack carried out by Hamas and other armed groups” against Israel.

“Thousands were barbarically killed and wounded. Others were taken hostage,” he said. “These crimes demon-

Continued on 20

Palestinians attend to a child who was a casualty of an Israeli airstrike on a house in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 24, 2023. OSV News photo/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa, Reuters 18 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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November 2023

Special Report

S Screenshot of prayer service video on YouTube.com/trentondiocese

Bishop leads Prayer for Peace service in response to call from Pope Francis

purred by the recent terrorist attack against innocent civilians of Israel and the escalating violence it has unleashed, Pope Francis issued a call for a day of fasting, penance and prayer for peace in the world on Oct. 27.

The Pope invited men and women of every Christian denomination and other religions as well as those committed to the cause of peace to participate in any way they felt appropriate.

In response, Bishop David O’Connell, conducted a Prayer Service for Peace that streamed on the Diocese’s websites Oct. 27. The video is posted on youtube. com/trentondiocese and is available for viewing.

The Bishop asked parishioners to join him in praying for the Holy Land, for the people of Israel and Palestine who are under the grip of unprecedented violence, for the victims, especially for the children, for the wounded, for those held hostage, for the missing and their families.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., leads Chancery staff in a prayer service for peace in the Holy Land. The service was streamed on diocesan media Oct. 27. Staff photo

November 2023

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Special Report

Gaza Catholic parish mourns fellow Christians killed in blast at Greek Orthodox complex JERUSALEM • For Mother María del Pilar Llerena Vargas, “it was an image that will be very difficult to erase.”

The Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word from Peru, who is serving in the Catholic parish in Gaza, recalled the pain of watching the funeral of Christians killed in an Oct. 19 Orthodox church blast. Children laid to rest their parents and parents buried their little children after an Israel bombing of a Hamas target next to the Greek Orthodox Church caused a two-story building in the church’s complex to collapse.

 “They were well-known families and very close to us.”

“Some of those children attended the different activities of our parish. They were well-known families and very close to us,” Mother María said in a recorded testimony sent to OSV News. One father was uncovered from the rubble with no sign of life, parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli said in an Oct. 22 WhatsApp update, but protected by his body, his little child was found still alive. Father Romanelli was stranded in Bethlehem when the war broke out on Oct. 7, and has been in constant contact with his parish since then.

Heartbreaking images were circulated in social media of young married couples and children who died under the rubble.

Caritas said they “were devastated to learn of the death of our colleague Viola, 26-year-old, who was killed alongside her husband and their infant daughter in an airstrike attack on the St. Porphyrios (Greek) Orthodox Church in Gaza,” the Oct. 20 statement from the organization said. “May they rest in peace.”

The church provided refuge for around 500 people, including five dedicated members of Caritas staff, along with their families, Caritas wrote.

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A Caritas Jerusalem worker named Viola, 26, pictured in an undated photo, was killed alongside her husband and their infant daughter in an airstrike on the St. Porphyrios Orthodox Church in Gaza, said an Oct. 20, 2023, statement from Caritas Jerusalem. OSV News photo/Caritas Jerusalem Mother María said the Catholic Holy Family Parish offered medical help to some of the people who received minor injuries in the blast and later received many of the Christians who had sought shelter at the St. Porphyrios Church.

Some 700 people were now sheltering at the Holy Family Parish church complex, she said, including families, elderly and the 50 disabled children under the care of the Missionaries of Charity sisters.

“We serve everyone,” she said. “We

very charitably seek to ensure that everyone receives what they need in the best possible way.”

People at the parish are currently without electricity and drinking water, and are using the water from their well, but they don’t know how long it will last, she said. They have bought mineral water at triple the original price so people will have drinking water, she added.

The parish celebrates Mass twice a day, Mother María said, and people are “constantly praying the Rosary asking the Virgin and God for that peace we long for.” She called for believers everywhere to join in their prayers “So that God in his mercy grants it to us, since only He can do this great miracle.”

In an Oct. 20 letter of appeal for donations to provide help to the Gaza parish, Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem CEO Sami El-Yousef said providing the care for the many people who reach the church seeking shelter since the beginning of the war two weeks ago has been “a great responsibility.”

Violence devastates Israel, Gaza Continued from 18

strate utter contempt for human life and are unjustifiable,” he said, repeating the Pope’s call for the release of hostages.

The “distressing escalation of violence,” the archbishop said, has caused “deplorable levels of suffering” in a land that is “so dear to Christians, Jews and Muslims.”

At the same time, Archbishop Caccia said that “the criminal responsibility for terrorist acts is always personal and can never be attributed to an entire nation or people,” for example, by blaming all Palestinians or even all the people of Gaza for the actions of Hamas and allied groups.

Israel’s right to self-defense, like the right of every nation attacked, “must

November 2023

always comply with international humanitarian law, including the principle of proportionality,” he said.

The Vatican is seriously concerned about the “unfolding humanitarian disaster in Gaza, which has claimed thousands of lives and has displaced hundreds of thousands of people,” he said. Israel’s “total siege” of the territory is causing “indiscriminate suffering among the population, including due to shortages of food, fuel and medical supplies.”

Archbishop Caccia repeated Pope Francis’ call for “the urgent facilitation and the continuation of humanitarian corridors so that aid can reach the entire population.”

Contributing to this story were Carol Glatz and Cindy Wooden.

November 2023

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We Believe

Father Jerome Guld, pastor of St. Katharine Drexel Parish, Burlington, administers Holy Communion during the Catholic Schools Mass. Mike Ehrmann photo

The choir from St. Mary School, Middletown, leads the congregation in song. Mike Ehrmann photo

Gift of Catholic schools celebrated

BY MARY STADNYK  Associate Editor

Y

ou don’t have to be old to be a saint!” Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., said to the nearly 500 high school and elementary school students gathered Oct. 12 for the 2023 Catholic Schools Mass in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold.

The annual Mass provided the occasion for the Diocese to celebrate both the mission of Catholic schools and to commemorate Blessed Carlo Acutis, whom Bishop O’Connell had named as the patron saint of Catholic schools and young people of the Diocese of Trenton in the spring of 2021.

The Mass was also an opportunity to recognize Lauren-Carmel Sirak, a second-grade teacher in Our Lady of Sorrows School, Hamilton, who was just named New Jersey Nonpublic School Teacher of the Year for 2023. (see sidebar) A PEER MODEL At the beginning of Mass, Bishop O’Connell spoke directly to the students gathered, reflecting on the life of Blessed Carlo, who was born in Italy in 1991, 22 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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died at age 15 in 2006 and was beatified

by Pope Francis in 2020.

“And yet, he was a kid like any one of you,” the Bishop, adding that Carlo enjoyed school, sports, music, telling jokes, having fun with his friends, playing video games and using the computer.

learning and studying his Catholic faith in school … praying and going to Church every day …showing love and concern for others, especially for those who were in need,” he said.

“Today, we celebrate his memory as we travel his ‘highway to heaven’ during this Holy Mass with him,” he said.

 “We travel [the]

THE CATHOLIC EXPERIENCE

highway to heaven during Mass.”

“In fact, he used his computer skills to make a complete list of all the miracles that occurred in the world because of the Holy Eucharist, a list that the Catholic Church throughout the world still uses,” the Bishop said. “He loved the Mass and receiving Holy Communion. He called the Eucharist – the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ – his ‘highway to heaven.’”

The Bishop acknowledged that when “we think of saints, we usually imagine older people we see in paintings or statues or stained class in church.

“Blessed Carlo, however, was your age when he lived his life very close to God,

November 2023

Accompanying the students from 33 schools stretching across Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean Counties were dozens of teachers, school administrators and chaperones as well as more than 20 priests who concelebrated the Mass with the Bishop.

The Opening Procession included a long stream of students who carried the colorful banners and flags representing their schools down the center aisle.

During the Mass, students from St. Mary Academy, Manahawkin; St. Mary School, Middletown; St. Gregory the Great Academy, Hamilton Square; Donovan Catholic High School, Toms River; Our Lady of Sorrows School, Hamilton; St. James School, Red Bank, and St. Joan of Arc School, Marlton, participated in a variety of ways including as readers, choir members; altar servers and gift bearers.

Bishop O’Connell receives the bread and wine from students of St. Joan of Arc School, Marlton. Mike Ehrmann photo

Students of St. Mary Academy, Manahawkin, display the portrait and relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis. Mike Ehrmann photo

Nearly 500 students, including these from St. Paul School, Burlington, attended the Catholic schools Mass Oct. 12. Rose O’Connor photo

during annual Mass with Bishop O’Connell In his homily, Bishop O’Connell asked the students to consider why they are attending Catholic school, why their parents chose to send them and what is the difference that their schools offer.

While everyone goes to school to study math, science, computers, history, English and literature, “in a Catholic

school, however, we add a subject that we don’t find in other schools – religion,” the Bishop said. “And all the other subjects we study lead us back to God, to our faith, to our Church, to a community of faith and knowledge and service.

“In a Catholic school, we look at those things differently because we include

God and faith and our religion in our picture,” he said. “In a Catholic school, we learn more than just subjects – we learn the reason why life is worth living together, worth sharing together, worth never feeling alone. A Catholic school teaches us the importance of keeping God in our Continued on 70

Student banner bearers from Freehold’s St. Rose of Lima School joined representatives from 33 schools across the Diocese.

Mike Ehrmann photo

For more photos visit TrentonMonitor.com>News>Schools November 2023 

THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 23

We Believe

On Mission Sunday, sister reminds all to share in ‘mission of love’

BY MARY STADNYK  Associate Editor

T

ying together the universal observance of World Mission Sunday and the Gospel message for Oct. 22, Father Peter James Alindogan preached on how all the baptized faithful have a responsibility to “give God what is God’s.”

“That is our mission too — to share a part of ourselves with our financial contributions, to pray for those in mission lands and territories, to care for the needy, to reach out and seek the lost, to love unceasingly and unconditionally,” said Father Alindogan, diocesan missions director and pastor of St. Veronica, Howell.

Father Alindogan was principal celebrant and homilist of the diocesan World Mission Sunday Mass at St. Gregory the Great Church, Hamilton Square. He was

joined at the altar by a number of priests who serve as missionaries, including two who minister in the Diocese — Father Charles Muorah, parochial vicar of Sacred Heart Parish, Trenton, and Father Rogatus Mpeka, parochial vicar of St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Yardville.

After Communion, Father Alindogan presented certificates to two students for their work and support of the missions.

Marleyna Mary Kaufmann, a religious education student at St. Veronica Parish, Howell, was named a national winner in the 2023 Mission Artwork Contest sponsored by the Missionary Childhood Association, and Olivia Maleson,

a fourth grader at St. Gregory the Great Academy, Hamilton Square, spearheaded a project in which she made and sold bracelets to help missionaries.

Father Alindogan also recognized schools and parish religious education programs that were top contributors to the missions for 2022-2023. The schools were St. Jerome, West Long Branch, first place; St. Joan of Arc, Marlton, second place; and St. Joseph, Toms River, honorable mention.

The parish religious education programs were St. Paul, Princeton, first place; St. Mary of the Lakes, Medford, Continued on 33

Father Peter James Alindogan and priests who serve as missionaries concelebrate the Oct. 22 World Mission Sunday Mass in St. Gregory the Great Church. Joe Moore photos

Olivia Maleson and her parents present the gifts during the World Mission Sunday Mass. Several religious sisters who serve as missionaries were present in the congregation during the World Mission Sunday Mass.

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November 2023

We Believe

Marleyna Mary Kaufmann earns national honor for Christmas drawing Marleyna Mary Kaufmann’s winning entry.

Father Peter James Alindogan, left, presents a certificate to artwork contest winner, Marleyna Mary Kaufmann. Joe Moore photo

BY MARY STADNYK  Associate Editor

A

s someone who loves to draw, color and paint, Marleyna Mary Kaufmann was well prepared to enter the 2023 Missionary Childhood Association’s annual Christmas Artwork Contest.

But when she submitted a Nativity depiction featuring three smiling kings visiting a very happy Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus, she did not expect to receive a national award.

Kaufmann, a religious education student in St. Veronica Parish, Howell, was named one of 24 winners in the 20232024 contest.

“I am glad to note that our young students have been very participative in our Christmas artwork contest,” said Father Peter James Alindogan, diocesan missions director. “Through this contest, our work in the missions is highlighted. Our students are also made aware of the worthy contributions they share with other children in various parts of the world.”

Kaufmann was recognized for her

winning entry during the diocesan World Mission Sunday Mass that Father Alindogan celebrated Oct. 22 in St. Gregory the Great Church, Hamilton Square.

Noting that he is also Kaufmann’s pastor, Father Alindogan spoke of the honor it was for him and the parish to have a parishioner named a national winner.

“This is a first for us in our religious education program,” he said. “On behalf of St. Veronica Parish, I offer my warmest congratulations to Marleyna.”

Kaufmann’s mother, Janine, said she and Kaufmann’s father were overjoyed by their daughter’s win.

“Our family is currently planning our first visit to Washington, D.C., in December to see Marleyna’s artwork displayed at the national basilica,” she said, referring to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. “Her grandparents are hoping to join us as well, and we are also looking forward to doing some sightseeing while there!”

Kaufmann, a fourth grader in Holman Elementary School, Jackson, said art is one of her favorite subjects. She noted that last year one of her paintings was on display in

the Jackson School District art show.

Of her winning Christmas drawing, Kaufmann said she decided to draw a Nativity scene because “I felt this shows the true meaning of Christmas. ... The Birth of Jesus is why we celebrate Christmas.”

“I have done drawings of people like this before but never of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus,” she said. She added she loves how her family has a special place for the Nativity scene during the Christmas season and that one of her favorite things is “uncovering Jesus on Christmas morning.”

The history of the MCA Christmas Artwork Contest dates to 1916, when the MCA produced the first Catholic Christmas seals in America to raise awareness of and support for the evangelizing work of the church in the missions. MCA has used children’s artwork on these seals since 1933. In 2005, MCA then introduced Christmas cards featuring the winning artwork in its annual contest. In all, 24 national winners were chosen.

The MCA, one of four Pontifical Mission Societies, promotes mission and global awareness while encouraging children to share their faith through their prayers and generosity. Every year, the MCA invites children in Catholic schools and parishes throughout the nation to submit their Christmas-themed drawings for the contest.

November 2023

 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 25

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 27

Synod

Listen to, trust the lay faithful, Pope tells synod members

BY CINDY WOODEN  Catholic news service

VATICAN CITY • Pope Francis told members of the synod on synodality that they should respect and honor the faith of all baptized Catholics, including the women, trusting “the holy, faithful people of God.” “I like to think of the Church as the simple and humble people who walk in the presence of the Lord – the faithful people of God,” he told participants at the assembly of the Synod of Bishops Oct. 25.

In a rare intervention as the assembly was nearing its conclusion, Pope Francis told members to trust the fidelity of the people they listened to in preparation for the synod over the past two years.

“One of the characteristics of this faithful people is its infallibility – yes, it is infallible in ‘credendo,’” in belief, as the Second Vatican Council taught, he said.

“I explain it this way: ‘When you

want to know ‘what’ Holy Mother Church believes, go to the magisterium, because it is in charge of teaching it to you, but when you want to know ‘how’ the Church believes, go to the faithful people,” the Pope said.

To illustrate his point, Pope Francis shared the “story or legend” of the fifth-century Council of Ephesus when, the story goes, crowds lined the streets shouting to the bishops “Mother of God,” demanding that they declare as dogma “that truth which they already possessed as the people of God.” “Some say that they had sticks in their hands and showed them to the bishops,” the Pope added. “I do not know if it is history or legend, but the image is valid.”

“The faithful people, the holy faithful people of God” have a soul, a conscience and a way of seeing reality, he said.

All of the cardinals and bishops at the synod, he said, come from that people and have received the faith from

Pope Francis prays with participants in the assembly of the Synod of Bishops before making a rare speech to the gathering Oct. 25, 2023, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. CNS photo/Vatican Media

28 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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November 2023

them – usually from their mothers and grandmothers.

“And here I would like to emphasize that, among God’s holy and faithful people, faith is transmitted in dialect, and generally in a feminine dialect,” he said.

“This is not only because the Church is mother and it is precisely women who best reflect her,” he said, but also because “it is women who know how to hope, know how to discover the resources of the Church and of the faithful people, who take risks beyond the limit, perhaps with fear but courageously.”

It was the women disciples, after all, who at dawn “approach a tomb with the intuition – not yet hope – that there may be some life,” he said.

“When ministers overstep in their service and mistreat the people of God, they disfigure the face of the Church with chauvanistic and dictatorial attitudes,” the Pope said.

He reminded synod members of a speech at the assembly by Sister Liliana Franco Echeverri, a member of the Company of Mary and president of the Confederation of Latin American and Caribbean Religious, who spoke about the ongoing service, commitment and fidelity of Catholic women despite often facing exclusion, rejection and mistreatment.

“Clericalism is a whip, it is a scourge, it is a form of worldliness that defiles and damages the face of the Lord’s bride,” the Church, the Pope said. “It enslaves God’s holy and faithful people.”

Pope Francis described as “a scandal” the scene of young priests going in to ecclesiastical tailor shops in Rome “trying on cassocks and hats or albs with lace.”

Nevertheless, he said, “the people of God, the holy faithful people of God, go forward with patience and humility enduring the scorn, mistreatment and marginalization on the part of institutionalized clericalism.”

Synod

Synod assembly calls on everyone to ‘concretely participate’ in synodality

BY JUSTIN McLELLAN  OSV News/CNS

VATICAN CITY • The Catholic Church must continue discerning its future by listening to everyone, starting with the poorest and excluded, after the assembly of the Synod of Bishops closes its first session, participants said in a letter addressed to the “People of God.” The two-and-a-half-page letter published Oct. 25 recounted the spirit and activities of the assembly’s first session, held at the Vatican Oct. 4-29, and looked ahead to the assembly’s second session, expressing hope that the months leading up to October 2024 “will allow everyone to concretely participate in the dynamism of missionary communion indicated by the word ‘synod.’”

“This is not about ideology, but about an experience rooted in the apostolic tradition,” the synod assembly wrote.

While the letter does not raise specific topics or questions to be addressed in the assembly’s next session – a synthesis report reflecting the work of the first session and next steps is expected to be published Oct. 28 – it did say that to “progress in its discernment, the Church absolutely needs to listen to everyone, starting with the poorest.”

“It means listening to those who have been denied the right to speak in society or who feel excluded, even by the Church,” the letter said, specifying the need to listen to victims of racism, particularly Indigenous populations. “Above all, the Church of our time has the duty to listen, in a spirit of conversion, to those who have been victims of abuse committed by members of the ecclesial body and to commit herself concretely

To read full the full text of the Letter of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, go to TrentonMonitor.com>News>Church

and structurally to ensuring that this does not happen again.”

The letter made special reference to the need for listening to the laity, catechists, children, the elderly, families and those who want to be involved in lay ministries and “participate in discernment and decision-making structures” of the Church.

It also specified that the Church must gather more experiences and testimonies from priests, bishops and consecrated persons, while being “attentive to all those who do not share her faith but are seeking the truth.”

The drafting of the letter was approved by the synod assembly and was discussed both during small group working sessions and among the entire assembly Oct. 23, the synod general secretariat said.

Elise Stankus, a parishioner of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, West Trenton, and a student in Rosemont College, Rosemont, Pa., is shown during her visit to Rome where she attended the opening of the general session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality. Courtesy photo

Young local parishioner attends Synod opener

BY MARY STADNYK  Associate Editor

W

It began by recounting the “unprecedented experience” of men and women participating in discussions and exercising voting rights in a synod assembly by virtue of their baptism and not based on ordination.

The assembly, it said, took place in a “world in crisis, whose wounds and scandalous inequalities resonated painfully in our hearts, infusing our work with a particular gravity, especially since some of us come from countries where war rages.”

The letter also highlighted the “significant room for silence” made at Pope Francis’ invitation, meant to “foster mutual listening and a desire for communion in the Spirit among us.”

hen Elise Stankus reflects on participating in the opening of the general session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, she describes her experience as one of witness.

Stankus, a junior at Rosemont College, Rosemont, Pa., was invited to travel to Rome through her involvement in SCHEAP, Synodality in Catholic Higher Education in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The group includes about a dozen Catholic colleges in the archdiocese; its members meet every few months to discuss their hopes for the Synod — which continues next October — and how to bring synodality back to their college campuses.

“I have learned so much during my trip, both about the Church and my own faith,” said Stankus, a young adult parishioner from Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, West Trenton.

“I’ve learned about the logistics of the Synod process and also about the power of the Synod,” said Stankus, who also interns in the diocesan Office of Catholic Social Services.

“We were specifically a young adult delegation and consisted of 17 young

Continued on 70

Continued on 70

 “...the Church absolutely needs to listen to everyone, starting with the poorest.”

November 2023

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 29

Clergy

Speaker urges deacons to follow St. Paul’s examples in ministry

BY MARY STADNYK  Associate Editor

G

od, mind and heart are the key elements that reflect one’s full humanity, intellect and will, Father Patrick Brady, vice rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Wynnewood, Pa., told the annual Convocation of Deacons Oct. 20-21 in Plainsboro.

These elements “are given to the ministry of Christ,” Father Brady said in his keynote presentation. “We give our full selves to the mission of Christ and his Church.”

About 130 deacons and 27 of their wives attended the convocation, hosted by the diocesan Office of Clergy and Consecrated Life. The annual convocation also included a Mass celebrated by Msgr. Thomas Mullelly, diocesan vicar for clergy and consecrated life, with Father Brady serving as homilist.

During the Mass, all the deacons who have died, especially those who died in the past year, were remembered in prayer: Deacons Keith J. Casey, Don-

MINISTRY INSIGHTS FROM ST. PAUL Turning to Scripture, Father Brady explored St. Paul’s writings and experiences to develop his three-part keynote

address on the theme “The Commitment of Mind, Heart and Strength in Service to God’s People.”

Father Brady said it is easy in ministry and life to fluctuate between Pelagianism, where people think everything is dependent upon them, and a “spiritual quietism,” a spiritual listlessness or of not caring or not being concerned.

“To correct these spiritual drifts in ourselves and reinvigorate our minds, we will need to constantly go back to the Word of God and the person of Christ,” he said. He added that St. Paul, in his pastoral challenge to the Church of Corinth, refocuses the people’s wisdom on the Eucharistic assembly and the need for it to permeate their actions and lives.

Father Brady spoke of how American culture and the wider Western culture

Msgr. Thomas Mullelly, diocesan vicar for clergy and consecrated life and director of seminarians, was principal celebrant of a Mass during the convocation.

Father Patrick Brady served as keynote speaker of the 2023 Convocation of Deacons. Joe Moore photos

30 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

ald C. Miller, John R. Grussler, Roger P. Dinella, Joseph A. Card, Christopher L. Hansen, Chris O’Brien and John Wanat.

“The convocation is a very important event for me every year,” said Deacon Jim Alessi of Incarnation-St. James Parish, Ewing, “because I get to see my brothers in Christ and their wives and catch up on their lives and families; hear about their work in their parishes and new programs they may be involved in in their parishes.

I can get advice on things that I do in my parish and ideas on how to do them better.”

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November 2023

Clergy shifts form Christendom, where the values of the culture reflect and reinforce the values of Christ, to a post-Christian culture, where the values of the culture are in contention with the values of Christ.

“Ministry by necessity fights against the cultural currents of modern society, and that places strain on ministry and the minister,” he said. St. Paul faced many challenges in his ministry, as did those who followed him, such as Timothy.

“Meditating on Paul’s letter to Timothy directs us to explore the source of his hope, which can sustain our own current ministries,” Father Brady said.

The priest said he would argue that mercy has been the biggest theme in Pope Francis’ pontificate and occurs “in an era when the Catholic Church, particularly in the Western world and United States, has found itself shifted from the center of culture to the margins.”

“Our response to this shift can cause us to forget the need for mercy,” he said.

HANDING ON THE FAITH Newly ordained Deacon Christopher F. Buono of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Whiting, who was attending his first diaconate convocation, said he appreciated gaining insights on being able to relay the Catholic faith to those who have drifted away from the Church or those who are looking to enter the Church.

“We have to have courage to proclaim the principles, especially among those where faith is not so popular,” he said.

Deacon Alessi said he found it most profound to hear Father Brady say, “Proclaim the Word, whether it is convenient or inconvenient.”

“This was such a powerful statement because of the current environment of our nation, our communities, our families,” he said.

“We are in such a secular society right now, and very few know what to hear or think about faith, God or even right from wrong,” he said. “We go places, attend events, even family functions, and no one wants to hear about Jesus, the Word of God and how faith plays out in our lives.

“This is something we need to change and never be afraid of or stopped from proclaiming,” he added.

Bishop O’Connell is photographed with Knights representing various councils from around the Diocese.

Bishop, priests recognized for their ministry at annual dinner

N

early 300 clergy, religious and guests joined Knights of Columbus from throughout the Diocese and state Sept. 28 for the annual Trenton Federation “Pride in Our Priests” dinner held in South Gate Manor, Freehold. The convivial gathering offered both priests and Knights the chance to express their mutual admiration for the integral contributions both offer to the Church and her people.

As a continuation of their good works, the Knights presented a check to Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., for the diocesan Holy Innocents Society, which assists parishes in the religious education of the developmentally disabled.

Knights of Columbus N. J. State Warden Ed Michalak reflected upon the value of the event for clergy and laity alike. “It is important to give us the opportunity to thank the Bishop and the priests of the Diocese for all they do,” he said. “We are there to support the Church.”

Michalak, a parishioner of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Moorestown, continued that a strong Knights council is important to the life of a parish “because of their support of the faith, the family, the community and life in all its stages.”

For more photos visit TrentonMonitor.com>More Galleries > Pride In Our Priests Dinner

NEWS happens EVERY DAY.

Stay up-to-date with Catholic news from around the United States, the world and the Vatican at TRENTONMONITOR.COM.  Go to NEWS, and click on CHURCH and WORLD & NATION. November 2023

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 31

Several years ago, Br. Mickey McGrath was blessed to work alongside Ilia Delio at Sacred Heart Church in Camden, NJ in a delightful evening event entitled “Science and Art Shall Meet.” And now in this 2024 calendar, they are united once again in shared belief that the Creative Beauty of Science and Art can indeed save the world and bring it faith, hope, and love as nothing else seems capable of doing. May you recall throughout the entire year—every day in 2024—that Grace abounds and flows everywhere, linking us together as one human family. | $15.00

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32 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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MISSION SUNDAY Continued from 24

second place; and St. Charles Borromeo, Cinnaminson, honorable mention.

“In celebrating World Mission Sunday, we remember that as followers of Christ, we are called to share His message of love and salvation, to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth,” Father Alindogan said. “We worship together as a global community of faith this day to reflect on the universal mission of the Church, which is essentially bringing hope to the hopeless, and to be God’s Light to those in darkness.”

Sister Lisa Valentini, a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, told the congregation how humbled she was to learn that Maleson’s bracelet project

was inspired after Sister Lisa had visited the school earlier this year and talked about her missionary work. Sister Lisa has served in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Peru.

“As a missionary sister, I have the privilege of going around to schools and talking with children about the missions,” said Sister Lisa, reminding the congregation that mission work is something that “every single one of us is called to

by Jesus himself.”

“Missionary work has been going on for all these centuries, and we have been blessed to be a part of it,” she said. “Remember, this is our call to spread the Good News.”

Leading the congregation in singing the refrain of “What the World Needs Now is Love,” she said: “We are on a mission of love. Let’s go and be love in the name of our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 33

Diocese

‘It is more blessed to give’ Guild’s gala honors supporters, accents needs

BY EMMALEE ITALIA  Contributing Editor

H

ighlighting not only the good work accomplished during Mount Carmel Guild’s 103-year presence in Mercer County, but also the generosity of its numerous benefactors, speakers at the 28th annual fundraising Gala Oct. 20 reminded attendees of the privilege of being able to contribute.

“Through your gifts of time, talent and treasure, Mount Carmel Guild is able to remain open and provide for our care-receivers,” Jane Chrnelich, MCG board of trustees chair, told Gala attendees in the Trenton Country Club ballroom. “And always remember that it is through God that we are fortunate enough to be the care-givers.”

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., who attended the Gala and offered the invocation, expressed his gratitude to all the supporters, calling it “a sign of hope in so many ways. ... I am so appreciative of your generous giving of time, talent and treasure that enables those in need to receive services throughout Trenton and Mercer County.”

Daren Miller, master of ceremonies and MCG director of external affairs, said the Mount Carmel Guild provides “food, clothing, assistance with utility

34 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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bills and other forms of support for vulnerable members of the community, and a home health nursing program that facilitates elderly nursing care by our registered nurses.

“My friends, it is an evening of celebration as much as it is an evening of thanksgiving,” Miller added.

Mary Inkrot, MCG executive director, echoed the Guild’s appreciation of all its benefactors.

“You can’t spell Guild without ‘u,’” she quipped. “I want to recognize all our beautiful honorees, our mission members, our guests, for becoming an important part of tonight’s Gala. This fundraiser is critical to our ongoing ability to offer basic-need services to the low-income residents of Trenton and Mercer County.”

Honorees were recognized for their unique contributions to the Guild. This year’s recipients were Nancy Lucash; Laura and Joe Sarubbi; The College of New Jersey student athletes; St. Gregory the Great Knights of Columbus Council 7677; the Duff Family; and the St. Ann Parish Rosary Altar Society. For video interviews with the honorees, visit https:// mtcarmelguild.org/attendee-welcome.

The need for support continues to grow, Chrnelich said.

“This year the Guild has continued to provide for an ever-increasing number of care-receivers; food staples, social

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 Bishop O’Connell gathers for a photo with the honorees. Marianne Hartman photo support, holiday provisions, and in-home nursing care are what makes Mount Carmel Guild such an integral and needed part of the Trenton community,” she said.

That home healthcare, Miller told the crowd, “helps to fill a critical gap for seniors between hospital stays, nursing home care and care provided by family members and loved ones.”

Inkrot noted that while the rate of inflation is slowing down, “the cost(s) for essentials such as food, clothing, housing and transportation remain high.”

“Our care-receivers used to share stories with us about how they would juggle their bills to make ends meet — but now their stories are about how the gap in their income is becoming even wider.

However, I know the mission of Mount Carmel Guild is to provide hope and to preserve dignity — and that will remain unwavering.”

John Zubricky, who received a Good Neighbor Award on behalf of the St. Gregory the Great Knights of Columbus, said the organization has been delivering food to the Guild twice a month since 2017.

“It’s important to give because there are so many hungry families, and we should help the less fortunate,” he said.

“Mount Carmel Guild does so many great things that resonate with me. …

This is the perfect place.”

Diocese Members of the diocesan PTA board and the diocesan Department of Catholic Schools gather for a photo with student winners of the 2023 Diocesan PTA Scholarships.

EmmaLee Italia photos

At fall conference, diocesan PTA board reminds volunteers their work matters

BY EMMALEE ITALIA  Contributing Editor

C

hildren live what they learn, and the support of Catholic PTA members will make students’ lives, and the world, a better place, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., told participants at the diocesan PTA conference’s opening Mass.

“When the Church refers to parents as the ‘first teachers of the faith,’ this is exactly what the Church is talking about,” Bishop O’Connell said. “And when the Church talks about those entrusted with Catholic education in the schools — teachers — as providing the primary assistance to parents and their most important collaborators in handing on the faith, this is what they are talking

Catholic school students lead the Pledge of Allegiance to open the PTA Fall Conference luncheon.

about in our Catholic schools. ‘Children live what they learn.’ But if they are never taught faith by word and example, first at home and then at school, they will not learn and therefore will not live it. And if we fail in the Catholic schools, they’ll never have a chance.”

Members of Catholic school PTA boards, along with many principals and pastors, gathered to celebrate the 98th annual diocesan PTA conference Oct. 21 in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold. It drew participants from Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean County Catholic schools for the Mass and luncheon that followed, under the theme “It Matters.”

“Our theme is based on … all the sacrifices we make for the love of our Catholic communities; the ‘it’ encompass-

es all you do – and it all matters,” said Elia Landino, diocesan PTA president, in her opening remarks. “You are helping our Catholic community and nurturing the development of our children. As a vital component of our children’s lives, Catholic education … cannot survive without all our commitment and sacrifices, putting the lessons of our Lord before ourselves.”

Student winners of the 2023 diocesan PTA scholarships were presented with plaques to commemorate their awards; each student’s Catholic school will receive $500 paid directly toward their tuition.

In describing what makes a Catholic school different and worth the investment, Dr. Vincent de Paul Schmidt, diocesan superintendent of Catholic schools, likened them to a mosaic, in that they are much more than the sum of their individual parts.

“Our school’s medium isn’t small pieces of glass, but rather the treasure that is a child,” he said. “Our Catholic teachers are the artisans in the classroom that know just how much to push, direct or point a student to truly capture their unique light and [help them to] shine brightly. … That is the difference … our artisans see the entirety of the work before they make the first move.”

Keynote speakers Lauren Crupi and Michael Daneman, both teachers in St. Leo the Great School, Lincroft, shared their life-giving inspirational story.

Daneman donated one of his kidneys to Crupi earlier this year. Both pointed to Continued on 44

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Diocese

Embracing their call:

Mission of parish is focus of pastoral councils

BY MARY STADNYK  Associate Editor

F

ather Jason Parzynski, administrator of St. David the King Parish, Princeton Junction, is pragmatic when speaking about the role of parish pastoral councils.

“They bring a wisdom to the pastor that is valuable in both understanding the parish community as a whole, as well as understanding how ministry initiatives are meeting the needs of the community,” he said. And while it’s his hope as a parish priest to meet and know many parishioners as he can, “realistically, one person can only be aware of so much at any given time.”

“The pastoral council creates a venue for me to get the pulse of the parish and guidance on how I can be more effective and intentional in shepherding the parish,” he said.

Terry Ginther, diocesan chancellor and executive director of the Office of Pastoral Life and Mission, said a pastoral council is established by a pastor, and members are identified through a process of selection or discernment, not voting.

The pastor gathers the council on a regular basis to consult with members about areas of pastoral matters.

GAINING INSIGHT Some 100 pastors and parish pastoral council members had a chance to gain insights during the first diocesan Convocation for Parish Pastoral Councils Sept. 30 in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold. Hosted by the diocesan Office of Pastoral Life and Mission, the convocation drew more than 100 participants from 30 parishes, a handful of which were in the process of establishing or re-establishing a council, Ginther said.

“Some who came do not have a council and were able to learn steps to take in the months ahead. Other participants represented existing councils and were very interested in moving ahead with some initiatives inspired by our Synod listening [sessions],” she said.

Dominican Sister Donna Ciangio,

chancellor of the Archdiocese of Newark, told participants that pastoral councils are not about the members deciding on whether the lines in the parking lot need to be painted.

“Pastoral Council members are about embracing the mission of their parish and bringing the mission of their parish to life,” she said in her keynote address, “Building Up Communion, Participation and Mission.”

SIGNIFICANT HISTORY Along with hearing Sister Donna’s keynote, participants joined Bishop David

Bishop O’Connell celebrates Mass at the Sept. 30 Convocation of Parish Pastoral Council members in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold. Parish Pastoral Council representatives kneel in prayer during the Mass celebrated by Bishop O’Connell at the Sept. 30 convocation.

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Diocese Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., greets Milissa Else, coordinator for Parish Strategies and Small Group Ministry in the Newark Archdiocese, who presented a breakout session on “Practicing Listening & Group Prayerful Discernment.”

Also pictured is Dominican Sister Donna Ciangio, left, chancellor in the Newark Archdiocese who was the convocation’s keynote speaker, and Terry Ginther, diocesan chancellor and executive director of the Office of Pastoral Life and Mission.

Mary Stadnyk photos

DID YOU KNOW? According to data from parishes for the 2022 Parish Profile, 68 of the 97 parishes in the Diocese indicated they had parish pastoral councils. Most PPCs average between 8-12 members. The pastor consults with the PPC about ongoing pastoral issues the parish is facing. Members investigate the issues by studying their underlying causes and the best way to address the issues; consider all possible approaches in light of what they know about the people of the parish and their needs and advise the pastor of their observations.

YOUNG ADULTS BRING ENERGY, FRESH PERSPECTIVES TO PARISH PASTORAL COUNCILS M. O’Connell, C.M., for Mass. They also attended breakout sessions on topics related to parish pastoral councils.

“Today, we come together here in the Co-Cathedral, members of parishes from all over the Diocese of Trenton, to reflect upon what I’d like to call a ‘structure of listening’ in our parishes – the parish pastoral council,” Bishop O’Connell said in his homily.

He said parish pastoral councils trace their roots to the Second Vatican Council and, ever since, the concept of a parish pastoral council has developed into an important part of parish life.

“Pastoral councils are a coordinated parish effort aimed at the common good to evangelize, sanctify and serve God’s people under the leadership of the pastor,” Bishop O’Connell said. “Their common trait, however, is to be truly advisory to the shepherd of the local parish community.”

DEFINED PURPOSE When addressing the role of the parish pastoral councils, Sister Donna emphasized that parishes need to have a clear mission that is readily recognized by the community. The council’s primary focus is on “visioning for the mission,” and the goal of the mission is ultimately about finding ways to spread the Word of Christ to the people.

“We have to figure out if we are providing the people the means for having an encounter with Christ” and helping them

Nicholas Cheniara serves as chair of the parish pastoral council in St. David the King Parish, Princeton Junction.

Courtesy photo

Christopher Fenimore, left, and Madison O’Neill, parish pastoral council members in St. Veronica Parish, Howell, attend the Sept. 30 convocation on parish pastoral councils. Mary Stadnyk photo

To read about the involvement of young adults from St. David the King Parish, Princeton Junction, and St. Veronica Parish, Howell, on parish pastoral councils, visit TrentonMonitor.com

to develop a personal relationship with Jesus, she said.

“You can’t do evangelization if you don’t know Jesus Christ,” she added.

LEARNING THE ROPES As a newcomer to the parish pastoral council in St. Thomas More Parish, Manalapan, Laura Tortoriello is learning how it functions.

“I realized it’s not just about a group making decisions,” she said, but rather it’s about “all members and groups involved in the parish working together and not in silos.”

Karrie Ann Vanella, another new member of the council, said she has seen

“great strides” in the parish in terms of getting people involved.

“Many parishioners want more fellowship and a more intimate relationship with those they encounter on a daily basis. They just don’t have any idea how to start,” she said.

Father Joel Wilson, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Maple Shade, said the pastoral council “brings me many and varied voices from the parish, forming a representative body of counselors, and together we strive to vision and strategize for the parish.

“It is so important for parish life,” he said.

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 37

Diocese

Conference aims to help parishes develop ‘intercultural competence’ FROM STAFF REPORTS

I

n an upcoming daylong conference for parish staff, council members, volunteers and ministry leaders, the diocesan Office of Pastoral Life seeks to help build parishes that “walk together,” focusing on aspects of the Synod of Bishop on synodality.

The Nov. 18 workshop at St. Anthony of Padua Church, Hightstown, will embrace the theme “Build Your Knowledge and Skills for Walking Together as Church.” Terry Ginther, diocesan chancellor and executive director of the Office of Pastoral Life and Planning, will serve as learning facilitator, and Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Ruth Bolarte, adjunct professor of theology at Villanova University, Pa., and consultant for Renew International, will be keynote speaker.

“This presentation will focus on the developmental process for ecclesial integration and inclusion, specifically in culturally diverse settings,” said Sister Ruth in an interview with The Monitor. “We will identify models for effective pastoral responses, principles, and best practices that shape fruitful ministry in a shared parish.”

She said the Second Vatican Council emphasized the contribution of each individual Catholic’s gifts “to the good of the other parts and the whole Church. Through the common sharing of gifts and through the common effort to attain fullness in unity, the whole and each of the parts receive increase” (Lumen Gentium, No. 13).

“Our call to live ‘unity in diversity’ is easier said than Courtesy image done,” said Sister Ruth. “We need to integrate intercultural competencies in our efforts of evangelization as we continue to share the Good News of the Gospel.”

The workshop, Ginther said, is related to the Synod, “specifically addressing raised issues of those who do not feel welcome, of the need for evangelization, of the desire to reach young people. There are barriers to accompanying others if you cannot listen and communicate well. You have to be able to proverbially speak a language they understand … not literally, but in terms of relevance and relationship.”

Intercultural competence, Ginther continued, is being able to work with people who are ethnically or racially different.

It means “being able to walk respectfully with people whose Catholic traditions or expressions of faith rooted in their culture might be different from yours,” she said. “Culture impacts your worldview. In my experience, the insights are also helpful across age groups and other divides.”

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Ginther added that working across cultures, as the United States bishops have taught, is not about assimilation, but rather “an ecclesial integration where all people are welcome and feel like they belong — where the gifts of all can be shared, and all have a sense of ownership and responsibility for the mission.”

Sister Ruth said building an intercultural community “is a process that takes time and many opportunities for dialogue and patience, because the communities are growing in trust with one another. It’s my hope that this workshop will be the beginning and/or the renewal of the efforts that have already started at a diocesan and local level.” Cost to attend is $25 and includes breakfast, lunch and materials. To register, visit dioceseoftrenton.org/walking-together-as-church. For more information, contact Jossie Ramos at 609403-7151 or jramos@dioceseoftrenton.org. St. Anthony Church is located at 156 Maxwell Ave., Hightstown.

BISHOP O’CONNELL PAYS VISIT TO VINCENTIAN COMMUNITY IN PHILADELPHIA The evening of Oct. 19, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., visited the Motherhouse of his Vincentian Community in Germantown, Philadelphia. While there he met with the current Superior General of the order, which is based in Rome, Vincentian Father Tomas Mavric, C.M., as well as the former Superior General, Vincentian Father Robert Maloney, C.M., who lives at the Motherhouse.

Also on hand for the visit was Bishop O’Connell’s Vincentian ordination classmate, Father John Carney, C.M., who serves as a missionary in Panama.

Accompanying Bishop O’Connell was Father Jean Felicien, his priest secretary, who remarked that, “It was so nice to see the Bishop relaxing at home in community with his Vincentian priest brothers.”

The Bishop will return to Germantown on Nov. 22 where he will preach the closing Mass of the annual Miraculous Medal Novena to be celebrated in the recently named Basilica there.

The Bishop will also ordain the order’s two Vincentian seminarians as deacons there on May 11, 2024.

During his Oct. 19 visit to the Vincentian community, Bishop O’Connell had a chance to meet with members of his community from left, Vincentian Father Robert Maloney, C.M., Vincentian Father Tomas Mavric, C.M., and Vincentian Father John Carney, C.M. Staff photo

Diocese

DIOCESAN

DATEBOOK

‘STANDING TOGETHER FOR LIFE’ TO STRESS PRACTICAL TIPS FOR PRO-LIFE CULTURE Acknowledging that the battle to support life in this post-Roe era continues, the FOR Diocese of Trenton will present the second “Standing Together for Life” Mass, luncheon and seminar Jan. 19 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine, 61 Georgia Rd, Freehold. Sponsored by the diocesan Department of Evangelization and Family Life/Respect Life Ministry, the event will begin with a Mass for Life with Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., at 11 a.m. in the church, followed by a luncheon font for Life is Master of Break...which indesign does not support, so needed and seminar from 12:15-4 p.m. in Hall. to outline font.

Not Dentici outlined here to edit word  “We are holding the Standing Together for Life events for the second year in a row to provide an opportunity for Catholics in the Diocese of Trenton who want to do something in support of building a culture of life but are not traveling to the national March for Life in Washington D.C.,” explained Terry Ginther, chancellor and executive director of the Office of Pastoral Life and Mission. “For 50 years the focus was at the national level. However, the Dobbs decision (2022) overturning Roe vs. Wade changed the focus to highlight the importance of the reality ‘on the ground’ in each state.

“Last year’s conference really emphasized that the work of building a culture of life will take all of us; everyone has to do their part, and we need to find ways to work together,” Ginther continued.

“This year, the focus is on the how. How can we pursue all four pillars

To learn more about these upcoming events in the Diocese of Trenton, visit TrentonMonitor.com and click on NEWS>DIOCESE.

STANDING TOGETHER

ANNUAL RETIREMENT FUND FOR RELIGIOUS COLLECTION DEC. 9-10

Life

Continued on 72

Sponsored by the Washington-based National Religious Retirement Office, the annual collection is taken up to both honor and financially support the thousands of retired Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests who have selflessly served for decades without significant financial compensation.

Men and women religious are feeling the impact of escalating health-care costs, and numerous U.S. religious communities face a substantial gap between their elderly members’ needs and the financial resources available for their care. Many religious orders currently experience insufficient retirement savings.

In 2022, Trenton faithful contributed $258,017.80 to the collection. The 2022 appeal demonstrated Catholics’ tremendous generosity by raising $27.6 million. These funds from the Retirement Fund for Religious collection provided financial assistance for retirement needs for 297 U.S. religious communities. More information can be found at www.retiredreligious.org

COLLECTION FOR CCHD NOV. 18-19 TO AID ANTI-POVERTY EFFORTS Coinciding with the Church’s celebration of the seventh annual World Day of the Poor, the annual collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) will be held at all Masses the weekend of Nov. 18-19.

The CCHD is the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. Catholic Bishops. The national collection is the CCHD’s primary source of funding for its community and economic development grants as well as education programs aimed at fostering a culture of life and hope in communities across the nation.

Seventy-five percent of the monies collected by CCHD in the Diocese of Trenton is sent to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ national office of CCHD, while the remaining 25 percent is retained and redistributed in three to five grants to Catholic social agencies in the Diocese that focus upon providing basic human needs.

Pope Francis established the World Day of the Poor in 2017 to take place each year on the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time and has asked for the occasion to be marked with “moments of encounter and friendship, solidarity and concrete assistance” with people living in poverty.

“This, the seventh annual World Day of the Poor, is a fruitful sign of the Father’s mercy and a support for the lives of our communities,” Pope France wrote in his 2023 message. “As its celebration becomes more and more rooted in the pastoral life of the Church, it enables us

to discover ever anew the heart of the Gospel.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s data for 2018, more than 38 million Americans walk “a thin line: between eviction and home, between hunger and health, between Catholic Campaign for Human Development unemployment and work, between anxiety and stability. on the Margins This line is the Poverty Line. www.usccb.org/cchd For a family of four, that line is $25,750 a year.”

This collection supports the work of groups that empower low-income people to participate in decisions that affect their lives and work to break the cycle of poverty in their own communities. Many of the projects supported by CCHD embody the Corporal Works of Mercy, including the protection of worker rights, expanding access to healthcare and reforming the criminal justice system. Those who miss the parish collection can still send a check or money order to: Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Office of National Collections, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, P.O. Box 96278, Washington, DC 20090-6278.

Working Copyright © 2022, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Photo: © Getty Images.

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 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 39

Viewpoints

Sacred architecture and witness: A tale of two temples

BY ELIZABETH SCALIA  OSV News

B

“

eauty will save the world,” Dostoyevsky famously wrote in his novel, “The Idiot.”

Certainly beauty is a subjective thing, and one can reasonably find it in the most highly decorated space as in the simplistic bareness, when it is true.

And in the places meant for religious worship, beauty must always be true, if it will serve.

While in college, one of my sons dated a lovely girl who had moved from an ersatz atheism into Christian Orthodoxy.

Having attended a few liturgies with her, my son invited her to Mass at the 1960s-era parish church he’d attended all his life. The building is very large, very square and rather bare, with earth-toned painted windows and an abundance, some might say overabundance, of pale yellow brick and dark brown wood.

Looking around before Mass began, the girl leaned over and asked, with genuine sincerity, “What was this building before it was a church? Was it a warehouse?”

My son sighed. It wasn’t the first time he’d been asked the question. “No. It was designed this way.”

Despite her normally excellent manners, the girl couldn’t stop her incredulous gasp. “For GOD?” That memory floated up as I read about the recent opening of Akshardham Mahamandir in Robbinsville, New Jersey. Believed to be the largest Hindu temple in the Western Hemisphere, the building – which cost an estimated $96 million and took 15 years to build – is a breathtaking bit of religious architecture featuring soaring spires, 10,000 statues and intricately carved columns.

The Robbinsville temple opens up with serious questions being asked about the treatment of the laborers responsible for its construction, and that’s a grave enough issue to give pause – to make us wonder how many of our stunning basilicas and shrines and “civic wonders” have arisen on the backs of workers who

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This is an undated photo of the exterior of the Akshardham Mahamandir in Robbinsville.

OSV News photo/courtesy Akshardham Mahamandir

were endangered, undercompensated or even compelled into work they did not wish to do.

Let us hope the ongoing investigation into the question yields credible answers and justice for the ill-treated. That the debasement and exploitation of workers must never happen should go without saying, particularly in works that are meant to succor the spirit and invite it toward our encounters of God. Beyond reading that George Harrison, in a letter to his mother, wrote that his conversion to Hinduism “only strengthened” his devotion to the Sacred Heart, I know nothing of the Hindu faith and have never been remotely curious to study it.

Yet the very first photograph I encountered of Akshardham Mahamandir had me planning a visit. The airy lightness of so large a structure, the highly decorative, peculiarly warm whiteness of the interior instantly beckoned me toward wonder, and wonder – no matter its source – is always a happy beckoning to cast one’s thoughts to God, the Creator and All-Good.

“That’s a reminder that architecture can give inviting witness to faith,” a smart friend of mine remarked.

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Indeed. Contrast the new temple with St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Tokyo, which my friend aptly referred to as a “temple of doom.” The church’s exterior comes at one like a steel razor, while the stark interior features shadows and extreme utilitarianism. Perhaps the architect intended to create a quiet space of anticipation – a fervent hope for the light?

– but the concrete walls, and the absence of saintly depictions of our spiritual ancestors, communicates solitary confinement rather than communion. And the two unadorned beams blaring out from above the crucifix suggest cold, unblinking and merciless eyes within a pyramid.

I want only escape from that environment, and so (again, for me) this example of sacred architecture registers as an epic fail. In general, Japanese artwork has always intrigued me, and yet here I am, closing those images as I schedule a visit to New Jersey.

The Tokyo cathedral will remain a longshot on my itinerary, while a temple wholly outside my faith looks too gorgeously interesting to go unexplored.

Elizabeth Scalia is culture editor for OSV News.

Pope Francis

The Eucharist has the power to draw hearts to Jesus

BY CAROL GLATZ  Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY • St. Charles de Foucauld, a turn-of-the-19th-century hermit, demonstrates how a life of meekness, tenderness and eucharistic adoration evangelizes, Pope Francis said.

The saint was known to remain in prayer “at Jesus’ feet, before the Tabernacle,” for hours a day, “sure that the evangelizing force resides there and feeling that it is Jesus who will bring him close to so many distant brothers and sisters,” the Pope said Oct. 18 at his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

“And do we, I ask myself, believe in the power of the Eucharist? Does our going out to others, our service, find its beginning and its fulfillment there, in adoration?” the Pope asked, encouraging everyone to rediscover the sense of adoration before the Eucharist.

Continuing a series of audience talks highlighting saints who demonstrate zeal or passion for evangelization, Pope Francis said St. Charles made Jesus and the poor “the passion of his life” after living his youth “far from God, without believing in anything other than the disordered pursuit of pleasure.”

“The first step in evangelizing,” the Pope said, is to “fall head over heels” for Jesus so that love will show in one’s life.

If this does not happen, “we risk talking about ourselves, our group, a morality or, even worse, a set of rules, but not

St. Charles de Foucauld, who was born in France in 1858, is pictured in an undated photo. Pope Francis canonized St. Charles de Foucauld on May 15, 2022, calling attention to the universality of his faith, living as a brother to all. CNS photo/courtesy of I.Media about Jesus, his love, his mercy.”

The Pope said he sees this tendency in some new movements that spend a lot of time talking about their organization, their new spiritual path or “vision of humanity,” and “do not know how to talk about Jesus.”

St. Charles understood the importance of the laity in the life of the church and “he reminds us that ‘there need to be lay people close to priests, to see what the priest does not see, who evangelize with a proximity of charity, with goodness for everyone, with affection always ready to be given,’” he said, citing the saint’s writings.

However, the Pope said, they need to be “holy lay people” in love with Jesus, not “climbers” in search of something else.

“We priests need so much to have next to us lay people who seriously believe” in Jesus, he said, and who, with

MORE FROM POPE FRANCIS ON TRENTONMONITOR.COM:  Love, forgiveness liberate, break cycles of violence  Mary shows Christians they are all brothers, sisters their witness, “teach us the way” and help the priest understand he is not an “official” or administrator, but is “a mediator, he is a priest.”

St. Charles is “a prophetic figure for our time,” Pope Francis said.

He demonstrated “the beauty of communicating the Gospel through the apostolate of meekness,” welcomed everyone as a brother or sister and showed “the evangelizing force of tenderness,” Pope Francis said.

“Goodness is simple and asks us to be simple people, who are not afraid to offer a smile,” he said, encouraging Catholics to imitate “God’s style” of being close, compassionate and tender with others.

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Church

A prelate prepares to vote June 16, 2023, during the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Fla. When the U.S. bishops gather Nov. 13-16 in Baltimore for their fall plenary assembly, they will elect a new secretary and chairmen for six standing USCCB committees. OSV News photo/Bob Roller

BISHOPS TO ELECT CONFERENCE SECRETARY, CHAIRMEN FOR 6 COMMITTEES AT FALL ASSEMBLY WASHINGTON (OSV News) • When the U.S. bishops gather for their fall plenary assembly Nov. 13-16 in Baltimore, they will elect a new secretary and chairmen for six standing committees for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Diocese of Trenton’s Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., is among the bishops nominated for a standing committee.

The current Conference secretary, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, was elected last year to complete the term left vacant when Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, then the secretary, was elected to a three-year term as Conference president. The USCCB secretary also serves as chairman of the Committee on Priorities and Plans.

Archbishop Coakley has been nominated to continue as secretary in a new term. Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, Oregon, has also been nominated for the position.

The bishops elected will each serve for one year as the chairman-elect of their respective committees before beginning a three-year term as the chairman at the conclusion of the fall plenary assembly in 2024, when the current committee chairmen complete their three-year term.

The nominees for chairman-elect of the standing committees are as follows, in 42 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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alphabetical order:  Committee on Catholic Education: Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Bishop David M. O’Connell of Trenton, New Jersey.  Committee on Communications: Bishop William D. Byrne of Springfield, Massachusetts, and Coadjutor Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne of Hartford, Connecticut.  Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church: Bishop Robert J. Brennan of Brooklyn, New York, and Bishop Earl K. Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio.  Committee on Doctrine: Bishop John F. Doerfler of Marquette, Michigan, and Auxiliary Bishop James Massa of Brooklyn.  Committee on National Collections: Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri, and Bishop Daniel H. Mueggenborg of Reno, Nevada.  Committee on Pro-Life Activities: Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco and Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio.

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, was elected as the chairman of the pro-life committee during the November 2022 plenary to complete the term left vacant when Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore was elected Conference vice president.

The other chairmen whose terms heading standing committees end in 2024 are: Bishop Thomas A. Daly of Spokane, Washington, Catholic education; Auxiliary Bishop Robert P. Reed of Boston, communications; Auxiliary Bishop Arturo Cepeda of Detroit, cultural diversity; Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, doctrine; and Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup, New Mexico, national collections.

THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN WILL MEET WITH POPE FRANCIS TO SHARE THEIR DREAMS VATICAN CITY • Thousands of children from Italy and many others representing other parts of the world will meet Pope Francis at the Vatican Nov. 6 to express their hopes, dreams and questions.

“It will be a meeting to show the dream we all have: to go back to having the pure sentiments of children, because the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like children,” the Pope had said Oct. 1 when he

November 2023

Pope Francis greets a child as he rides in the popemobile leaving St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican after his weekly general audience June 28, 2023. CNS photo/Lola Gomez announced the initiative called, “Let us learn from boys and girls.”

“Children teach us about transparency in relationships, about spontaneously welcoming those who are strangers, and about respect for all of creation. Dear children, I too look forward to learning from all of you!” the Pope had said.

Cardinal José Tolentino Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, which is sponsoring the event, told reporters Oct. 17 that the Pope has repeatedly encouraged young people to use their courage to turn their dreams into reality.

The cardinal said that young children by nature have courage, enthusiasm and hope, which are the qualities so many adults need today.

“The conflicts and wars, which seem to have no end, require from all of us this courage, the courage to dream of peace and the strength to achieve harmony and fraternity,” he said.

“We all have a duty to learn this courage from the children, this strength of spirit,” he said.

Franciscan Father Enzo Fortunato, who is also involved in helping with the event, told reporters the children will have an opportunity to ask the Pope any question they want.

The Rome-based Community of Sant’Egidio is helping local school children attend the event, including immigrants and refugees.

Its president, Marco Impagliazzo, said Pope Francis is offering an example to other adults to similarly take the time to listen to and guide young people.

“Pope Francis is that father who listens,” he said, and who wants “to learn from them, welcome their requests for a good and human life, but at the same time wants to answer their questions without being afraid to tell them how they should live and grow.”

By Carol Glatz • CNS

World & Nation

Mexican bishops call for solidarity after Hurricane Otis devastates Acapulco

BY DAVID AGREN  OSV News

M

exico’s bishops expressed “closeness” with the affected populations and urged generosity after a monster Category 5 hurricane tore through Acapulco, leaving 27 dead and four missing.

Cáritas México, meanwhile, mobilized a response to Hurricane Otis, which battered Acapulco around midnight Oct. 25 as the strongest hurricane to ever hit Mexico’s Pacific Coast, according to the National Hurricane Center, causing widespread property damage and flooding, and communications offline.

Dioceses in Mexico have established collection centers to help the homeless amid widespread devastation.

“We are aware of the pain and anguish that overwhelms thousands of families who have lost their homes, property and livelihoods in these disaster areas.

Many localities suffered serious damage to infrastructure, and found themselves prevented from accessing essential services,” the Mexican bishops’ conference said in an Oct. 25 statement.

“In these difficult times, we call for unity and fraternity among Mexicans.

We urge the provision of generous assistance for those affected, especially the poorest and most vulnerable,” the statement continued. “Spiritual and material accompaniment will be provided by dioceses and parishes to the fullest extent of our means. You are not alone.”

Mexican authorities had little time to prepare, according to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who said throughout the day that he had little information on the situation in Acapulco. Media arriving later in the day documented buildings badly damaged by

Damaged buildings are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Otis in Acapulco, Mexico, Oct. 26, 2023. Hurricane Otis tore across Mexico’s southern Pacific coast as a Category 5 hurricane, unleashing massive flooding in the resort city of Acapulco and setting off looting as desperate residents grew tired of waiting for help to arrive. OSV News photo/Henry Romero, Reuters 165 mph winds, downed trees and entire parts of the city of 1 million residents underwater. The Guerrero state government estimated 80% of the city’s hotels were damaged.Mexico’s electrical utility said 58 power line towers were toppled.

Press photos showed people looting grocery stores; journalists reported little presence of law enforcement or soldiers – with the latter famed in Mexico for

responding rapidly to natural disasters.

The storm’s devastation deepened the misery afflicting Acapulco in recent decades. Set on a picturesque bay with golden-sand beaches, Acapulco once glittered as the granddaddy of Mexican tourist destinations, but has been beset by neglect and drug cartel violence as visitors flock to other destinations such as Cancún.

‘THREE-PRONGED PRAYER’ NEEDED AMID MAINE MASS SHOOTINGS, SAYS PASTOR Amid a manhunt for a suspected mass shooter, a pastor in Maine is calling for “three-pronged prayer.”

Father Daniel Greenleaf, pastor of Prince of Peace Parish in Lewiston, told OSV News that he is interceding for at least 18 people killed and 13 injured in an Oct. 25 attack in his town, as well as for their families and law enforcement.

The shootings, which began around 7 p.m. ET in Maine’s second-largest city, took place in two locations: Schemengees Bar and Grille restaurant, and the Just-in-Time Recreation bowling alley, just over 4 miles apart from each other in Lewiston.

Police quickly issued shelter-in-place orders that remained standing for the communities of Lewiston, Lisbon and Bowdoin as of the morning of Oct. 26.

Hundreds of local, regional and federal officials are searching for 40-year-old Robert Card of Bowdoin, a certified firearms instructor and a petroleum supply specialist in the U.S. Army Reserve, who has been named as a person of interest. According to law enforcement, Card – who had reported having mental health issues – had recently

threatened to attack a National Guard facility in Saco, Maine. He is considered armed and dangerous.

At an Oct. 26 press conference, Maine Gov. Janet Mills said the attack “strikes at the very heart of who we are.”

President Joe Biden, who has spoken with Mills, ordered flags to be flown at half-staff until sunset Oct. 30.

Due to the active lockdowns, the five churches that comprise Prince of Peace Parish – the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, Holy Cross, Holy Family, Holy Trinity and Our Lady of the Rosary – have been temporarily closed, with Mass livestreamed, said Father Greenleaf.

Two of the churches, Holy Cross and Holy Trinity, were particularly close to the shooting and search. Holy Cross is “right up the street” from Schemengees, and Holy Trinity is adjacent to the place a vehicle, believed to be abandoned by Card after the attacks, was found, said Father Greenleaf.

None of the church buildings have been breached due to the shootings or the search, he said – although the search has come close.

By Gina Christian • OSV News

November 2023

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PTA CONFERENCE Continued from 35

their story as an example of what Catholic education teaches: selflessness. “‘For me, the theme ‘it matters’ meant witnessing a friend struggling with kidney disease … and recognizing that I had the opportunity to make a difference,” Daneman said. “It was about being an instrument of hope and healing for someone who mattered to me.”

“For me, ‘it matters’ is about the profound difference one person’s decision can make,” said Crupi.

“When Mike selflessly offered me his kidney, he not only saved my life, but gave me and my family the most precious gift of all: time. ...

Our journey provided a lesson to our students that could not be found in textbooks.”

44 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

To read the original story, visit trentonmonitor.com/news/2023/ jun/05/gift-of-life-st-leo-teacherdonates-kidney-to-coll/ Evelyn Wasilik, PTA co-president at St. Mary Academy, Manahawkin, found the conference “relaxing, and a wonderful feeling to be a part of, to know that we’re all here for Catholic education.” Her school’s PTA “is a second family to me, working with other women with the common goal of making [school] better for our children.”

Her teammate, Nicole Flanagan, corresponding secretary, was new to the St. Mary PTA this year and said she particularly enjoyed attending Mass with the Bishop.

“I wanted to experience the camaraderie of all those in the PTA,” she said. The PTA is “about fostering community in our school and in the Church … and helps to enhance

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November 2023

the experience of our students and families.”

Kori Budzitowski, PTA president in St. Joan of Arc School, Marlton, appreciated the diocesan conference “shining some light on the volunteers – although no one [comes to] this because they expect a ‘thank you.’”

“We wouldn’t have our Catholic schools without our PTAs,” said Msgr. Richard LaVerghetta, pastor of St. Joan of Arc Parish.

“We love to represent St. Catharine’s in the Diocese,” said its

PTA president, Marybeth Thomas, of her Spring Lake school. “Catholic education is very important to all of us.” She also valued the opportunity to “meet other PTA boards and presidents from other Catholic schools that share the same values as us.”

St. Catharine’s principal, Donna White, noted how much the team learned from other schools while attending the conference last year. “[PTA membership] is an opportunity to make a difference. … It’s really good work for a fabulous cause.”

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Anniversary Blessings

To Honor and Cherish

Bishop reminds anniversary couples their marriage is a ‘Sacrament of God’

BY MARY STADNYK  Associate Editor and

ROSE O’CONNOR 

Digital and Social Media Manager

S

Couples beam as they reaffirm their wedding vows during the 2023 Anniversary Blessing Masses. Mike Ehrmann photo

ophia Cerullo had tears in her eyes when attending the Oct. 22 Bishop’s Anniversary Blessing Mass.

A member of St. John the Baptist Parish, Allentown, Cerullo was happy to visit St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, for the very first time and witness her parents, Michael and Janet, renew their wedding vows before Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M. “We’re excited to receive the graces from the Bishop as he blesses us on our 25th anniversary, both as a couple and as a family,” Janet Cerullo said. “Today, we’re going to pray for an abundance of graces that will serve us as we look forward to our next 25 years.”

The Cerullos were among the nearly 300 couples from around the Diocese who attended the 2023 Bishop’s Anniversary Blessing Masses. Bishop O’Connell Continued on 47

November 2023

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 45

Anniversary Blessings

Marriage is a Sacrament of God FROM BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL’S HOMILY FOR THE ANNIVERSARY BLESSING MASSES OCT. 8 AND 22.

I

n movies or on TV, we see people getting married in all sorts of places, on beaches or cruise ships, jumping out of airplanes or even having their wedding ceremony in Las Vegas with Elvis himself as the minister!

You, however, decided to get married in the Church because you understand your marriage as a Sacrament, one of those seven outward signs instituted by Christ to give grace. You understood your marriage as something not just between the two of you, but between the two of you and God. That is why we say that the Sacrament of Marriage is a covenant; it is covenant between the two of you and God. That description calls to mind the words of St. John Chrysostom, that famous theologian from the early Church, “Let those who take spouses now do as they did at Cana in Galilee. Let them have Christ in their midst.”

You have chosen to be married in the sight of a generous God who so loved the world that he gave himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. And in the Spirit of this generous God, husband and wife are to give themselves to each another. A spiritual life grows as love finds its center beyond ourselves: in God. Faithful and committed relationships offer a doorway into the mystery of spiritual life through which we discover this: the more we give of self, the richer we become in soul; the more we go beyond ourselves in love, the more we become our true selves and our spiritual beauty is more fully revealed. In marriage we are seeking to bring one another into fuller life and to belong to one another not as a “possession” but as a possibility for true, deep love.

Bishop O’Connell preaches his homily during the Oct. 8 Anniversary Blessing Mass in St. Robert Bellarmine CoCathedral, Freehold. Mike Ehrmann photo

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November 2023

A couple does not begin marriage with perfect love. The couple grows in loving and grows by loving. Love is hard work.

Sometimes – often, perhaps – love has brought suffering, if not love has been a disguised form of selfishness. But just as the Church is strengthened through suffering, your relationship has grown in the valleys. There is always more growth in the valleys than on the mountain tops.

Jesus has commanded us to love as he has loved. How did Jesus love? He loved it until it cost him. He loved all the way to the cross and death. That is love. If he had stopped loving before Calvary then it would not have been love at all. It would have been only for what he could get out of it. But love, in the sense that Jesus means, is loving even when it means undergoing suffering for the sake of the other. That is real love, loving for the good of the other. That is precisely how Jesus explains his love in the Gospel of John when he said: No  “The more one has greater love than this: to lay we give of self, down one’s life for one’s friends ( John 15:13). the richer Again and again, we have given God all sorts of reasons to turn his we become back on us, but he kept on loving us in soul.” because he made a covenant with us, not a contract. We can use all sorts of legal means to wiggle our way out of a contract – and many do – but not you: for you the loving, faithful covenant of marriage is irrevocable. That is precisely the love of God we see for us in his covenant with us: unbreakable, irrevocable. There are many ideas of marriage in the world today, but your married life has been a Sacrament you received in the Lord, joined together for many years in the Lord. And you turn to Christ to sustain your love for each other because Christ has blessed your marriage and we renew his blessing as we celebrate your wedding anniversary.

Your marriage has been something very human, fulfilling the desire in the hearts of all of us to share our lives with another, but your marriage has also been a Sacrament of God. This, your Sacrament, has brought you together, keeps you together in a bond of love that has grown stronger, deeper, holier with the passage of time. Its ingredients are a mixture of patience, dedication and commitment, frustrations and tolerance, laughter and tears, work and rest, families with children or families with just the two of you, all blended together in the mystery and fulfillment of married love. It is up to you, with God’s grace, to embrace that marvelous recipe every day, all day.

When marriage endures – 50 years or more, 25 years, 1 year – thank God, may God bless you all the days of your lives together. May God be the One you look to see together, husband and wife, as you live your lives and as your lives finally lead you home to God. Congratulations!

Celebrating love Continued from 45

celebrated a Mass Oct. 8 in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold, for couples from Monmouth and Ocean counties marking one, 25, or 50 or more years of marriage this year. The Oct. 22 Mass was celebrated in the Cathedral for couples from Burlington and Mercer counties.

BISHOP’S BLESSING The Bishop’s Anniversary Blessing Masses have been a standing favorite in the Diocese, providing an opportunity for couples to renew their wedding vows and receive a special blessing from the Bishop. After the Masses, the couples are invited to receive an individual blessing from one of the priest concelebrants and a certificate marking their milestone.

This year, each celebration was followed by refreshments, music and dancing.

“Your marriage has been something very human, fulfilling the desire in the hearts of all of us to share our lives with one another,” Bishop O’Connell said, “but your marriage has also been a Sac-

Frank and Margaret Giampietro of St. David the King Parish meet with Mercer County episcopal vicar, Msgr. Dennis Apoldite; BIshop O’Connell and Vicar General Msgr. Thomas Gervasio. Hal Brown photo

rament of God. “This Sacrament has brought you together, keeps you together in a bond of love that has grown stronger, deeper, holier with the passage of time. Its ingredients are a mixture of patience, dedication and commitment, frustrations and tolerance, laughter and tears, work and rest, families with children or families with just the two of you, all blended together in the mystery and fulfillment of married love. It is up to you, with God’s grace, to

Many extended family members rejoiced alongside anniversary couples at the Masses. Hal Brown

embrace that marvelous recipe every day, all day,” the Bishop said.

EMBRACING THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY Couples shared a host of sentiments about all that it takes to make a marriage last and what it meant for them to celebrate their milestone with other couples also marking significant anniversaries.

Frank and Margaret Giampietro of St. David the King Parish, Princeton Junction, have been together for 70 years.

They were all smiles when they learned they are the longest-married couple in the Diocese this year.

Before the Oct. 22 Mass in the Cathedral began, the couple enjoyed the chance to meet briefly with Bishop O’Connell; Msgr. Thomas Gervasio, diocesan vicar general; and Msgr. Dennis Apoldite, episcopal vicar of Mercer County, in the Cathedral rectory.

“This is such a nice thing to do,” Margaret Giampietro said of the Mass, then noted how pleased she and her husband were to have members of their family — which includes four children, nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren — in attendance. She added that she hopes she and Frank hope can set an example that hard work and keeping the faith can make marital longevity possible.

Frank Giampietro recalled a number of married couples — including their Continued on 48

photo

November 2023

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Anniversary Blessings

Dreams come true Continued from 47

own parents and siblings — he and his wife considered role models when they were preparing for marriage 70 years ago.

“We reached the point where we learned how to help each other without the other one asking,” he said.

“We’ve had ups and downs,” Margaret Giampietro added, “but we work through them together and we always respect each other.” She added that “it’s been through the grace of God” that the couple persevered.

Paul Tonacci of St. Mary Parish, Colts Neck, reflected on his first year of marriage to his wife, Maria.

“The Lord has a plan and you need to lean into that and trust,” he said. “It took me 37 years to find her, and I would wait 37 more years if I knew we would end up together.”

Maria Tonacci added that she and her husband are expecting their first child and “that has been our biggest blessing” in married life.

KEEP THE FAITH, KEEP YOUR HUMOR The mantra Jacqueline and Richard Lopardo of St. Pius X Parish, Forked River, have followed in their 60 years of marriage is “Be true to your faith.”

“Go to Mass together and pray together,” Jacqueline Lopardo said, reiterating that all couples should continuously rely on their Catholic faith.

Deacon Larry Finn of Mary, Mother of the Church Parish, Bordentown, flashed a smile to his wife, Jodie, when he said that “saying ‘Yes dear’” is what he has learned during their 55 years of marriage.

“Seriously though, you do have to try and keep a sense of humor,” Deacon Finn said, while Jodie Finn added that along with abiding by their wedding vows, the couple vowed to realize that during their married life there would be times that “we will have to agree to disagree.”

“I’ve enjoyed these 55 years of companionship,” Deacon Finn added.

“With the grace of God, and the Sacrament, we were able to live through some pretty challenging times,” Jodie Finn added. “We’re best friends.”

Bishop O’Connell receves the gifts of bread and wine from Deacon Larry and Jodie Finn of Mary Mother of the Church Parish, Bordentown, at the Oct. 22 anniversary blessing Mass. Hal Brown photo 48 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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The main reason why Janis and Frank Stia of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, West Trenton, attended the Anniversary Blessing Mass was that “God was part of our lives from our wedding day, our 50 years together, and God will continue to be part of our lives.

“Prayer has always been a comforting resource,” Frank Stia said. “Being together for 50 years, we’ve enjoyed so many events with family and friends, such as holiday gatherings, vacations and other special occasions, and we’ve always had each other to lean on in times of need.”

MARRIAGES HAVE CHALLENGES Kathleen Weilbacker of Sacred Heart Parish, Mount Holly, admitted that she and her husband, Thomas, have had their share of challenges during their 50 years of marriage.

Noting they were very young – 18 and 19 – when they married, then welcomed their newborn daughter, Elaine, the following year, the couple struggled to make ends meet financially.

“But we were happy and committed to building a good life together,” she said, noting that they persevered by pursuing higher education opportunities and holding down multiple jobs.

Along with enduring other hardships, including job losses and loss of family members, Kathleen Weilbacker recalled struggling with her Catholic faith, but said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks changed that.

“We had recently moved to California for a job and felt isolated and helpless during that time, but God was calling us back to him, and we followed,” she said.

She noted that, at the time, her husband was not Catholic, but he eventually decided to enter the faith.

“And my faith is stronger now than it ever was before,” she said.

“If you really love and respect each other, that will carry you through any trials you may face,” is the advice she said she would give to couples preparing for marriage. “Always have dreams that may seem insurmountable now, but working together will help those dreams come true. It may require some hard work and lots of help from God, but if we can do it, you can too!”

Msgr. Joseph N. Rosie, pastor of St. James Parish, Red Bank, blesses a couple and their family after the Co-Cathedral Mass. Mike Ehrmann photo

An anniversary couple reads the Prayers of the Faithful at the Co-Cathedral Anniversary Blessing Mass Oct. 8. Mike Ehrmann photo

A little one snuggles soundly while her parents renew their vows at the Bishop’s Anniversary Blessing Mass. Mike Ehrmann photo November 2023

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 49

Anniversary Blessings

Celebrating Couples Married...

1 year • 25 years • 50+ years

The couples who took part in one of the Bishop’s Anniversary Blessings are listed here, by county and parish:

Burlington County

Lueckel, 50 • Deacon Gary & Virginia Richardson, 50

CORPUS CHRISTI, Willingboro • Jose Redmond & Frances Vasquez, 25 HOLY EUCHARIST, Tabernacle • Brian & Juliane Beebe, 1 • Matthew & Kim Bezanis, 25 • Robert & Rita Haines, 50 • Mark & Frances Mainardi, 65 JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD, Beverly • Norman & Mary Frances Hansen, 50 • Leonard & Kathleen Patrizi, 50 MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH, Bordentown • Deacon Lawrence & Jodie Finn, 55 • Carlos & Corazon Jayme, 53 • Tom & Marie Krosnick, 50 • William & Mary

OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL, Moorestown • Anthony & Regina Dain, 50 • Robert & Bernadette Garofola, 53 • Michael & Clara Gittings, 66 • Louis & Jeanne Gallo, 55 • James & Erin Kelly, 1 • Russel & JoAnne Miller, 55 • Rocco & Carole Ann Palmieri, 50 • William & Linda Thomas, 1 • Christopher & Rosemarie Torchia, 25 OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP, Maple Shade • Thomas & Emily Mae McGonigle, 60 SACRED HEART, Mount Holly • Richard & Rosa Jones, 50 • Clark &

Cherry Lozano, 1 • Tom & Kathy Weilbacker, 50 SACRED HEART, Riverton • Michael & Nicole Bisicchia, 1 ST. CHARLES BORROMEO, Cinnaminson • Dennis & Elizabeth Field, 50 ST. KATHARINE DREXEL, Burlington • Richard & Lisa Klarmann, 50

Mercer County

OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL, West Trenton • Humberta Sanchez Cuautle & Alex Castillo, 1 • Frank & Janis Stia, 50 OUR LADY OF SORROWS-ST.

Couples received additional blessings after Mass in the Co-Cathedral from Father Edward Blanchett, pastor of Visitation Parish, Brick. Mike Ehrmann photo

50 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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November 2023

ANTHONY, Hamilton • John & Suzanne Bensel, 64 • Samuel & Patricia Falconello 61 • John & Francine Michaels, 50 OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS, Trenton • Diego & Faviola Gonzalez, 1 • Antonio Luis Luis & Karina Toshua Paliero, 1 • Vincent & Gemma Russo, 1 SACRED HEART, Trenton • Gertrude Marie & John Andrew Breuer, 50 ST. ANN, Lawrenceville • Christian & Victoria Cuison, 1 • Shane & Amanda Hickey, 1 • Kenneth T. & Maryann Micai, 52 • Arnold & Carolyn Peucker, 25 • Daisy & Thomas Ponting, 50 ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA, Hightstown • Deloris & Thomas Garvey, 60 • Richard & Annabelle Ramirez, 25 ST. DAVID THE KING, Princeton Junction • Joshua & Tracy Anthony, 25 • Michael & Janet Cerullo, 25• Philip & Graceann Gatto, 1 • Margaret & Frank Giampietro, 70 • Wallace J. & Kathleen B. Kowrach, 50 • Ronald & Amalia Montemayor, 25 • Paul & Tracy Murray, 25 ST. GREGORY THE GREAT, Hamilton Square • Christopher & Lauri Harbison, 25 • David & Maureen Iorio, 25 • Sheila & James Kelly, 60 • William & Pearl Kocis, 60 • Andrew & Diane Litecky, 50 • Joseph & Marie Scandariato, 61 • Annmarie & Alexander Wolochuk, 25 ST. JAMES, Pennington • Natalie & David Grace, 25 • Elizabeth & Karl Muessig, 50 ST. JOSEPH, Trenton • Jesus E. Alvarez & Elys F. Frias, 1 • Rodolfo Alvarez & Alba Camey, 1 • Lazaro Cruz & Lourdes Noyola, 25 • Winton Gonzalez & Lina Torres, 1 • Elder Lopez & Luz Excobar, 1 • Edin Martinez & Yolanda Zari, 1 • Eduardo Perez & Fatima Rosales, 1 • Jose & Mariana Puac Aguilar, 1 ST. MARY OF THE ASSUMPTION CATHEDRAL, Trenton • Ashley Gonzalez & Junior Jean-Baptiste, 1 • James & Sheila Kelly, 60 • Amanda & Nelson Meda, 25 • Ofelio & Carmen

Santiago, 50 ST. PAUL, Princeton • Sam & Zoila Aragona, 25 • Anna Cianciara & Eduardo Hermesmeyer, 1 • Joseph & Nerissa Chin, 50 • William & Phyllis Coyer, 62 • Grace & Thomas Finn III, 52 • Dean & Mary Ann Pappas, 25

Monmouth County CHRIST THE KING, Long Branch • Irone & Gil Campos, 1 • Ryan & Katelyn McCue, 1 • Timothy & Donna McCue, 50 • Cathleen & John McNee, 50 • David & Joanne O’Connell, 25 • Carmen Carpio Lopez & Juan Carlos Rodriguez Hernandez, 1 • Oscar & Nancy Urbina, 1 HOLY CROSS, Rumson • Joseph & Susan Robertson, 51 HOLY FAMILY, Keyport • Barbara & Joseph Stahley, 50 MOTHER OF MERCY, Asbury Park • Jose & Juddi Peralta, 1 NATIVITY, Fair Haven • Gary & Carmela Roccaro, 25 OUR LADY OF FATIMA, Keyport • Raymond & Elizabeth Kerr, 50 OUR LADY OF HOPE, West Long Branch • Elizabeth & Pasquale DeGiorgio, 55 • Joseph & Sheila Reyes, 1

“For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, with God’s help...” Hal Brown photo

ST. CATHARINE-ST. MARGARET, Spring Lake • Michele & Ollie Klein, 50 ST. CATHERINE LABOURE, Middletown • Eugene & Earline Cutolo, 60 • Frank & Mary Lee Murphy, 52 • Anthony & Joann Tremari, 51 ST. CLEMENT, Matawan • Jessica & Liam Collins, 25 • Linda & Frank LaRocca, 52 • Robert & Patricia Wyshynski, 50 ST. DENIS, Manasquan • Eliot & Lorene Colon, 25 • Maureen & Arthur Jacobus, 50• Denise & Michael Leib, 50 • Alana & Justin Mustakas 1 • Elizabeth & James Rice, 50 ST. DOROTHEA, Eatontown • Dave & Jody Kroll, 25

OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP-ST. AGNES, Atlantic Highlands • Anthony & Carol Alleva, 56

ST. GABRIEL, Marlboro • Josephine & Michael Diana, 25 • Rossano & Darlene Esposito, 25 • Francis “Skip” & Marian Gracon, 59

ST. ANN, Keansburg • Ryan Csordas & Maxine Glynn-Csordas, 1

ST. JAMES, Red Bank • Mallory & Michael Collins, 1 • Christine L. & Peter R. Jennings, 25 • Donald & JoAnne McGrath, 50 • Maryann & Skip Soberg, 50 • Catherine & Carmine Taffuri, 25 • V. Arthur & Mary Joan Ziemanis, 50

ST. ANSELM, Wayside • Donna & Angelo Catania, 51 ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA, Red Bank • Renzo & Amanda Estrada Principe, 1 • Florencia Castro & Victor Lopez, 1 ST. BENEDICT, Holmdel • Theresa & Robert Brophy, 25 • Meghan & Dylan Kiernan-Chow, 1 • Sandra & Francis Lupo, 50 • Anne & Christopher Montagnino, 25 • Natalie Kim & Stephen Stoop, 1

ST. JOHN, Allentown • Scot & Clare Goodwin, 25 • Geraldine & James McSorley, 40 • Robert & Maria Celeste Phillips, 50 • Dolores & Joseph Viotti, 52 ST. JOSEPH, Millstone Township • Eustace Anthony & Joanne Elizabeth

November 2023

Continued on 54

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 51

Anniversary Blessings

Congratulations & Warm Wishes to all the couples celebrating a special anniversary this year, especially...

Mom and Dad,

Congratulations on 65 years of marriage!

Your faithfulness to God and great love for one another are a blessing to your family and to the world.

We love you, Debbie, Donna, Lisa & families.

AL & LAURA DENARO • 65TH ANNIVERSARY

Love never fails.

1 Corinthians 13:8a

Our love for each other and God has brought us so much happiness these past 25 years.

Celebrating our Golden Anniversary is a true blessing. Our hearts are filled with love and gratitude for each other and our family. Thank you, Jesus for walking by our side and guiding us on this journey.

BOB & RITA HAINES • 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Cheers to many more happy years together!

Lord, thank you for all the blessings you have given us in our 61 years of marriage (January 20, 1962). Lord, continue to watch over us and our family.

BRIAN & KATHY FITZSIMMONS • 25TH ANNIVERSARY

PATRICIA & SAMUEL FALCONELLO • 61ST ANNIVERSARY

A key for a Life Commitment to Marriage...

Live each day with -FaithTrust-Hope-ConfidenceAttitude-and “The Greatest of These is Love.”

A short prayer before bedtime asking God’s Blessing “to make our Faith Strong; our Love Perfect, and our Marriage Sacred” MARK & FRANCES MAINARDI • 65TH ANNIVERSARY 52 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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Mom and Dad,

Congratulations on 50 years of marriage!

Your love for each other and your family is your greatest gift to all of us.

Love, Bob, Rose, Katie, Mike, Mary Kate, Lizzie, Connor, Maddy & Tessa

BETH & BOB O’CONNOR • 50TH ANNIVERSARY

We thank God for bringing us together and carrying us through the years.

Our 25th anniversary!

Here’s to a lifetime of love, happiness and each other.

Another year, another reason to celebrate 60 years of wedded bliss.

We know, we’ve only made it with God’s help. Jesus continue to watch over us and our family.

ROMMEL & ZOILA MENDEZ • 25TH ANNIVERSARY

Thank you God, for all the blessings you have bestowed on us during our fifty years of married life.

ANNA & WILLIAM BEADLE • 60TH ANNIVERSARY

To Babci and Dziadzi, God Bless you on your

With you at our side, all things are possible.

JOE & JOYCE MITCHELL • 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Dear Liam,

May God give us the strength for another 25 years together.

I love you forever, Jess

55th Anniversary. We all love you very much and we are so Blessed to have you in our lives.

Love, Jeanne, Michael, Johnny, Debbie, Joey, Lawrence, Joanna, Joe, Charlie and Jamesey.

Also, Jean Valjean!

JESSICA & LIAM COLLINS • 25TH ANNIVERSARY

JOYCE & JOHN LAJEWSKI • 55TH ANNIVERSARY

Mom & Dad (Ganma & Papa),

HAPPY 1ST ANNIVERSARY TO MY LOVE.

For all that you’ve been to us, for all that you’ve done for us, for all that you are...

We love you!

Happy 50th Anniversary!

Love, Your Children & Grandchildren, Kerri, Nancy, Nick, Abby, Kayla, Danny & Adriana

DONNA & DAN MAHONEY • 50TH ANNIVERSARY

I am so Blessed to have you. You are my miracle. I love you to the shore and back. Love, Schmoopie JOANNA & JOSEPH HAAG • 1ST ANNIVERSARY November 2023

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 53

Anniversary Blessings Continued from 51

Schiumo, 50 • Brianna & John Bowers, 1 • Joann & James Markey, 25 • Douglas & Jeanne Poray, 60 • Milagros & John Sims, 25 ST. LEO THE GREAT, Lincroft • John & Susan Cizin, 25 • Megan & William Fahey, 25 • Patricia & Lawrence Hicks, 25 • Robert & Beth O’Connor, 50 ST. MARK, Sea Girt • Bernard & Dorothy Ricciardi, 65 ST. MARY, Colts Neck • Sandra & Allen Montefusco, 25 • Donna & Francis Sikorskas, 50 • Michael & Eileen Stivala, 50 • Paul & Maria Tonacci, 1 ST. MARY, Middletown • Kathryn & Brian Fitzsimmons, 25 • Paul & Dorothy DeLuca, 50 • Brendan & Kathleen Goehl, 1 • Richard & Diana West, 56

A couple listens to Bishop O’Connell’s homily during the Bishop’s Anniversary Blessing Mass in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton. Mary Stadnyk photo ST. MICHAEL, West End • Darin & Lisa Zohn, 25 ST. ROBERT BELLARMINE COCATHEDRAL, Freehold • Perly & Anthony Alvarito, 25 • Rita &

Donna and Dan Mahoney of St. Thomas More Parish, Manalapan, share a kiss during the Oct. 8 Mass in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold. Mike Ehrmann photo Domenic Annese, 50 • Charlene & Joseph Azzaretto, 50 • Gloria & Peter Balestrino, 50 • Louise & Robert Campbell, 54 • James & Kathleen Carmello, 53 • Angela & Carmine Cipoletti, 50 • Michael & Barbara DeLucia, 50 • Beth Anne & Dave DeRenzo, 25 • Kathleen & Albert Doty, 54 • Carl & Eileen Edinger, 50 • Esmeralda Rivera & Evodio Felipe, 1 • Eileen & Richard Fontana, 62 • Christopher & Bridget Greco, 1 • John & Concetta Jaworski, 50 • Rich & Peggy Klotz, 25 • John & Marilyn Kuper 63, • Vito & Cabrina Lubrano, 60 • Annabel Hernandez-Ortega & Steven Ortega-Felipe, 1 • Antonio & Delia Russo, 59 • Carolyn & Stephen Stumpf, 60 • Arcangelo & Martha Valente, 50 • Ismael & Elizabeth Vicens, 52 • Eleanor & David Watker, 50 • John J. & Karen Wedemeyer, 50 ST. ROSE, Belmar • Deacon Eugene & Rosemary Malhame, 59 ST. ROSE OF LIMA, Freehold • Eric Benitez & Teresa Guadalupe Amigon, 25 • Humberta Sanchez Cuautle & Alex Castillo, 1 • Benito & Herminia Contreras, 1 • Jairo Cruz Campas &

Concepcion Mendez Melendez, 1 • Benito & Herminia Contreras, 1 • Roger & Dolores Gibson, 60 • Maria Soledad & Jose Bricio Guillen-Vilchis, 1 • Thomas & Barbara Houston, 63 • Janet & Thomas Imbach, 60 • Hector & Rosa Isela Pacheco, 1 • Mary & Robert Leonard, 60 • Carmelo Lopez & Martha Idalia Lopez, 25 • Ignacio Peralta Morales & Clara Perez Cuautle, 1 • Antonio Luis & Karina Toshua, 1 • Victor Vargas Cholula & Otilia Torres Zarate, 1 • Nancy & Edmond Ying, 25 • Maria Felicitas Morales Luna & Everardo Zamorano Tlapa, 25 ST. TERESA OF CALCUTTA, Bradley Beach • Deacon Richard & Mary Ann Coscarelli, 50 • Frederick & Christine Henkel, 50 • Sheila O’Leary & Dennis O’Leary, 50 ST. THOMAS MORE, Manalapan • Angela & Tom Caron, 1 • Peter & Ann Marie Enge, 25 • Donna & Daniel Mahoney, 50 ST. VERONICA, Howell • Ron & Stefanie Martino, 25 • Mary Ann & Joseph Valenti, 52 •

 Go to TrentonMonitor.com and click on NEWS>DIOCESE for PHOTO GALLERIES and a SPECIAL VIDEO featuring some of this year’s anniversary couples.

54 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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November 2023

ST. WILLIAM THE ABBOT, Howell • Matthew & Maureen Bakke, 50

Ocean County EPIPHANY, Brick • Joan & Thomas Franken, 50 • Brenda & Le Roy Jackson, 50 • Adrianne & William Pratt, 50 • Karen & David Shilanskas, 50 OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE, Lakewood • Maria E. & Feliciano Del Valle, 52 • June & Adalbert Eipert, 50 • Sandra & Gabirel Perez Lopez, 1 • Gabriela & Efrain Reyes, 1 • Alejandra & Isauro Torres Bueno, 1 • Damaris & Luis Vazquez, 1 ST. ALOYSIUS, Jackson • Normajean & Vincent Cesario, 55 • Angelina & G. Ennaro Pane, 64 • Florence & Albert Pittius, 25 • Clare & Bernard Polatschek, 50 • Gail & James Sanderson, 50 • Patricia & Norman Schoenig, 50 • Maria & Joseph Siciliano, 57 ST. BARNABAS, Bayville • Patricia & Daniel Dobrzelecki, 50 • Donna & Stephen Farkas, 25• Ruth & Jay Lynch, 61

ST. JOHN, Lakehurst • Susan & William Belasco, 50 • Lucy & Frank DiGianni, 55 • Maria & Jeffrey Jable, 57 • Margaret & Robert Lapinski, 50 • Geraldine & John Walter, 50 ST. JOSEPH, Toms River • Tina & Robert Angelo, 50 • Pat & Jim Clayton, 50 • Barbara & William Corrigan, 50 • Christina & Arnievic Lalo, 1• Maureen & Christopher Landosky, 25 • Lois Ann & Michael Mahoney, 50 • Monica & Javier Rodriguez, 1 ST. LUKE, Toms River • Laura & Al Denaro, 65 ST. MARTHA, Point Pleasant • Elaine & James Dickerson, 52 • Catherine & Matthew Genz, 1 • Christine & Robert Gorecki, 50 • Teresa & Christopher Griffin, 25 • Kristen & Samuel Recenello, 25 • Laura & Ed Sarluca, 50 ST. MARY, Barnegat • Anna & William Beadle, 60 • Betty & Richard Centanni, 50 • Barbara & John Geiger, 60 • Barbara & Arthur Giori, 60 • Monica & August Intrabartolo, 50 • Angelina & Walter Koehler, 25 •

MariAnn & Milan Smikovecus, 50 ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE, Toms River • Mary & Ronald Kirby, 63 • Margaret & Charles Soffel, 51 • Marie & Glenn Stawicki, 50 • Maureen & Anthony Stella, 53 ST. MONICA, Jackson • Janet & Thomas Noordzy, 50 ST. PETER, Point Pleasant Beach • Joanna & Joseph Haag, 1 • Barbara & Edward Kaminski, 50 • Joyce & John Lajewski, 55 • Susan & George Loder, 25 ST. PIO OF PIETRELCINA, Lavallette • Christine & Donald Almasy, 50 • Jane & John Borowski, 52 • Mary & Bernard Brady, 50 • Marylou & James Evancik, 50 • Maureen & Ken Zebrowski, 50 ST. PIUS X, Forked River • Dina & Robert Fournier, 65 • Paula & Frank Little, 50 • Jacqueline & Richard Lop, 60 • Kerri & Michael Platt, 25 ST. THERESA, Little Egg Harbor • Ann & Peter Hummel, 50 VISITATION, Brick • Joyce & Joseph Mitchell, 50

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, Brant Beach • Dorothy & Michael Duffy, 63 ST. DOMINIC, Brick • Sarah & Edward Buecker, 50 • Sharon & John Darmofalski, 25 • Mary & Harold Dill, 50 • Mary Ellen & Joseph Doherty, 50 • Maria & Joshua Hartwell, 1• Barbara & Edward Kochie, 51 • Susan & Walter Kowalczyk, 50

A special gift from The Monitor for all Anniversary Couples listed in this magazine.

Receive a free, one-year new subscription or renewal* to your diocesan magazine (includes both print and digital editions). *One-time/one-year limit per couple

ST. ELIZABETH ANN SETON, Whiting • Kathleen & Richard Eyerman, 60 • Regina Vaccaro & John Wendell, 25 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, Long Beach Township • Delores & John Cannuli, 50 • Pamela & Gaetano Ponticiello, 25 • Patricia & Thomas Rears, 60 ST. ISIDORE THE FARMER, New Egypt • John & Teresa Heyer, 25 • Maria & Michael Menditto, 50 • Eleanor & Thomas Sabroe, 65 • Doreen & Jimmy Shepard, 51

Call The Monitor’s Business Desk at 609-403-7169 … Or email us at …

Monitor-Subscriptions@dioceseoftrenton.org for more information and to accept your gift.

One year of the Diocese’s award-winning magazine … with our compliments and heartfelt congratulations!

November 2023

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 55

Preparing for heaven T

THE WORD

Father Garry Koch

NOV. 5  WE ARE ALWAYS FIGHTING THE TENDENCY OF HYPOCRISY Mal 1:14B-2:2B, 8-10; 1 Thes 2:7B-9, 13; Mt 23: 1-12

J

esus often criticizes the religious leaders of his day for being hypocrites. Then, as now, there was a tendency for religious leaders to excuse themselves from the demands that they place on the faithful. In a society where one’s caste carried certain meaning, and where privilege governed social interactions, Jesus and his disciples were often on the outside, not the inside.

Jesus warns his disciples that they ought not to act in the same way, and most certainly that they should hold in low regard those who would place themselves above others. This was not just a feature of Jewish society but is common in our human condition.

NOV. 12  WISDOM IS A NECESSARY VIRTUE FOR THE KINGDOM Wis 6:12-16; 1 Thes 4:13-14; Mt 2: 1-13

here are many virtues and practices that define the Christian life.

We know that love of God and love of neighbor are important. We also know we need to exercise that love by acts of charity: feed the poor, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger.

The Christian life is also defined by faith – placing trust in the promise of the covenant and the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Yet, there seems to be another virtue, one that is also a gift of the Holy Spirit called wisdom. In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, Jesus emphasizes wisdom as a fundamental virtue of the Kingdom.

NOV. 19  THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS REMINDS US OF OUR PLACE IN THE KINGDOM Prv 31: 10-13, 19-20, 30-31; 1 Thes 5:1-6; Mt 25: 14-30

W

e often overlook the truth that God places certain demands upon us. He has a plan for creation and each one of us fits somehow into that plan. None of the expectations of the Lord are for his benefit, for there is nothing that he needs from us. The Lord invites us to participate in the building of the Kingdom, and to do so through acts of faith, charity and mercy.

Each one of us is blessed by God

with the gifts and graces we need for this journey. Some of us are invited to exercise great acts and others of us – perhaps most of us – to exercise ordinary acts along the way. The Lord will hold us accountable for each of those acts in our lives.

NOV. 26  ALL HUMAN INTERACTION IS AN ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS Ez 34: 11-12, 15-17; 1 Cor 15: 20-26, 28; Mt 25: 31-46

A

s we celebrate the final Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Solemnity of Christ, the King of the Universe, we are reminded of the true universal nature of the mission and message of Jesus.

At the end of time each one of us is to be judged according to the acts of our lives, how we each fulfilled the mission that was given to us. Jesus clearly teaches that all human interaction – knowingly and unknowingly – is an encounter with him. We find Jesus in the least, the marginalized and the outcast. Those who are the easiest to overlook are the ones who are dearest to his heart. Our challenge is clear – we must extend mercy in order to know mercy.

Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.

 To read extended versions of Father Koch’s columns, visit TRENTONMONITOR.COM>FAITH & CULTURE>YOUR FAITH 56 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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November 2023

Shutterstock.com image

Spirituality

Spirituality

Navigating the seas of change with faith and preparation

W

hen my second son began preschool, an experience relished by his five brothers, his reaction was less than enthusiastic. As we approached the brightly painted door that led to his classroom, I felt myself being pulled backward by the pressure of his tiny hand tugging on mine.

THINGS MY FATHER TAUGHT ME Mary Morrell

something frightening.

My experience with decisions of “purpose” has taught me a lesson I try hard to remember—when the challenges of any new beginning bring cries for help, recall the words of Jesus as he rebuked the storm, saying, “Quiet! Be still!” and his remonstration of the Apostles, of whom he asked, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”

I want to answer assuredly, “You know I do!” But sometimes, my behavior belies my shaky faith, and I wonder, almost hopefully, if Noah’s first response to God – not recorded in Scripture – might have been along the lines of a muffled, “Seriously?”

I would feel so much better knowing someone who navigated so well the stormy sea of change through faith in God, also had his moments of doubt.

And so, as I once again set out on a new journey with a host of others filling the ship, I am moving my large painting of Noah’s ark from my grandchildren’s bedroom to my new office so I can be reminded of Noah’s fortitude when waters got rough and his faith in God’s promise that they would, eventually, arrive on dry land where their work would be fruitful.

I am also bringing an umbrella and rain boots.

Mary Morrell is editor-in-chief of The Catholic Spirit, the Diocese of Metuchen’s Catholic publication.

Philipp Klausner/Unsplash image

Looking down I saw the big brown eyes welling up with tears, a look of fear crossing his flushed face. A kindly, gray-haired lady came out and wrapped her arm around his shoulder, ushering him in to join the other children. As he turned to look at me with wide doe-eyes, I was sure the lump in my throat would choke me. I waited for the inevitable with bated breath.

“MOMEEE!” came the blood-curdling scream. It wasn’t so much the word as the impassioned, gut-wrenching way in which it was delivered that pierced my guilty-mother heart as I tore myself away, leaving him there in the obviously adequate care of his new teacher.

New beginnings were not his cup of tea.

And so it is for many of us, even as adults. New beginnings, while often excit-

ing and challenging, also signify endings.

With each new beginning we are called to give up the security and comfortableness of old ways to move forward into the unknown. Even routine, boring or painful daily experiences may be difficult to relinquish because they have become an anchor holding us in place.

New beginnings require a trust in the Lord and acknowledgement that he is the author of both beginnings and endings.

Moving forward is sure to be difficult without the hand of the Lord to lead us.

Talking to a young man who wished to follow Jesus, but only after he had returned home to say good-bye to his family, Jesus explained the importance of letting go of the past: “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” Jesus was not saying, as many believe, that the past is something that should be forgotten or ignored, but rather, that when the time comes for a decision to be made for the future, the past must take its place as the port from which one sails.

To continue to look back may prevent us from making what one Bible commentary refers to as an “instant decision of purpose” – the kind we must make when God calls us to something new and, often,

November 2023

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 57

Spirituality

Can a Catholic date a person whose marriage has not been annulled? there be situations where a Catholic can date another Q. Can person who has been divorced but has not yet received a decla-

ration of nullity for that marriage? In a previous column you stated the following: “All marriages are presumed valid until proven otherwise.” I have relatives and friends who date divorcees. Couldn’t this become an emotional nightmare if eventually they do get serious and an annulment falls through? (Evansville, Ind.) it is true that the Catholic Church presumes that A. Yes, marriages are valid until proven otherwise, and faithful

Catholics should discern their life choices in light of this principle. I always advise divorced Catholics not to start dating unless they are declared free to marry by a Catholic marriage tribunal.

The Catholic belief in the absolute permanence of marriage has its foundation in Jesus’ own words in Sacred Scripture. As we read in Matthew’s Gospel, when the Pharisees question Jesus as to whether a marriage can be dissolved, Jesus responds: “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery” (Mt 19:8-9).

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This theological reality is reflected in our current Code of Canon Law. Canon 1060 tells us: “Marriage enjoys the favor of law. Consequently, in doubt the validity of a marriage must be upheld until the contrary is proven.”

Practically, this means that apart from certain situations where it is plainly obvious on the surface that a valid marriage was never contracted – specifically, I’m thinking of “lack of form” cases where a Catholic atQUESTION CORNER tempted to marry Jenna Marie Cooper in a non-Catholic OSV News ceremony without the required special dispensation from the local bishop – a civilly divorced person will always be considered married in the eyes of the Church unless and until their union is declared null by a Church marriage tribunal after the appropriate canonical process.

Therefore, dating as someone who is still considered married in the eyes of the Church is, at best, imprudent. As you note, becoming emotionally close to someone you hope to marry, but may not be able to in the end, has the potential to lead to serious heartbreak. At worst, a romantic involvement with someone who is presumed to be already married has the potential to cross the line into the sin of adultery.

This understanding of marriage as fundamentally indissoluble applies equally to all marriages, for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. If two Protestants marry in their own Church, divorce, and then one of them later wishes to marry a Catholic, that initial Protestant wedding would need to be investigated and declared null by a Catholic marriage tribunal in order for the wedding to the Catholic to be allowed to take place.

Because marriage tribunals don’t exist to rubber-stamp requests in a perfunctory way, but rather to discern the actual truth about the circumstances surrounding a marriage, an affirmative decision can never be guaranteed. To be fair, at first glance some martial unions may seem likely to be declared null; still, this should never be presumed or taken for granted. In fact, most marriage tribunals state quite clearly in their introductory paperwork that those seeking a declaration of nullity must not set a date for a new wedding until the process is concluded.

That all being said, it’s never too late to try to make a difficult situation right. Even if a person with a presumptively valid prior marriage has gotten romantically involved with a new partner, marriage tribunal staff will still be more than willing to work with them through the nullity process.

Jenna Marie Cooper, who holds a licentiate in canon law, is a consecrated virgin and a canonist whose column appears weekly at OSV News. Send your questions to CatholicQA@osv.com.

Questions about the Catholic Faith will be addressed on The Question Corner. To view the feature, visit TrentonMonitor.com>Commentary>Columns

58 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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November 2023

The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs: Inner Right Predella Panel, 1423-4, by Fra Angelico/The National Gallery London. Wikipedia

Family Life

We are called to sainthood relatable to anyone.

The Beatitudes are challenging at times because they move us past the status quo of our daily lives. They open us up to n the beginning of November, the making connections with our neighbors Church celebrates All Saints Day. and strangers. When we do our best to Did you know that All Saints Day live out the Beatitudes, we contribute to is a Holy Day of Obligation? Do building up the Kingdom you know why the Church of God here on earth. On finds this day so important AT All Saints Day, we pray in a that every single Catholic is special way to the saints so called to attend Mass? that they will intercede on This special day gives us Making Faith Come our behalf and help us make the chance to celebrate and Alive for Your Family good choices in our lives. We honor the men, women, are praying with them to and teens who have been God; the saints boost our prayers to him. canonized by the Catholic Church. This day has been celebrated since the early EN That’s what it means to live in communion with the saints. fourth century. In fact, in some Catholic countries around the world, All Saints HOW DO YOU BECOME A SAINT? Day is observed as a public holiday. For Haciendo que la fe There is a three-step process to beus here in the United States, Nov.se 1 is not mantenga viva coming a saint in the eyes of the Catholic a holiday; but it is a day that Catholics en tu familia Church. First a candidate becomes “Venmake the time to attend a Mass or service erable,” then “Blessed” and then “Saint.” The at their parish. title “Venerable” is given to a person who When you go to the Church on Nov. 1 has passed away that is formally recogfor All Saints Day, you’ll hear the Gospel nized by the Pope as someone who lived a from Matthew that is called the Sermon “heroically virtuous life” (USCCB) or was on the Mount. It is in this Gospel passage a martyr of the faith. To be considered where we hear The Beatitudes: the ways “Blessed,” they must also have one miracle in which we are called to live so that our acquired through intercession. This means actions are aligned with the Kingdom a miracle needed to have happened after of God. They are the blueprint to living someone prayed with them to God. For a good Catholic life full of love and true martyrs, however, a miracle is not required happiness. The beauty of the Beatitudes is prior to beatification. Canonization and that they are meant for people of all ages the title of “Saint” requires two miracles. and apply to all time periods; they can be

BY LISA ANN LIMONGELLO  Special Contributor

I

FA IT H HOM E

FE CA SA

It is good to note that the Pope may waive these requirements if he so chooses.

LIVING A LIFE WORTHY OF SAINTHOOD Jesus gave us a blueprint to follow with the Beatitudes, and the Lord gave us the saints to help us along the way. It was St. Francis who prayed, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.” We ask the Lord to give us the gifts to be able to live a life of love and compassion. We are called to be an instrument of light and peace in our world. With the help of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the loving kindness of Jesus, the communion of saints and our lifelong learning, we too can become saints.

We need to make sure that we live our lives with the mindset that we all should “pray as though everything depended on God [but] work as though everything depended on [us]” (St. Augustine). It’s up to us to be the image of God in our own little corners of the world. We’re all just out here living our day to day lives as saints in training.

Lisa Ann Limongello is parish catechetical leader in the linked parish community of St. James, Pennington, St. Alphonsus, Hopewell, and St. George, Titusville, as well as in St. Luke Parish, Toms River.

Faith at Home is a monthly column coordinated by the Diocese of Trenton’s Departments of Catechesis, Evangelization and Family Life, and Youth and Young Adult Ministry. For additional Faith at Home resources, visit dioceseoftrenton.org/faith-at-home.

November 2023

 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 59

In the Parishes

Father Edward Blanchett, pastor of Visitation Parish, Brick, participates in the Entrance Procession at the start of the parish’s 75th anniversary Mass Oct. 15. Behind Father Blanchett is Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., principal celebrant and homilist. Mike Ehrmann photos LEFT: The parish choir leads the congregation in song during the anniversary Mass. CENTER: Visitation parishioners kneel in prayer during the Mass. RIGHT: Congregants come forward to receive Holy Communion.

Visitation Parish marks 75 years with Mass that illustrates vibrant faith

BY EMMALEE ITALIA  Contributing Editor

T

he Mass marking 75 years of Visitation Parish in Brick “was a joyous extension of the underlying faith and commitment in our parish family,” said Father Edward Blanchett, pastor.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., celebrated the Oct. 15 Mass, which “means a great deal for the parishioners,” Father Blanchett said, “and I’m especially honored and delighted, as his representative here at Visitation, when Bishop joins us... We’re all connected as the Church and, when Bishop O’Connell is present, it’s a powerful reminder of that unity in the Body of the Christ.”

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT In his homily, Bishop O’Connell referred to the Gospel parable of the king-

dom of heaven being like a wedding feast, and he linked it to Visitation Parish.

“Heaven is what God offers to his people through the Church. By their lives and behavior, some show themselves either unwilling or unworthy of the offer,” Bishop O’Connell said.

“Identifying ourselves with the kingdom of God, with his Church, requires us to respond willingly and worthily, not simply with the way we are dressed, but with what is deep within us.

“My sisters and brothers,” he continued, “after 75 years of the experience of the Gospel and the Church that has grown up around It, the Church of the Visitation here in Brick has proved itself willing and worthy of being part of the kingdom of God, of accepting the invitation, of wearing the garments of the sacraments and of generous charity toward the neighbor the way Christ has asked and intended.”

For more photos visit TrentonMonitor.com>News>Parishes 60 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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November 2023

Father Blanchett said he anticipates Visitation Parish having a marked impact on those it serves, particularly as society is moving to a decreased practice of faith.

“My hope is that Visitation will never waver in the witness that is so much needed,” the priest said. “After discovering how empty the promises of the world can be, it is my prayer that people … will be uplifted by the example of courage and joy that Visitation offers (and) will be drawn — out of curiosity at first, but then by seeing the fruits in their own lives — to rekindle that desire for the truth that we all have.”

FAMILY OF FAITH To commemorate its 75th anniversary, Visitation Parish’s historical team published a volume on the parish’s history, which Father Blanchett noted will soon be available digitally as an e-book.

“People have expressed their admiration at how Visitation ... from its roots as Continued on 70

In the Parishes

Young parishioners kneel during the Eucharistic procession. Mary Stadnyk photos

From left, Msgr. Thomas N. Gervasio, who preached a homily in English; Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., and Msgr. Edward Arnister, pray during the service.

Turn to Jesus in Eucharist for comfort, pastor urges at Forty Hours

BY MARY STADNYK  Associate Editor

M Father Richard Basznianin, pastor of St. Pius X Parish, Forked River, carries the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament during a procession that marked the closing of the annual 40Hour devotion in St. Hedwig Church, Trenton.

any things can test people’s faith and challenge their hope in the course of the day, and there is one person in who people can turn to find light, comfort and strength, said Msgr. Thomas N. Gervasio.

“We find it in the Eucharist, we find it in Jesus himself,” Msgr. Gervasio said in the homily he preached for the Oct. 15 closing service of the Forty Hours Devotion in St. Hedwig Church, Trenton.

“Through the powerful graces that flow from the Mass, the Lord helps us to face all those things that test our faith and challenge our hope,” he said.

Msgr. Gervasio, diocesan vicar general and pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows-St. Anthony Parish, Hamilton, preached at the service attended by several hundred members of St. Hedwig Parish and other visiting parishes and about 20 priests from the Trenton and Metuchen Dioceses and Newark Archdiocese. Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., presided at the service, and Father Jacek Labinski, pastor of St. Hedwig Parish, also was present.

This year’s Forty Hours began after the 8 a.m. Mass Oct. 13, when the Blessed Sacrament was exposed and placed in the monstrance. Adoration continued throughout the day until Evening Vespers. The following day, the Blessed Sacrament was exposed for several hours, then on Oct. 15, the devotion concluded with Vespers, a procession with the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction.

The closing ceremony included the participation of young people, including altar servers and students from the parish religious education program and those who attend

Continued on 71

November 2023

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 61

In the Parishes

White Mass marks 10 years, adds collaboration from second parish Father Jarlath Quinn blesses the hands of a healthcare worker during the Mass. Mike Ehrmann photos

BY MARY STADNYK  Associate Editor

S

ome came straight from their shifts – still wearing their scrubs and white doctor’s coats – others were dressed more traditionally and brought their families to pray with them and share in the experience of the annual White Mass at St. Luke Church, Toms River.

On Oct. 15, just three days before the feast of St. Luke, evangelist and patron saint of physicians, Catholic healthcare professionals from around the Diocese gathered to pray for themselves, their colleagues and all who serve in the field.

This year’s diocesan-wide White Mass marked its 10th anniversary, a milestone celebrated with joy and thanksgiving. Also this year, St. Luke’s co-sponsored the Mass with another parish in the Diocese, St. Michael in West End. Father John Butler, pastor of St. Michael Parish, celebrated the Mass. His concelebrants were Father Michael Kennedy, administrator of St. Luke Parish, who was homilist; Father Robert Grodnicki, retired pastor of St. Luke Parish, who initiated the White Mass 10 years ago; and Father Jarlath Quinn, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help-St. Agnes

62 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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Parish, Atlantic Highlands.

“An anniversary event is always special in terms of the support it receives to continue and because of the longevity, in and of itself,” said June Brandes Chu, a member of St. Luke since 1987 and chairperson of the White Mass committee.

Brandes Chu, a registered nurse who retired after 30 years at Ocean County Juvenile Services and eight years as an adjunct faculty member for the Accelerated BSN program at Seton Hall University, South Orange, added that the fact St. Luke and St. Michael parishes were cohosting the White Mass for the first time “makes this milestone celebration extra special.”

“It is important to recognize individuals who promote the care, well-being and recovery of others in every setting and every department, including the home,” Brandes Chu said.

“It is a team effort by many players and allied health partners that helps support those in need of our care,” she said.

In his homily, Father Kennedy reflected on healthcare workers being gifted with a “vocation of compassion,” saying that such work is not for everyone and that it takes a “special person to have that vocation.”

Turning to St. Luke’s Gospel, Father

November 2023

Wearing their physician coats, healthcare workers pray during the 2023 White Mass in St. Luke Church, Toms River.

Kennedy focused on themes that support the evangelist’s interest in assisting the sick, lowly and downtrodden, found in various passages. He then encouraged the congregation to read the passages on their own and embrace the messages “with an open heart and an open mind.”

First time White Mass attendee Dr. Violet Kramer of St. Michael Parish and pulmonary and critical care specialist who practices in Monmouth Pulmonary Consultants, Eatontown, and serves in Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, found it to be “incredibly uplifting and encouraging to share common values and worship with my fellow healthcare colleagues, especially when we are still trying to heal from the COVID-19 crisis.”

She said, “God invites us to do his work in the world. This Mass reinvigorates us to see Jesus in each of our patients.”

St. Luke parishioner Jenna Hisey, who cantored for the Mass and has worked as a nurse in Community Medical Center, Toms River, for the past 17 years, noted that she began attending the White Mass three years ago and finds it to be “a profoundly beautiful event that pays tribute to the relentless efforts and unwavering dedication of all healthcare professionals.”

In the Parishes

Annual Red Mass honors legal professionals, intertwines law and love

BY EMMALEE ITALIA  Contributing Editor

C

ontinuing a tradition that dates to the 13th century, the Red Mass, sponsored annually in St. Michael Parish, West End, honored all those working in legal professions.

Father John Butler, St. Michael pastor, celebrated the Oct. 1 Mass in the parish church. It was also a time to acknowledge and pray for recently deceased members of the bench and bar, including Monmouth County Vicinage Assignment Judge Lisa Thornton, 59, who died in May. In his homily, concelebrant Father Peter James Alindogan, pastor of St. Veronica Parish, Howell, drew parallels between the Gospel reading from Matthew – the parable of the two sons asked to work in the vineyard – and what is asked of those in the legal profession as well as all humanity.

“The parable is about us – our saying no to God when we do things our way, and our saying yes to him but not follow-

ing through with our actions,” he said.

Spreading from the Cathedral of Paris in 1245 to most of Europe, the Red Mass traditionally coincided with either the opening of the Michaelmas term in England or with the opening of the Roman Rota, the supreme judicial body of the Catholic Church. It took its name from the celebrant’s vestments of red, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, as well as the scarlet robes of the lord high justices of the English court.

Father Alindogan pointed out that the practice of law is intertwined with Jesus’ message of love. “Law and love were at the forefront of the ministry of our Lord when a scholar of the law approached Jesus and asked our divine Lord what he must do to attain eternal life. Jesus said to him, ‘What is written in the law?’”

The parable of the Good Samaritan, Father Alindogan said, reminds people that “we need to assess, evaluate and hold dear in our hearts how we should be neighbors to one another. Love is the fulfillment of the law. … Law finds its encouragement, its edification, and its

Congregants bring the gifts of bread and wine to Father John Butler during the Oct. 1 Red Mass. Photos courtesy of William Gray enrichment in love. We can sometimes be wrong with the practice and exercise of law, but we will always be right in the practice and exercise of love.”

What Jesus said to the law scholar, he continued, “is also being echoed to us, men and women of the red cloth, men of the white cloth, men and women of different and varied colors of the clothes we wear, ‘Go and do likewise.’”

Legal professionals and loved ones pause outside St. Michael Church for a photo with Father John Butler, center. In the back row are Mass concelebrants Father Alindogan and Father Jean Felicien, adjutant judicial vicar and vice chancellor for the diocesan Office of Canonical Services.

November 2023

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In the Parishes

Rosary, Eucharist celebrated at Mount Laurel parish

Using a drone, Monitor freelance photographer Hal Brown captured the outdoor procession on the grounds of St. John Neumann Parish, Mount Laurel. Father Michael Dunn and altar servers kneel before the Blessed Sacrament during Adoration. Hal Brown photo

BY CHRISTINA LESLIE  Correspondent The parish family of St. John Neumann united in prayer and public worship Oct. 1 during a Rosary Rally and Eucharistic procession that warm fall afternoon. Father Michael G. Dunn, pastor of the Mount Laurel parish, led Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament in the church, then walked with some 100 faithful the half-mile to the parish’s Rosary Garden as the choir sang hymns.

Members of the Knights of Columbus led the reciting of the Rosary as the monstrance was placed upon a stone altar near a statue of the Sacred Heart in the garden; benediction followed.

“It was good for the parish to nurture their love and faith of the Eucharist, Christ’s real presence,” Father Dunn concluded. “It’s a beginning; we will do this again for Corpus Christi.”

Michael Miller, Grand Knight of the parish’s Our Lady of Fatima Council 7755, expressed his joy at the size and faith of the crowd, saying, “For those that attended … I believe only one word applies: extraordinary. Father Dunn’s participation brought solemnity and

Journeying Together

reverence to the event that has not been seen or felt for quite some time.”

Miller charged the Knights with maintaining a sense of spirituality for other parishioners to follow. “I would ask you, as Knights of Columbus, to examine the priorities in your life. We are the warriors in the defense of our faith… We are expected to set the example.

That example starts with prayer.”

Some 54 members from two Burlington County parishes traveled to Italy on pilgrimage in early October. Led by Father Daniel Swift, pastor of St. Mary of the Lakes Parish, Medford, and Father Daniel Kirk, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Cinnaminson, the pilgrims visited Rome Montecassino, San Giovanni Rotondo, Lanciano, Loreto, Assisi, Cascia and Castel Gandolfo.

Courtesy photo

64 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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November 2023

In the Parishes

Bishop blesses Monument to Unborn at Willingboro parish

BY MARY STADNYK  Associate Editor

O

n the grounds of Corpus Christi Church is a newly blessed monument dedicated to the many thousands of lives lost to abortion and reminding those who see it that all life is sacred — from the moment of conception until natural death.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., celebrated Mass with the Willingboro parish community Oct. 22 as part of his observance of Respect Life Month.

Afterward, he blessed the stone monument depicting St. Joseph, who is holding the Christ Child on one arm and lilies in his other hand. Engraved below the image is the phrase, “In memory of the unborn children.”

Father John Testa, pastor, said the Monument to the Unborn was given as a gift to the parish by the former Sacred Heart Council, Knights of Columbus, which ceased operations earlier this year.

“The monument needed a new home, and we are happy to provide that on our

Choir members from St. Gregory the Great Academy, Hamilton Square, raise their voices in song during the concert. Mary Stadnyk photo

CONCERT WAS CELEBRATION OF UNITY, LOVE Shown is the Monument to the Unborn on the grounds of Corpus Christi Parish, Willingboro, that was blessed by Bishop O’Connell Oct. 22. campus,” said Father Testa.

“This monument is erected to the memory of those innocents who have died unjustly, whose lives were taken from them while they grew silently in their mother’s wombs,” he said.

Bishop O’Connell is shown with Father John Testa and the altar servers from Corpus Christi Parish, Willingboro, where the Bishop celebrated Mass Oct. 22 and then blessed a respect life monument located on the parish grounds. Ron Maniglia photos

For more on this story, go to TrentonMonitor.com>NEWS>PARISHES

Coming together as one was the focus of the “You Are The World” Unity Concert held Oct. 8 in Sacred Heart Church, Trenton.

The event highlighted the musical talents of a number of individuals and groups from throughout the Mercer County area including the choirs from St. David the King Parish, Princeton Junction, and St. Gregory the Great Academy, Hamilton Square, and the Gospel Choir from Sacred Heart Parish.

The concert served as a benefit for two charities that provide the basic needs of shelter and food – Better Community Housing of Trenton, Inc., and Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. The concert also paid tribute to Father Brian McCormick, a retired priest of the Diocese, who devoted his priestly ministry to serving the poor in Trenton.

Carol Tewksbury, music minister in St. David the King Parish, Princeton Junction, noted the concert occurred the day after Hamas terrorists began their war against Israel and her parish choir sang about peace and love.

“Of the two concert beneficiaries, Tewksbury said, “those of us who are blessed must give back.

“TASK and Better Community Housing of Trenton Inc. are worthy organizations right in our own backyard,” she said.

“There is joy in singing in community with others for a purpose larger than ourselves, especially when we are trying to help benefit the nearby poor.”

November 2023

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 65

Schools Sr. Lillian Harrington, MPF, President of Villa Victoria Academy, shares memories with members of the Class of 1983. “We have the best teachers here, the best students and the best parents,” she said. Rose O’Connor photo

Villa Victoria celebrates nine decades of faith, academics

BY ROSE O’CONNOR 

Digital and Social Media Manager

V

illa Victoria Academy celebrated 90 years of faith, academic achievement and sisterhood during an anniversary celebration Oct. 21 on the school’s Ewing campus.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., joined the Religious Teachers Filippini and the extended Villa Victoria school community for Mass in the school theater.

“What a great joy it is for me as your Bishop to celebrate with you the 90th anniversary of Villa Victoria, a beacon of light in our diocese. I am so happy and congratulate all of the Sisters Filippini who have worked so hard over years to make such a wonderful school, and all of your teachers and students who are here and part of this celebration.”

In the homily, Msgr. Thomas N. Gervasio, diocesan vicar general and pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows-St. Anthony Parish, Hamilton, reflected on the anni-

versary of the school and the Religious Teachers Filippini.

“Villa’s life has been infused with a confident faith, a reliance on God’s providence and continual turning to the Lord – asking, seeking, knocking so that VVA would meet the challenges of the day,” he said.

The order was founded by St. Lucy Filippini (1672-1732) who, in 1707 was called to Rome by Pope Clement X to establish a system of schools.

Msgr. Gervasio shared excerpts from St. Lucy’s personal letters, which detailed the challenges she faced with establishing and maintaining the schools.

“Two hundred ninety-two years have passed since St. Lucy wrote those lines, and I’m certain from her glorious place

Bishop O’Connell and Msgr. Gervasio visit with some of the Religious Teachers Filippini during the reception that followed the Mass celebrating the 90th anniversary of the all-girls school in Ewing.

GRATITUDE TO GOD Following the Mass, Filippini Sister Patricia Pompa, provincial superior and president of the Villa Victoria Academy Board of Trustees, addressed the over two dozen Religious Teachers Filippini present along with a blend of current Continued on 73

In 1910, five Religious Teachers Filippini arrived in the United States, settling in Trenton where The Bishop of Trenton, Most Reverend Thomas Joseph Walsh, supported the sisters in the development of a school.

Courtesy photo.

Learn more online about the history and founding of Villa Victoria Academy Visit TrentonMonitor.com and click on NEWS > SCHOOLS.

Rose O’Connor photo

66 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

in heaven she rejoices with us today,” Msgr. Gervasio added.

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November 2023

Schools Senior Tristan Stephenson assists a guest with a Halloween-themed bowling game in the Notre Dame student center.

Ava Sass, NDHS senior, visits with a guest at the Halloween party. EmmaLee Italia photos

Bishop O’Connell congratulates Lauren-Carmel Sirak, left, on her being named the New Jersey Nonpublic School Teacher of the Year Award recipient.

At right is Maureen Tuohy, principal of Our Lady of Sorrows School, Hamilton, where Sirak is a teacher. Mike Ehrmann photo

OLS educator named Teacher of the Year

L Student volunteers of Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville, assist a guest with a face mask craft and dance to a playlist, background, during the Halloween party they hosted Oct. 24 for adults with special needs.

ND students throw Halloween party for adults with special needs

BY EMMALEE ITALIA  Contributing Editor

B

ringing back a tradition that has been on hiatus for more than four years, students in Lawrenceville’s Notre Dame High School put their creative skills and hearts for service to work Oct. 24, hosting a Halloween party for adults with special needs.

As the school day ended, juniors and seniors in Honors Service Religion classes and additional student volunteers transformed their student center with spooky décor to welcome guests from nearby social service agencies, including Eden Autism Services, Arc Mercer, Visitation Home, Mercer Jr. Sr. High School and Club DREAMS. The students took charge of serving refreshments, guiding crafts, taking guests’ pictures in a photo booth, joining them on the dance floor and supervising an “arcade” of multiple interactive games.

auren-Carmel Sirak, second-grade teacher in Our Lady of Sorrows School, Hamilton, was recognized as the New Jersey Nonpublic School Teacher of the Year for 2023 during the annual Catholic Schools Mass in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold, Oct. 12.

The award, now in its 30th year, is sponsored by the New Jersey Council for American Private Education (NJCAPE).

Sirak is “an energetic and creative teacher who exemplifies the values and mission of OLS School,” said Maureen Tuohy, principal of OLS. Sirak was presented with a bouquet of flowers

by Dr. Vincent de Paul Schmidt, diocesan superintendent of Catholic schools. She also was congratulated by Bishop David M. O’Connell, and Msgr. Thomas N. Gervasio, school pastor.

Mary McElroy, associate superintendent for the Archdiocese of Newark and chair of the advisory committee for nonpublic schools, presented the award to Sirak on behalf of the New Jersey Council for American Private Education in a ceremony Oct. 17 at the diocesan Chancery.

“I couldn’t be the teacher that I am without my faith, family, friends and co-workers,” Sirak said. “All thanks and glory be to God ... My family, principal, coworkers, students and personal experiences have all been placed in my life and path to teach and guide me all in their own way.”

Sirak began teaching in 2007 and joined OLS in 2014. Her first job in teaching was in Trenton Catholic Preparatory Academy, Hamilton, as a middle school science teacher. She is also a peer mentor at OLS, where she runs a summer enrichment program for students and mentors new faculty members. She is a lifeguard and swim instructor at the Catholic Youth Organization, Yardville, and head cheerleading coach at Rider University.

“Nonpublic schoolteachers are pivotal in preparing students for the skills and knowledge needed for the rapidly evolving challenges of the 21st Century, especially here in New Jersey,” said Dr. George Corwell, director of the Office of Education of the New Jersey Catholic Conference and chairperson of the selection

Continued on 73

Continued on 71

November 2023

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THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 67

In Memoriam

OBITUARY INFORMATION  Additional obituaries will be posted to

TrentonMonitor.com>News> Obituaries as information becomes available.

PATRICIA ANN LEONIEC, FORMER NOTRE DAME HIGH FACULTY MEMBER

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Aug. 23 in St. Ann Church, Lawrenceville, for Patricia Ann Leoniec, a former teacher and English department chair in Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville. Ms. Leoniec died July 18.

Born in Trenton in 1948, Ms. Leoniec was a 1966 graduate of Notre Dame High School. She earned a degree in English and a master’s degree in education, both from Rider University, Lawrenceville.

Ms. Leoniec is survived by a sister and brother-in-law, a nephew, aunt and many cousins.

Memorial donations can be made to

PATRICIA ANNE BROOKS, FORMER DIOCESAN ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY PRESIDENT Patricia Anne Spong Brooks, a former president of the diocesan St. Vincent de Paul Society, died Oct. 15 in Wiley Christian Retirement Community, Marlton.

She was 79.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Oct. 24 in Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Moorestown. Interment was to be private at the request of the family.

Born in 1943 in Cherry Hill, Mrs. Brooks’ early work experience included owning a travel agency. She then became involved in the work of the Church during the time she was a member of Sacred Heart Parish, Mount Holly, where she volunteered for the parish’s St. Vincent de Paul conference which provides assistance to people in need. In that time she served in leadership positions in her conference, as well as the Burlington County district level and for the diocesan council.

Mrs. Brooks’ volunteering eventually led to her appointment as president of the diocesan St. Vincent de Paul Society in 2008, a position in which she served for several years. Part of her work as diocesan president Continued on 70

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IN MEMORIAM Continued from 68

included serving as an advisor to parishes that were looking to establish a conference.

Her other work in the Diocese included serving as the longtime catechetical leader in Holy Name Parish, Delran, now part of Resurrection Parish, Delran.

Mrs. Brooks was predeceased by her husband, Ronald E. Brooks Sr. She is survived by her children Kathleen M. (Richard) Jordan; Stephen J. (Dina); Ronald E. (Jennifer); Mark E. (Heather), and Robyn E. (the late Ben) Vedua; 17 grandchildren; 10 great grandchildren, and many other family members and friends.

Memorial donations may be made to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul at Sacred Heart Parish, 260 High St., Mount Holly, N.J. 08060 or the Alzheimer’s Association at alz.org.

ANNUAL CATHOLIC SCHOOLS MASS Continued from 23

lives because we are important to the God who created us and loves us more than anything he has created.”

MEMORIES MADE Amelia Eilbacher, a senior in Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville, and first-time attendee of the annual diocesan Mass, was excited to see so many schools come together and for another opportunity to attend Mass with Bishop O’Connell. She noted that she saw the Bishop in September when he celebrated Mass for Catholic Athletes for Christ student and adult leader representatives.

Katelynn Baban, an eighth grader in Sacred Heart School, Mount Holly, was inspired to hear the Bishop talk about Blessed Carlo 70 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

Acutis. The Bishop “encouraged all of us to be like Blessed Carlo,” Baban said.

Classmate Odeneho Konado agreed, adding that his school prays the Prayer to Blessed Carlo every morning.

Matthew Lyman, an eighth grader in St. Catharine School, Spring Lake, appreciated hearing Bishop O’Connell note the differences between Catholic and public schools in his homily and how “today, it’s our Catholic faith that unites all of our Catholic schools in the Diocese of Trenton.”

James Gallagher, an eighth grader in St. James School, Red Bank, was impressed to see so many students from Catholic schools hear the same message from the Bishop about why it’s important to make “our Catholic faith a part of our lives.”

Father Scott Shaffer, pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Toms River, relayed a range of comments he heard while speaking with students from the two schools his parish sponsors – Donovan Catholic and St. Joseph School. “They said they never saw so many priests celebrating Mass together, they were interested to see the different uniforms worn by their peers from other schools and they were impressed with how big the Church is in the Diocese of Trenton,” Father Shaffer said.

He added that while chatting with his brother priests before Mass, “it was great to hear them talk about how proud they are of the students and the work that is being done in their particular school.”

“Today was phenomenal,” said a smiling Dr. Vincent de Paul Schmidt, diocesan superintendent of Catholic Education.

“The students heard from the Bishop himself about the investment their parents are making by 

November 2023

sending them to Catholic schools,” he said. “Today is a showcase of all the great things that are going on in our schools. We are very blessed.”

SYNOD GOALS Continued from 29

“Trust,” the synod assembly wrote, is what “gives us the audacity and inner freedom that we experienced, not hesitating to freely and humbly express our convergences, differences, desires and questions.”

“Day by day, we felt the pressing call to pastoral and missionary conversion,” the assembly said. “For the Church’s vocation is to proclaim the Gospel not by focusing on itself, but by placing itself at the service of the infinite love with which God loved the world.”

The letter also shared that homeless people near St. Peter’s Square were asked about their expectations of the Church on the occasion of the synod and they replied: “Love!”

STUDENT VISITS SYNOD OPENING Continued from 29

adults from across North America,” said Stankus, who was the only student from Rosemont to participate in the pilgrimage. Other SCHEAP pilgrims included another current college student, two recent graduates of Philadelphia colleges and a local artist, she said, noting that half of the lay delegates were women and two were younger than 25.

Stankus said highlights of the delegation’s time in Rome were participating in an ecumenical conference and vigil with Pope Francis and the global leaders of other Christian faith traditions before

the synodal assembly’s opening.

They also met and prayed with several voting Synod delegates and learned about their ministries, and the group also had a chance to share with them their experiences and unique challenges of being a young person in the Church. The group also attended the opening Mass Oct. 4.

VISITATION PARISH MARKS 75 YEARS Continued from 60

a summertime ‘vacation mission’ church for St. Mary of the Lake in Lakewood, has taken root and become such an active part of Brick and the surrounding area, not only in supporting the faith but also in tending to the material needs of our community members,” he said.

Thomas Murtha, who joined Visitation about seven years ago, moved to the area to retire, but “God had other plans, because I’m more involved in the church than I’ve ever been,” he quipped.

He volunteers in religious education classes, the choir and the youth group. “The faith here is just contagious, and I couldn’t help but be involved in it,” he said.

Averi Kapuscinski, 17, became an altar server and began singing in the parish children’s choir in second grade.

“I’ve been singing in choir ever since, over 10 years,” she said, noting that she also ministers as a cantor. Being a member of Visitation “is very special because of how long I’ve been here … seeing how everything has blossomed into such a big community and family.”

She also pointed out that children are invited to participate in other ministries as well, including the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s events, “and seeing all the kids come and

become a part of that is really special.”

Betty Kilkenny has been a parishioner for nearly 30 years and serves as treasurer for both the Rosary Altar Society and the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

“It’s just a welcoming parish; it has something for everybody,” she said. Kilkenny said she has fond memories of members who have died, and “we have great new people, young kids – I love it.”

FORTY HOURS DEVOTION Continued from 61

the Polish school on the St. Hedwig campus. The students, some of whom were dressed in Polish attire, participated in the entrance procession and recessional, and procession with the Blessed Sacrament.

In his homily, which he preached in English, Msgr. Gervasio spoke of how the celebration of Forty Hours “serves as a beautiful reminder of the gift we possess in the Holy Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament ... The Lord makes himself really and truly present on the altar ... It is there he gives himself to us as food for the journey of life.”

“Forty Hours summons us to rekindle what St. John Paul II called our ‘sense of Eucharistic amazement,’” Msgr. Gervasio said, “knowing that the Eucharist is not something, but someone.”

After Msgr. Gervasio, Father Richard Basznianin, pastor of St. Pius X Parish, Forked River, preached in Polish. He reflected on the Last Supper, when Jesus established the Eucharist, and how, ever since, the Last Supper has been commemorated every year each Thursday of Holy Week. “Forty Hours is a beautiful tradition,” he said.

In closing remarks, Father

Labinski noted that Forty Hours has been a beloved tradition in St. Hedwig Parish for many years. The devotion in St. Hedwig Parish is held near the feast of St. Hedwig, Oct. 16.

Altar server Colin Holler noted that he and his sister, Kayla, also an altar server, have heard a great deal about the National Eucharistic Revival within their parish and from their brother, Kyle, a seminarian from the Diocese.

Forty Hours, Colin Holler said, “is another way to promote devotion to the Eucharist.”

NJ NONPUBLIC TEACHER OF THE YEAR Continued from 67

committee for the award. “Their efforts strengthen the advancement of parental choice in education so that parents have the right to send their child to a school that best suits their individual needs.”

Sirak’s said her inspiration to pursue a teaching vocation was “the admiration I have for my parents and their exceptional abilities to instruct and lead, as well as seeing [their] positive impact on others through teaching and coaching.”

For Sirak, some of the most rewarding aspects of teaching have been watching her students grow in academics, athletics, self-esteem and respect for themselves and others, “as well as a thankful heart for their God-given gifts and a willingness to share their knowledge and experience with others.”

This observation has been made easier by teaching in a Catholic school, which Sirak said “allows me the opportunity to teach … in an atmosphere that encourages a community spirit and opens minds and hearts to the presence of God in every aspect of their lives.”

SPORTS SPORTS Don’t miss The Monitor’s Sports coverage online SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS

BY RICH FISHER  Contributing Editor:

 Veteran offensive line helps fuel offense for RBC football team  Donovan Catholic field hockey continues winning stride

 St. Rose freshman Gavin Mitchell wins U14 Eastern Surfing Championship

 Notre Dame alum Nerwinski embraces soccer and faith playing MLS for St. Louis City New story every Friday!

Go to TrentonMonitor.com and click on NEWS>SPORTS.

From left, tight end Luke Krzykowski, right guard Tyler Burnham and right tackle Lorenzo Portella are part of a tenacious offensive line that has helped ignite Red Bank Catholic’s powerful defense this year. Photo by Jennifer Harms/J Harms Photography November 2023

 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 71

STANDING FOR LIFE Continued from 39

in the U.S. bishops’ plan: prayer, education, outreach and advocacy?

How can we work together? It will

be practical in nature.”

She added that the Diocese was not trying to discourage people from participating in the National March for Life.

“It is our intention to supple-

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72 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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November 2023

ment that effort, by gathering together those who remain in the diocese in an act of solidarity and common purpose,” she said.

Rachel Hendricks, coordinator of the diocesan Respect Life Ministry, said: “We realized that building a culture of life in New Jersey would require pro-life ministry folks to find new ways to collaborate with others in our parishes to better serve pregnant girls and women in our neighborhoods. With society now in the post-Roe era, speakers will address the complexities of the abortion issue and urge attendees to move forward in a new way, avoiding politics and division and focusing on common goals.”

Speakers will include: Jim King, executive director, New Jersey Catholic Conference.

Susan Loughery, associate executive director of operations, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton.

Linda Dix, parish ministry leader at Our Lady of Good Counsel, Moorestown.

Enza Cerami, founder and director of Living Stones, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to proclaiming God’s call to authentic love through the teaching of St. John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body.”

Jennifer Maher, psychotherapist and adjunct faculty member at Divine Mercy University, Sterling, Va. She specializes in working with survivors of sexual trauma. Advance registration is required for the lunch and seminar.

For further information and to register, see dioceseoftrenton.org/ standing-together-for-life.

VILLA ANNIVERSARY Continued from 66

Villa families, alumnae, benefactors and friends.

She thanked Bishop O’Connell and acknowledged the work of Filippini Sister Lillian Harrington, who served the Villa community for more than 40 years as teacher, principal and president, and Filippini Sister Lesley Draper, who has served as principal since 2010.

“An anniversary celebration of nine decades can only begin with profound gratitude to almighty God,” Sister Patricia said.

She reflected on the sisters who traveled to the United States and were tasked with beginning the school almost a century ago.

“These sisters were trusting and committed to the charism of St. Lucy Filippini. Over these past 90 years, our society has changed, but the unwavering mission of Villa Victoria has not.”

Betty Lou Kishler, who was acknowledged for being the oldest graduate – from the Class of 1951 – recalled with fondness her favorite teacher, the late Sister Elizabeth Parente, whom she described as “wonderful. She was strict, but

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gentle. All the nuns were so kind.”

The overwhelming love for the Religious Teachers Filippini was prevalent among the graduates as they shared stories, laughs and smiles.

“It feels so good to be here,” said Meg Fitzpatrick, from the class of 1983. “It feels like all is right in the world and that I am home. I felt so loved by the Sisters, and it feels so good to see Sister Lillian.

As a female I never heard of a glass ceiling until l graduated. Here we learned the sky’s the limit.”

SHARING MEMORIES Carol Ann Wilbert and her fellow classmates, who graduated in 1959, reminisced and shared their favorite memories, which included being in the 1957 film, “A Face in the Crowd,” starring Andy Griffith.

“That was so exciting. We have such camaraderie. We’ve been friends for life,” she shared.

Helene Vitella of the class of 1979 recalled Sister Lillian teaching her to drive a stick shift in the parking lot. Vitella’s daughter, Emily, is now a student in the school and wanted to attend after hearing of her mother’s experiences.

“You just feel the love here,” Vitella said.

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DOORS I SIDING I WINDOWS DOORS I SIDING I WINDOWS

Her comment resonated with Laura Jones, whose daughter, Kate, a graduate of the class of 2022, could not attend the celebration because she is deep in rehearsals for her starring role in “Bye Bye Birdie” at the Manhattan School of Music, where she is a sophomore.

“I wish she could have been here today. She found her voice at this school, literally and figuratively,” Jones said.

ND HALLOWEEN PARTY Continued from 67

“I’m excited to be working with those who have special needs,” said senior Elizabeth Gorman. “I think they’re fun to be around… they don’t have as many opportunities to socialize, so hopefully everyone [is having] a good time.”

Juniors and seniors have the option to take Honors Service Religion to meet their NDHS religion credit requirement – which includes service to the wider community. All Notre Dame students are required to complete a minimum of eight to 16 service hours throughout the year, with many exceeding that several times over.

Senior Brianna Graham helped plan meal options. She was pleased to “seeing people being happy and really enjoying [the activities] – it’s just fun to see how your acts can affect others.”

Dr. Ellieen Ingbritsen, who heads Notre Dame’s Service Learning, pointed out that activities for adults with special needs are of particular importance – especially since their aging parents may be less able to provide intervention or drive to events.

“Children are the ones who get the parties and the attention,” she noted of the special needs community. “Once they become adults, there are very few social activities available. This is a time for them to socialize … it’s a real challenge for their parents, because once [their children] turn 21, they’re out of the school loop.”

Serving also as a lecturer on special education in Holy Family University, Newtown, Pa., Dr. Ingbritsen’s background in the special needs community lends a particular focus to her ideas for student service.

“I hope that we can plan similar outreach events on a monthly basis going forward,” she said.

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Fun & Games

SCRIPTURE SEARCH Gospel for November 12, 2023  Matthew 25:1-13

TEN

VIRGINS

WENT OUT

MEET

BRIDEGROOM

WISE

DROWSY

MIDNIGHT

COME OUT

GET UP

TRIMMED

GIVE US

ENOUGH

BUY

READY

WEDDING

LORD

NOT KNOW

AWAKE

THE DAY

THE HOUR

© 2023 TRI-C-A Publications \ tri-c-publications.com

Following is a word search based on the Gospel reading for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A: The parable of the ten virgins. The words can be found in all directions in the puzzle.

TEST YOUR CATHOLIC KNOWLEDGE Answers on back cover.

ACROSS 7 Condition of the tomb on Easter morning 8 Describes the Word 1

10 Symbol of hope 12 Abbr. for two NT epistles 13 “…the Lord is with ___.”

16 Seventh century pope

2

3

4

5

6

8

7

13

11

14

21 Mark with oil 25 ___-Cana Conference 26 OT book about a Jewish heroine

12

15

20 “Can any of you by worrying ___ a single moment to your life?” (Mt 6:27) 22 It was built by Solomon

9 10

18 “Do not put the Lord your God to the ___” (Lk 4:12)

16

17

18

19

20

27 The Lord, in Madrid (with “El”) 28 Ordinary ___

21

22

23

24 26

27

29 A fallen angel

25

31 Holy ___

28

34 Catholic

www.wordgamesforcatholics.com

35 “Have ___ on us” 29

30

31

32

33

DOWN 1 “So be it!”

34

35

www.wordgamesforcatholics.com

2 State in which the Diocese of Salt Lake City is found 3 Extreme ___

4 Notre ___ 5 “…to the ___ of the earth.”

(Acts 1:8) 6 Type of monk 9 Those who exercise the public power of the Church 11 “___ in Deum Patrem omnipotentem…”

14 Laying on of ___ 15 St. ___ Stein 17 Teresa of Avila’s Castle 18 Entice one to sin 19 Melchizedek’s domain in Genesis 23 Catholic horror actor 24 Biblical liar 26 Village to which Jesus traveled 29 Jazz musician and Catholic convert Brubeck 30 St. Thomas’ surname 32 Worms meeting that denounced Luther 33 Peter (with “The”)

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74 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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November 2023

bienvenida a Antonia Salzano, el obispo hizo referencia al camino en el que se encuentra su hijo, diciendo: “No puedo imaginar lo que es ser la madre de un santo”.

El obispo O’Connell dijo: “Mis hermanos y hermanas, qué gran alegría para todos nosotros hoy en la Diócesis de Trenton, pero especialmente aquí en la Parroquia de Santo Domingo, donde dedicaremos nuestro primer santuario al Beato Carlo Acutis”.

El beato Carlo Acutis tenía 15 años cuando murió en 2006. En su breve vida, Carlo tuvo una profunda devoción a la Eucaristía y el intenso deseo de ayudar a otros a aprender más sobre ella. Él se hizo conocido por desarrollar un catálogo web de milagros eucarísticos cuando era adolescente. Carlo murió de leucemia el 12 de octubre de 2006.

Fue beatificado por el Papa Francisco el 10 de octubre de 2020 y sus restos se exhiben en la Iglesia de Santa María la Mayor en Asís.

Se convirtió en el primer milenial en ser beatificado por la Iglesia en 2020.

La extraordinaria celebración comenzó a las 9 a.m. La misa fue transmitida en vivo en las pantallas de la capilla parroquial y el gimnasio de la escuela, así como en los sitios web parroquiales y diocesanos, donde fue vista por más de mil fieles.

THE DIOCESE OF TRENTON is committed to the initiatives outlined in the U.S. Bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and to its own policies and guidelines in regard to the reporting and investigation of sexual abuse allegations involving minors.

If you have been sexually abused as a minor by a member of the clergy or anyone representing the Catholic Church, or if you know of someone who was, you can report that abuse through the diocesan

ABUSE HOTLINE: 1-888-296-2965

D I R E C T O R Y

ContinÚa de 4

El obispo O’Connell, celebrante principal, estuvo acompañado en el altar por el Padre Brian P. Woodrow, párroco, y sacerdotes concelebrantes de la parroquia y parroquias cercanas. También participaron estudiantes de la Escuela Santo Domingo y del programa de educación religiosa, quienes cantaron en el coro, sirvieron en el altar, llevaron el estandarte de la escuela en la procesión de entrada y entregaron un ramo de flores a Salzano.

En su homilía, el obispo aprovechó el Evangelio del día para enfatizar cómo todos estamos llamados a hacer lo correcto por la razón correcta.

“Sería mejor si lo que decimos coincidiera con lo que hacemos en primer lugar, pero ese no es siempre el caso”, dijo el obispo. “No es simplemente una cuestión de nuestras palabras o de lo que decimos, sino de lo que hacemos lo que marca la diferencia en la vida”.

El obispo O’Connell observó que “para el cristiano, la conversión es una forma de vida, es un proceso”, aunque para algunas personas, la conversión lleva mucho más tiempo que para otras.

“En todos los casos, el viejo dicho es cierto: ‘las acciones hablan más que las palabras’”, dijo el obispo. “No digo que las palabras no sean importantes, pero si no conducen a acciones, siguen siendo solo eso, palabras”. Lea la historia completa en TrentonMonitor.com.

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Elderly religious need your help.

Like those pictured, nearly 25,000 senior sisters, brothers and religious order priests have devoted their lives to prayer and ministry—educating the young, tending the sick, aiding the needy and more. Yet years of serving for little or no pay have left a profound shortage in retirement savings. Your support of the Retirement Fund for Religious helps furnish care, medicine and other necessities. Please give generously.

Please give to those who have given a lifetime.

Retirement Fund for Religious 76 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE

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November 2023

Please donate at your local parish December 9-10 or by mail at: Diocese of Trenton Department of Finance 701 Lawrenceville Road Lawrenceville NJ 08648 Make check payable to Diocese of Trenton-Retirement Fund for Religious.

retiredreligious.org Visit retiredreligious.org/2023photos to meet the religious pictured. ©2023 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington DC All rights reserved • Photo: Jim Judkis