“Every day, my love for the mountains grows more and more. If my studies permitted, I’d spend whole days in the mountains contemplating the Creator’s greatness in that pure air.”
Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati
A lone pilgrim sits atop
“Poggio Frassati,” in the town of Oropa, Italy – a breathtaking vantage point along the route dedicated to Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati, who often made the climb.
The route is enriched with plaques that reflect a spiritual connection with the mountain. The photo was taken during the Brotherhood of Hope pilgrimage to Rome to visit the home of their newly canonized patron and for the Jubilee of Youth. Story is on p 7.
Ted Reinhardt photo
World Mission Sunday calls us to be Missionaries of Hope
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
With the election of Pope Leo XIV as our Pope this past Spring, a priest who served as a missionary has become our chief Shepherd! Pope Leo served in the missions both as a priest and bishop. I am not sure we have ever had a missionary elected pope in the history of the Church. That makes this October 19, 2025, a very special day as we celebrate World Mission Sunday.
We all called and instructed by Jesus to proclaim the Gospel to all nations. This day becomes our opportunity, united with Catholics around the world, to unite in prayer and solidarity to support the missionary work of the Church, ultimately overseen by our missionary Pope. This year’s theme, “Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples,” is particularly moving because, even though it was chosen by Pope Francis, it reflects both the heart of our faith and the vision of our new Holy Father, Pope Leo.
Pope Leo XIV, who spent 22 years of
his priestly ministry as a missionary in the remote regions of Peru, reminds us that The Pontifical Mission Societies are “the primary means for awakening missionary responsibility among all the baptized [and for] supporting ecclesial communities in areas where the Church is young.” His personal witness deepens the meaning of this year’s celebration, inviting us all to renew our commitment to the Church’s mission in the world.
It is important for us to remember that the Catholic Church in the United States was itself once a mission territory. Just over a century ago, the faith here was still taking root, supported by the zeal and generosity of Catholics from Europe and beyond, who provided financial assistance, sent priests and religious, and built the parishes and schools that formed the foundation of the Church in this country.
Without that missionary support, many of the churches and dioceses we know today would have struggled even more to grow. In those early years, American Catholics benefited from the same collection we are invited to support, overseen by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, one of four Pontifical Mission Societies.
Now, it is our turn to extend that same generosity to others. We are called to support the missionaries, priests, reli-
Bishop’s Appointments
Bishop James F. Checchio has announced the following priestly appointments.
• Reverend David E. Keyes, from Director of Catholic Identity, Saint Thomas Aquinas High School, Edison, to Vice Principal for Catholic Mission at that same high school, effective September 1, 2025.
• Reverend Randy Gamboa Espinoza, to part-time Chaplain, Saint Joseph High School, Metuchen, while remaining as Parochial Vicar, Saint Magdalen de Pazzi Parish, Flemington, and Back-Up Chaplain, Hunterdon Medical Center, effective August 12, 2025.
• Deacon Edgar Chavez, renewed as Director, Office of Hispanic Evangelization and Pastoral Ministry for a term ending on June 30, 2028.
• Reverend Gustavo Rodriguez Perez, renewed as Coordinator of Hispanic Lay Formation for a term ending on June 30, 2028.
Correction: In the Aug. 21 issue of The Catholic Spirit, on pg. 29, in the third column, second paragraph of the story “St. Rita of Cascia: A saint whose intercession we need today,” the word “them” was incorrectly added to the sentence “… Rita appealed to three patron saints, Augustine of Hippo, John the Baptist and Nicholas of Tolentine, and was transported through levitation to the monastery and discovered them already inside.”
How to report abuse
gious sisters and brothers, and lay leaders who serve in the 1,124 mission territories where the Church is still young, vibrant, and often facing persecution or poverty. These areas, spanning Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania, and the Middle East, depend on our prayers and financial support to sustain and expand their efforts to share Christ and his saving words and work.
The second collection on World Mission Sunday (October 19, 2025) supports the work of The Pontifical Mission Societies, the Pope’s official means of assisting Catholic communities in the world’s poorest and most remote regions.
Our contributions provide essential resources for the Church’s mission: the formation of seminarians and religious sisters, ensuring that future priests and religious leaders are prepared to serve; the training of lay catechists, who bring the faith to communities that may not have regular access to a priest; education for children in Catholic schools, giving them not only knowledge but also a foundation of faith; medical care in Church-run hospitals and clinics, offering healing and hope where healthcare is scarce; and the construction and maintenance of churches and parish centers, creating sacred spaces where the faithful can gather, worship, and grow in their relationship with Jesus.
Our prayers and sacrifices today ensure that the light of Christ reaches the ends of the earth. The Church’s mission is not the responsibility only of those who serve in distant lands; it belongs to all of us by Baptism. Each time we support the missions, we affirm that we are one Church, one family in Christ, united in bringing hope and love to all people.
I encourage you to respond with a generous heart, knowing that your support makes a real difference in the lives of those who might otherwise never hear the Gospel.
May this World Mission Sunday deepen our commitment to the missionary dimension of our faith. Let us go forth as Missionaries of Hope, bringing God’s love and mercy to all people. Thank you for all that you do, and know of my love, prayers and gratitude for all of you.
In Hope, united in Christ’s mission and with renewed best wishes, I remain
Yours in Christ,
Most Reverend James F. Checchio, JCD, MBA Bishop of Metuchen
Peering from behind the program for the Sept. 7 Mass in St. Augustine of Canterbury Parish, Kendall Park, which honored Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati on the day of their Canonization, this young parishioner is unaware of the potential graces Pope Leo and the two new saints may bring into her life as she grows. See story and photos of the Mass on p. 6. —Mark Lee photo
If you were sexually abused by a member of the clergy or anyone representing the Catholic Church, or you know of someone who was, you are encouraged to report that abuse to local law enforcement, the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency at 1-877-NJ ABUSE (652-2873) or 1-800-835-5510 (TTY/TDD for the deaf), and also the Diocesan Response Officer at (908) 930-4558 (24 hours/7 days a week).
El Domingo Mundial de las Misiones nos llama a ser Misioneros de la Esperanza
Queridos hermanos y hermanas en Cristo,
Con la elección del Papa León XIV como nuestro Papa en la pasada primavera, ¡un sacerdote que sirvió como misionero se ha convertido en nuestro principal Pastor! El Papa León sirvió en las misiones como sacerdote y obispo. No estoy seguro de haber tenido un misionero elegido Papa en la historia de la Iglesia. Esto hace que este 19 de octubre de 2025 sea un día muy especial, ya que celebramos el Domingo Mundial de las Misiones. Todos nosotros hemos sido llamados e instruidos por Jesús para proclamar el Evangelio a todas las naciones. Este día se convierte en nuestra oportunidad, junto con los Católicos de todo el mundo, para unirnos en oración y solidaridad, y apoyar el trabajo misionero de la Iglesia, supervisado en última instancia por nuestro Papa misionero. El tema de este año, “Misioneros de la Esperanza Entre los Pueblos”, es particularmente conmovedor porque, aunque fue elegido por el Papa Francisco, refleja tanto el corazón de nuestra fe como la visión de nuestro Santo Padre, el Papa León.
El Papa León XIV, que pasó 22 años de su ministerio sacerdotal como misionero en regiones apartadas de Perú, nos recuerda que las Obras Misionales Pontificias son “el medio principal para despertar la responsabilidad misionera entre todos los bautizados [y] para apoyar a las comunidades eclesiales en áreas donde la Iglesia aún es joven”. Su testimonio personal da un significado más profundo a la celebración de este año, invitándonos a todos a renovar nuestro compromiso con la misión de la Iglesia en el mundo.
Es importante que recordemos que la Iglesia Católica en los Estados Unidos fue alguna vez un territorio de misión. Hace poco más de un siglo, la fe aquí estaba todavía asentándose, apoyada por el celo y la generosidad de los Católicos de Europa y de otros lugares, que proporcionaron asistencia financiera, enviaron sacerdotes y religiosos, y construyeron las parroquias y escuelas que formaron la base de la Iglesia en este país. Sin ese apoyo misionero, muchas de las iglesias y diócesis que hoy conocemos, habrían tenido que luchar aún más para crecer. En esos primeros años, los Católicos Estadounidenses se beneficiaron de la misma colecta que estamos invitados a apoyar, supervisada por la Sociedad para la Propagación de la Fe, una de las cuatro Obras Misionales Pontificias.
Ahora, es nuestro turno de extender esa misma generosidad a los demás. Estamos llamados a apoyar a los misioneros, sacerdotes, hermanas y hermanos religiosos y líderes laicos que sirven en los 1.124 territorios de misión donde la Iglesia aún
es joven, vibrante y, a menudo, enfrenta persecución o pobreza. Estas áreas, que abarcan Asia, África, América Latina, Oceanía y Medio Oriente, dependen de nuestras oraciones y apoyo financiero para sostener y expandir sus esfuerzos, para compartir a Cristo en Su palabra y Su obra salvífica.
La segunda colecta de la Jornada Mundial de las Misiones (19 de octubre de 2025) apoya el trabajo de las Obras Misionales Pontificias, el medio oficial del Papa para ayudar a las comunidades Católicas en las regiones más pobres y lejanas del mundo. Nuestras contribuciones proporcionan recursos esenciales para la misión de la Iglesia: la formación de seminaristas y religiosas, asegurando que los futuros sacerdotes y líderes religiosos estén preparados para servir; la formación de catequistas laicos, que llevan la fe a comunidades que pueden no tener acceso regular a un sacerdote; educación para los niños en las escuelas católicas, dándoles no solo conocimientos sino también un fundamento de fe; atención médica en hospitales y clínicas administrados por la Iglesia, ofreciendo curación y esperanza donde la atención médica es escasa; y la construcción y mantenimiento de iglesias y centros parroquiales, creando espacios sagrados donde los fieles puedan reunirse, adorar y crecer en su relación con Jesús.
Nuestras oraciones y sacrificios de hoy aseguran que la luz de Cristo llegue hasta los confines de la tierra. La misión de la Iglesia no es responsabilidad solo de aquellos que sirven en tierras lejanas; nos pertenece a todos por el Bautismo. Cada vez que apoyamos las misiones, afirmamos que somos una Iglesia, una familia en Cristo, unidos para llevar esperanza y amor a todas las personas.
Les animo a responder con un corazón generoso, sabiendo que su apoyo marca una diferencia real en la vida de aquellos que de otro modo nunca escucharían el Evangelio.
Que esta Jornada Mundial de las Misiones profundice nuestro compromiso con la dimensión misionera de nuestra fe. Salgamos como Misioneros de la Esperanza, llevando el amor y la misericordia de Dios a todas las personas. Gracias por todo lo que hacen, sepan de mi amor, oraciones y gratitud por todos ustedes.
Con esperanza, unidos en la misión de Cristo y con renovados deseos, permanezco
Suyo en Cristo,
Reverendísimo James F. Checchio, JCD, MBA Obispo de Metuchen
Pope Leo XIV appoints Bishop Checchio a member of Vatican Dicastery for Clergy
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Renewing the membership of the Vatican Dicastery for Clergy, Pope Leo XIV included, as members, the secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, a Canadian cardinal and two U.S. bishops, including Metuchen’s Bishop James F. Checchio.
Reflecting on the appointment, Bishop Checchio said, “It is a great privilege to serve as Bishop of this wonderful Diocese. I realize, though, that when one is ordained a bishop, he is ordained for the universal Church, so of course, I am grateful to Pope Leo for this opportunity to serve the Church’s priests, deacons and seminarians in a new way through the Dicastery for the Clergy. I know I can count on the prayers of the faithful here to assist me in this new task.”
The dicastery offers guidance and assistance to bishops in everything that has to do with the recruitment, training and continuing education of diocesan priests and permanent deacons, according to the Vatican.
Announced Aug. 28, the pope named eight cardinals and 14 bishops, including Bishop Checchio, to five-year terms as members of the dicastery, which is led by South Korean Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik.
Also among the new members are Cardinal Frank Leo of Toronto and Bishop Edward M. Lohse of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Bishop Checchio was installed as the Diocese’s fifth bishop in 2016. Born in Camden, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Camden in 1992. There he served as a parochial vicar, secretary to the bishop, vice chancellor, communications director and moderator of the curia, among other roles. He served as vice rector, and later, rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome from 2003 to 2016, and has held a variety of positions with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Pope Leo also appointed a dozen new consultants for the dicastery, including two religious sisters: U.S.-born Trappistine Mother Martha Driscoll, superior of the women’s community at the Tre Fontane Monastery in Rome; and Romanian Sister Iuliana Sarosi, a member of the Congregation of the Mother of God and a professor of psychology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
This article was compiled from OSV News and Catholic Spirit staff reports.
At 100 days, Pope Leo’s papacy rooted in
St. Augustine, reflection, unity
By Maria Wiering, OSV News
(OSV News) – As the calendar marks 100 days of Pope Leo XIV’s papacy Aug. 16, experts are scrutinizing his words and actions in hopes of pinpointing his leadership style, priorities and vision for the church’s future.
But, unlike Pope Francis, whose novel decisions on domicile and dress –along with surprise phone calls, outings and remarks to journalists – flavored his first months in 2013, Pope Leo’s papacy has been more tranquil, marked by his reflective and observant posture, scholars told OSV News.
Historian Joëlle Rollo-Koster, an editor of “The Cambridge History of the Papacy,” a three-volume set published this summer by Cambridge University Press, sees Pope Leo, 69, using his first months as a period of receiving, observing and testing.
“He has been quiet and is less ‘noisy’ than Francis,” said Rollo-Koster, who teaches at The University of Rhode Island and is the author of several books on the papacy.
“He is less Argentinian and very Peruvian ... in his behavior: calm, reflected,” she added, nodding to the decades the U.S.-born Pope Leo spent in priestly and episcopal ministry in the coastal South American country. “He’s smart. He’s looking at everything. He is talking with everybody. And then we’re going to see him coming out with his real personality.”
Since his May 8 election, however, Pope Leo has positioned himself as a figure of unity and peace, and a defender of humanity amid rapid changes in technology.
He first mentioned artificial intelligence in an audience with cardinals May 10, two days after they elected him pope. In explaining what inspired his choice of name, he told them that Pope Leo XIII in the 1891 encyclical “Rerum Novarum” addressed challenges amid the Industrial Revolution. “In our own day, the church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor,” he said.
On May 12, he reiterated that con-
cern in his first audience with journalists, saying AI has “immense potential” but “nevertheless requires responsibility and discernment in order to ensure that it can be used for the good of all, so that it can benefit all of humanity.”
Meanwhile, he has drawn attention to international crises and especially expressed concern about Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Speaking to journalists Aug. 13, he described the Holy See’s efforts as “’soft diplomacy,’ always inviting, encouraging the pursuit of nonviolence through dialogue and seeking solutions – because these problems cannot be solved by war.”
John Cavadini, director of the McGrath Institute for Church Life and a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, said Pope Leo has presented himself as a “leader in whom you can have confidence.”
His use of traditional symbols of the papacy, such as wearing the papal cape known as a “mozzetta” when he first appeared as pope, establishing his residence in the papal apartments and seeking summer respite at Castel Gandolfo, indicates
1. Pope Leo XIV presides over a prayer vigil in Rome’s Tor Vergata neighborhood Aug. 2, 2025, with hundreds of thousands of young people gathered for the Jubilee of Youth.
—CNS photo/Vatican Media
Pope Leo’s aim to be “a leader because of his office and not so much of his personal charism,” Cavadini said.
“I think that gives people confidence and I think it’s intended to give people confidence – confidence not just in himself personally, but in the office that he holds, which he obviously holds in high respect or high regard,” he added. “He wants to be an interpretation of the papal office that’s credible for everyone.”
While some papal watchers have suggested that the first months of this pontificate have provided little fodder for evaluation, Cavadini said that Pope Leo instead appears to be “a very circumspect guy” exercising prudence, and who respects his role as representing something larger than himself.
“He doesn’t want a personal preference to quickly define the office,” he said.
Americans especially are looking for signs of national pride or affinity in the first pope from the United States. An avid Chicago White Sox fan, Pope Leo has signed at least one baseball, has been delivered a deep-dish pizza, and has been gifted with sports memorabilia from his
2
3. Pope Leo and a boy wave goodbye to the crowd at the conclusion of the Angelus in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, on the feast of the Assumption of Mary, Aug. 15, 2025.
—CNS photo/Vatican Media
native Chicago, including by U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
Cavadini says he sees Pope Leo conveying a traditionally American sense of responsibility to care for the downtrodden, “for helping people who need help.”
“I think that’s very deeply ingrained in the American psyche, and I think he wants to make sure he’s perceived that way, as distinguished from any kind of political ambition that might be attached to either political party,” he said. “I know we haven’t always lived up to that as Americans and in some ways it’s part of a mythology; but in another way, I think it’s just a deep aspiration of Americans to be the ones who are of service.”
Rollo-Koster said she sees an international character in Pope Leo’s papacy, formed by his years of living in Peru and Rome, and his global travel while serving as the Augustinians’ prior general. Some of the “Americanness” she sees attributed to him, such as sports team affinity, feels forced, she noted.
So have efforts to draw a disconnect between him and Pope Francis because Pope Leo has made different decisions
about how to “perform” his role, she said. While the two men differ in personalities, Pope Leo has demonstrated continuity with Pope Francis’ key objectives, including the promotion of integral ecology, which Pope Leo highlighted with the new Mass formulary “for the care of creation” he first celebrated July 9.
“He is following the tracks of Francis: care for spirituality, care for the poor, care for the disenfranchised, care for working-class people, care for medicine,” she said. Some of his decisions could be intentional foils to the Trump administration’s actions in opposite directions, she noted.
Pope Leo has, however, made obvious his Augustinian worldview, steeped in the writings and vision of St. Augustine, the renowned theologian and philosopher who was a bishop in Northern Africa during the fifth century, and whose thought shaped the founding of the Augustinian Order in 1244. Pope Leo, who entered the order after college in 1977 and served 12 years as its international leader, frequently quotes St. Augustine in his homilies and public addresses.
5. Pope Leo XIV greets religious sisters in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the conclusion of his weekly general audience at the Vatican Aug. 13, 2025.
6. Pope Leo XIV gives his homily as he celebrates Mass with people assisted by the diocesan Caritas agency at the Shrine of Santa Maria della Rotonda in Albano Laziale, Italy, Aug. 17, 2025.
—CNS photo/Lola Gomez
Standing on St. Peter’s balcony May 8, Pope Leo described himself as a “son of St. Augustine,” and his first months as pope have underscored that identity, said Augustinian Father Kevin DePrinzio, Villanova University’s vice president for mission and ministry.
“His leadership style is Augustinian. It’s ‘for’ and ‘with.’ It’s like, ‘I’m with you in this,’” Father DePrinzio said. “I think it’s a very accessible spirituality that people are going to get pulled in to. It’s marked by things like hospitality, friendship ... the restless heart – you know, the heart on fire – and it’s deeply, deeply human stuff.”
On a personal level, Father DePrinzio said he sees Pope Leo as an introvert given grace to act as an extrovert to meet the needs of his new role. The priest first met the future Pope Leo while in formation for the Augustinians in the late 1990s and their paths have continued to cross. Last year, Father DePrinzio led a pilgrimage of Villanova students to Rome and Vatican City, where then-Cardinal Robert Prevost celebrated Mass for them in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica.
A well-circulated photo shows the group posing with a “V” gesture for Villanova, Pope Leo’s alma mater.
St. Augustine’s first biographer described him as a mediator, and Father DePrinzio sees Pope Leo assuming a similar role.
“This world needs to know how to dialogue, so I think he’s going to be modeling it,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to pin him down ideologically. If people are going to be looking for that, I think they’re going to be really confused, and they’re not going to be able to do it.”
Instead, Pope Leo is likely to continually return to a theme he emphasized at his inauguration Mass: unity.
“For an Augustinian, unity is not uniformity, where everybody looks alike,” Father DePrinzio said. “It’s going to be interesting to see how it all plays out. But I think he’s definitely up for the task.”
He added, “I think he’s really what we need.”
Maria Wiering is senior writer for
News.
OSV
. Pope Leo XIV, wearing a hat given to him by the group, poses for a photo with pilgrims from Burkina Faso after his general audience Aug. 6, 2025, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
4. Pope Leo XIV greets people as he rides in the popemobile in St. Peter’s Square after celebrating Mass for the conclusion of the Jubilee of Sport in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican June 15, 2025.
By Christina Leslie Contributing Editor
Diocese welcomes ‘Millennial Saint’ at liturgy
the canonization of St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati. “What a joy.”
In his homily, Bishop Checchio stated, “Both Carlo and Pier are great saints for our day. Though both were born of privileged families that did not embrace the faith at first, the Holy Spirit drew them in.”
Echoing the joyful welcome first issued hours earlier in Rome by Pope Leo XIV, Bishop James F. Checchio and the Diocese of Metuchen joined fellow believers from around the world in applauding the Church’s first millennial saint, St. Carlo Acutis, during a Mass held before a standing-room-only crowd Sept. 7 in St. Augustine of Canterbury Church, Kendall Park.
“Che gioia!” exclaimed Father Robert G. Lynam, pastor, as he shared the sentiments of faithful throughout the world at
Carlo pleaded with his mother to become consecrated to the Blessed Mother, pray the Rosary and go to daily Mass, said the Bishop, who continued, “The immensity of Jesus’ love resonated. He wanted to be close to him in the Eucharist. It became the passion of his life.”
Bishop Checchio paraphrased the G.K. Chesterton observation that “It is
the paradox of history that every age is converted by the saint who contradicts it most,” and noted St. Carlo and St. Pier “are shining examples for us in our day.”
The Bishop concluded, “God has a beautiful plan for each one of us, God loves us so much he lets us write the last chapter in our book. No matter where we are in our journey, today starts the next chapter, and all of us have this last chapter to write.”
As befitting a saint just 15 years old when he died, many Metuchen Diocese members of tender years took prominent roles in the liturgy for St. Carlo; the contributions of choir members, gift bearers, acolytes
and others reflected the fact that faithful service need not be measured by age.
Jay Donofrio, diocesan director of youth and young adult ministry, recalled the words of a priest commentator at the Vatican’s livestream coverage of the canonization: “when the Church canonizes saints, they are great people to imitate,” said Donofrio. “Both St. Carlo and St. Pier had love of the rosary and our Blessed Mother, and a deep love for the holy Eucharist. If you love them, you are on the fast track to heaven. Develop a friendship with them,” he advised, “for they will help you out along your journey.”
—Mark Lee photos
For a group of religious brothers and discerning young adults, a recent pilgrimage to Italy and participating in the Jubilee of Young People in Rome was an opportunity to connect with the larger Church community – and to see youth from around the world celebrating their shared Catholic faith.
‘A sea of pilgrims’: Italian pilgrimage brings hope to religious, discerning
At
—Courtesy
By David Karas, Correspondent
For Brother Parker Jordan, director of the Catholic Center at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, gathering with Catholic youth was an inspiring reminder of the strength of faith among young adults.
“You can buy into this falsehood that youth are really kind of checking out (from their faith),” he said. “Especially through a pilgrimage like this, you see a way bigger picture of the Church, and the historic sense of a Church that has gone through many more difficult times than these, and has experienced real reform and real renewal.”
Brother Jordan, along with three other members of the Brotherhood of Hope, participated in this summertime pilgrimage to Italy with four young men – two of whom are already candidates with the or-
der, and two who are open to religious life and discerning their vocations. The group spent time in Rome, Assisi, and northern Italy – in particular, to visit the Pollone home of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, a patron of their order.
“We wanted to be there to connect spiritually with our patron, who we have always seen as a powerful intercessor for our work with youth,” said Brother Jordan, who added that they had the opportunity to meet and talk with his niece, as well.
Carrying with them intercessions, intentions and prayers for friends and those they have encountered through their ministry at home, the group also participated in the Jubilee of Youth in Rome – including the opportunity to attend Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV.
“We were really blown away. It
gave a lot of hope to us, and let us see the Church and so many youth from around the world,” said Brother Jordan, who noted that they were part of a group that exceeded 1 million people. “We were in a sea of pilgrims, and it was joyful and uplifting, and super encouraging. That was just really cool to be a part of.”
He added that the theme of the Jubilee Year – “pilgrims of hope” – connects with the name of their order: “Our brotherhood being a Brotherhood of Hope, seemed to be a fitting time and space for us.”
Brother Jordan recalled visiting a museum in Vatican City, and walking alongside fellow visitors who might not share the Catholic faith – but were interested in learning about it.
“Still, people come to these churches, (and) Rome is a center for this, looking for hope, looking for transcendence,”
he said, adding that the group relished the chance to talk with them and evangelize.
Brother Patrick Reilly, general superior of the order, reflected on Adoration on a Saturday night during their pilgrimage.
“There was a profound and holy silence that was both powerful and deeply reverent,” he said. “We saw people from all over the world, including large, exuberant groups from various ecclesial communities, such as the Neocatechumenal Way.”
Brother Jordan said that the young men who accompanied members of their order enjoyed seeing the Catholic Church in Rome, the beauty of the places they visited, and the vibrancy of global Catholic youth during the Jubilee celebration.
“Especially for us as Catholic Christians,” he said, “it is so important for us to see the bigger picture, and to be filled with hope.”
In top photo a crowd of pilgrims wait outside St. Peter’s Square to join the crowd for Mass with Pope Leo XIV.
bottom left, Brothers of Hope and the young men with them visit Pollone and the home of St. Pier Gioirgio Frassati.
Bottom middle photo shows Brotherhood of Hope pilgrims praying in front of the arm of St. Francis Xavier in the Church of the Gesù, Rome. Bottom right is a photo looking down the stairwell at the Vatican Museum.
photos Brotherhood of Hope
Father
Stingel, ‘great listener, epic storyteller’ laid to rest after 65 years of priestly service
By Robert Christie Correspondent
Father Louis Stingel, 91, who marked 65 years as a priest this year, was remembered Aug. 26 during a Mass of Christian Burial in Saint James the Less Church, Jamesburg – where he served as pastor for 32 years.
Friends, family, parishioners and brother priests gathered for the Mass which was celebrated by Bishop James F. Checchio, and concelebrated by priests of the Diocese.
Msgr. Joseph M. Curry, pastor of Mary, Mother of God Parish, Hillsborough, offered the homily, posing the
question, “Why did God make me?”
Drawing on the familiar response from the Baltimore Catechism, he answered his own question, saying, “To know, love and serve him in this life and to be with Him in the next.”
Then drawing from an African Catechism, Msgr. Curry answered the same question with, “Because he thought you’d like it,” explaining God’s desire “to help us discover happiness through the discovery and use of the gifts he gave us, through our triumphs and tragedies.”
Msgr. Curry talked about how he saw Father Stingel discover and use his gifts. He said, “Father Stingel was a great listener. In his presence, one felt that everything was OK.” Msgr. Curry also noted, “He told epic stories, and he always told you what he thought.”
Finally, Msgr. Curry noted that Father Stingel walked humbly with his God … and in his sickness, he taught about family and God, concluding with, “Why did God make Father Lou? Because he thought he’d like it, and he did. And so did we!”
At the close of Mass, Bishop Checchio addressed Father Stingel’s family, offering his condolences. “Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ is risen and sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for his Church. We are confident that God hears the voices of those who trust
in the Lord Jesus and join in our prayer.” He went on to praise and thank Father Stingel for his many years of service to the Church and then blessed the family, friends, and parishioners.
Parishioners Cathy McGuire and Susan Fritz, spoke affectionately of Father Stingel, agreeing that, “He was always there for all of us. He was a people’s priest. He was very special. A nice and very kind man.”
Father Stingel was born in 1934 in Trenton to his late parents, Louis F. and Genevieve Stingel. He attended St. Charles Seminary, Catonsville, Md., and St. Mary Seminary, Baltimore, Md., earning a degree in Sacred Theology, and a licentiate in Sacred Theology; and a master’s degree in Pastoral Counseling from Iona College, New Rochelle, N.Y.
He was ordained on June 11, 1960, by Bishop George W. Ahr, and his priesthood began some 22 years before the Diocese of Metuchen was formed. His assignments included service at St. Mary Parish, New Monmouth; St. Michael Parish, West End; St. Philip and St. James Parish, Phillipsburg, and Sacred Heart Parish, Riverton. He went on to serve as the long-time pastor of St. James the Less Parish, Jamesburg, from 1977 until he retired from active ministry on July 31, 2009.
During his active ministry, Father
Stingel also served on the diocesan Finance Council and Pastoral Council, and worked with Catholic Charities, Family Services. Additionally, he served as Dean, and later Episcopal Vicar, for Middlesex County West.
Following his retirement, Father Stingel lived at Maria Regina Residence, Somerset, and continued, as he could, to serve faithful at St. Mary Parish, South Amboy, by assisting at weekend Masses and providing pastoral services. Father Stingel died Aug. 21.
Catholic Spirit staff contributed to this story.
The Diocese of Metuchen paid tribute to Father Louis Stingel, 91, at Aug. 26 funeral Mass. The priest marked 65 years of service this year. From top left, clockwise: Pictures of Father Stingel’s long and fruitful ministry stand in St. James the Less Parish where he served as pastor for 32 years; mourners gather around the late priest’s coffin; Bishop James F. Checchio blesses the remains of the retired priest; the Bishop was joined by priests of the diocese in celebrating the funeral Mass; Msgr. Joseph M. Curry, pastor of Mary, Mother of God Parish, Hillsborough, served as homilist at the liturgy. —Hal Brown photos
General Chapter a time of ‘blessed days’ for Religious Teachers Filippini
Religious Teachers Filippini from across the world gathered in Rome for their General Chapter meeting July 2-22, which included an audience with Pope Leo XIV who observed their diverse charisms “embody complementary aspects of the life and action of all the People of God: the offering of self in union with the Sacrifice of Christ, the mission ad gentes, love for the Church preserved and transmitted… These are different ways in which the one and eternal reality that animates them all is expressed in charismatic form: God’s love for humanity.”
The Religious Teachers Filippini were founded in 1692 in Italy by Lucy Filippini and Cardinal Mark Anthony Barbarigo. They began ministry in the United States in 1910 when Pope St. Pius X sent five Filippini Sisters to serve the Italian immigrants at St. Joachim Parish, Trenton. The order ministers in eight countries: the United States, Italy, England, Brazil, Ethiopia, Eritrea, India, and Albania.
General Chapters are held every six years, noted Filippini Sister Laura Bezila, Secretary for the order and teacher at Villa Walsh Academy, Morristown. As the major governing body of the Institute, their purpose is to promote suitable renewal in the life of the Institute and elect the major superior and councilors. Each entity (or country) is to be represented at the General Chapter, and representation is based on the number of Sisters missioned in the country.
This year’s delegates arrived in Rome June 29 at the Casa Santa Lucia Filippini. In addition to their audience with the Pope, the slate of events included a two-and-ahalf-day silent retreat; a Jubilee Pilgrimage to St. Peter’s Basilica; travel to Tarquinia, the birthplace of their founder, St. Lucy Filippini; a pilgrimage to Montefiascone, Italy, where St. Lucy opened her first school and the site where her incorrupt body lies beneath the altar in the crypt of the Basilica di Santa Margherita.
A highlight of the General Chapter was Pope Leo XIV’s meeting with the Teachers Filippini and seven other general chapters of religious institutes in the inner courtyard of the Apostolic Palace July 11. In his address, the Pope recognized that, despite their various charisms, their “one and eternal reality that animates them all is expressed in charismatic form: God’s love for humanity.” The pontiff continued, “These pathways of work… are also a precious gift insofar as they are the fruit of the Spirit. It is He who ‘helps the Christian community to advance in charity towards the fullness of truth (cf. John 16:13).’”
Their fundamental calls, said the Pope – to renew a missionary spirit, promote peace, cultivate pastoral co-responsibility in local churches – “help us to grasp the richness of our being in a community, especially as men and women religious, engaged in the same wonderful adventure of [following] Christ more nearly,” Pope Leo continued, “This is the spirit in which
your Institutes were born, and this is the perspective in which to place every effort, so that it may contribute, through small lights, to spreading over the whole earth the light of Christ, which never dims.”
Mother General Filippini Sister Ascenza Tizzano, who most recently ministered in Morristown, was re-elected for a second six-year term. Other Filippini Sisters from the United States at the General Chapter 2025 included Filippini Sister Patricia Pompa, Provincial Superior; Sister Helen Sanchez, Vocation and Formation Director for the U.S.-based religious; Sister Marie Antonelli; Sister Elaine Bebyn; Sister Lesley Draper; Sister Laura Bezila, and Sister Mary Elizabeth Lloyd. Religious who minister in the Metuchen Diocese included Sister Marianne McCann, from St. John Vianney Parish, Colonia, and Sister Alice Ivanyo, from Our Lady of Victories Parish, Sayreville.
Upon returning home, four New Jersey-based religious reflected how the meeting had both challenged and enriched their ministry.
Sister Helen Sanchez of Villa Walsh Academy, Morristown, rejoiced at “the incredible joy that comes from being and sharing with our Sisters from all over the world. The faithful courage and joyful attitudes of the Sisters spoke more than their words and photos. The meditations, talents and laughter expressed each day continued to reveal the spirit our Foundress instilled three centuries ago and which still radiates itself in our worldwide ministries.”
Sister Marie Antonelli, principal of Holy Spirit School, Pequannock, called attending the General Chapter “both a beautiful and spiritually uplifting experience. Spending time with our sisters who serve in other parts of the world [helped her realize] the challenges they encounter are overwhelming. It truly brought a sense of community and belonging. As I kissed [the Pope’s] ring, I felt great joy and could feel the presence of God.”
Sister Lesley Draper, principal of Villa Victoria Academy, Ewing, asserted,
“I definitely felt the presence of the Holy Spirit… In many ways, it is the experience itself that sparks the change, commitment or movement more so than the written goals. So, the more people who can experience the prayer, fraternal communion, and bond that comes from discussing our shared vision, the more we can be shaped into the people God calls us to be.”
Sister Alice Ivanyo, Our Lady of Victories Parish, Sayreville, labeled the meeting “an opportunity for communal as well as for personal purification. Noting the evidence of how these graces provide what is needed for everyday challenges, it became clear that asking for these Gifts needs to be a daily modus
Religious Teachers Filippini of the Diocese joined their counterparts from around the world for their General Chapter meeting in Rome July 2 – 22. At left, Pope Leo XIV poses with members of the eight religious institutes he received July 11 at the inner courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, Rome. Right, Filippini sisters hoist a crucifix during a Jubilee Pilgrimage to St. Peter’s Basilica.
—Courtesy photos
operandi.” She continued, “Praying the Jubilee Prayer and singing the Jubilee Hymn each day allowed the message of hope to sink deeply into our consciousness. Walking through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s, meeting Pope Leo, and celebrating Mass at the crypt of our Foundress were true highlights of these blessed days. We strive to live out the truths that were expressed, the spirituality of communion that was shared, and the gift of our vocation within the enduring theme: ‘Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.’” Is. 40:31.
Article complied by Catholic Spirit staff from information contributed by Filippini Sister Laura Bezila.
Bishop James F. Checchio will celebrate the 23rd Annual Blue Mass at the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi in Metuchen. Gathered
Believing in Christ’s promise of resurrection means respecting the body
I was caught off guard when a 60 something year old woman asked me: “When did the Blessed Virgin Mary die?” Her question was especially troubling because we were preparing to celebrate the great Solemn Feast of Mary’s Assumption into Heaven on August 15.
As Catholics, we believe that at the end of her life, Mary was taken, body and soul, into Heaven. Pope Pius XII, in his 1950 Apostolic Constitution (Munificentissimus Deus), defined the dogma of the Assumption as follows: “The ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” Cleverly, the official dogma does not say that Mary “died” and it does not say that Mary “did not die.” In fact, the dogma simply summarizes the faith of Catholics for the past 2000 years. It says that Mary, “when her earthly life was completed, was ‘Assumed’ body and soul into Heaven.” In the prayers for the Mass of the Assumption, the priest says: “Where she
has gone, we hope to follow.”
Mary is the only human being in Heaven, aside from Jesus, with both body and soul. Even the greatest saints and those least known saints in Heaven still await the Second Coming of Christ when their bodies, like ours, will rejoin their souls. The souls of the just will, as a matter of justice, be reunited with their bodies, and the Lord will award us bodies that are glorified or “perfect.” BUT, the souls of the wicked, however, who did only evil or wicked acts while on earth will, as a matter of justice, rejoin their bodies for all eternity in that place assigned for the wicked.
It is no wonder then that the Church insists our bodies be properly buried in the ground or that the same is true regarding our remains if we are cremated. When accommodation was given for Catholics to be cremated it was with the condition that our remains be properly buried in hallowed ground, as we believe in giving respect to our bodies and those of our deceased loved ones because our bodies cooperated in the good we did while on earth. And, since our bodies will someday rejoin our souls for all eternity we believe that every respect is to be shown them even in death and we do everything in our power to provide a proper burial. Even the remains of those who die in hor-
for our own interests or needs such as for jewelry or for other unfounded reasons. Our bodies are so important that Divine Providence has it that they will exist for all eternity when, at the end of time at the Second Coming of Christ, He will gather us to Himself. Reunited, body and soul, we will then receive recompense for what we have done while in our bodies, whether good or evil.
As a matter of justice, our bodies which participated in good deeds will enjoy eternity with God in His Heavenly Kingdom. On the other hand, if we did evil with and in our bodies during our lives on earth without repentance, we will spend eternity away from God. Thus the importance of using the Sacrament of Holy Confession which Christ provided as His gift to us. To His priests He said: “Whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18).
“OUR BODIES ARE SO IMPORTANT THAT DIVINE PROVIDENCE HAS IT THAT THEY WILL EXIST FOR ALL ETERNITY WHEN, AT THE END OF TIME AT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, HE WILL GATHER US TO HIMSELF.”
rific ways, such as those who died at the World Trade Center in 9/11, are sought out so as to be given a proper burial.
Because of our belief, it is very troubling to witness people’s remains being thrown to the wind or out of a plane or over a mountain top or into the sea or even sprinkled in the backyard. Such actions are at best misdirected. Objectively, they demonstrate a deep disbelief in Christ’s promise of resurrection. Troubling, too, is the fad of having pendants made with grandma’s ashes or a loved one’s remains.
As Scripture says: “Whether in life or in death, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8). Our bodies are meant for the Lord, NOT for indiscriminately misusing them
I recall once visiting a faithful Catholic woman at her home. She lovingly pointed to the mantle and said: “That urn is where I keep my husband’s ashes. I feel so close to him knowing that his remains are with me.” Knowing her deep faith, I was surprised to learn that the ashes were still in her house since her husband had passed several years before. When I gently inquired, she explained that the funeral Mass included his full casket which was then sent to be cremated. At some point, the funeral home called and asked that she come get her husband’s remains. Unfortunately, as the parish didn’t follow up on the burial arrangements, she ended up keeping him on the mantle.
With a little explanation on my part, she was horrified to learn that her husband’s funeral was not complete until the burial took place. No one had ever explained the practical reasons why keeping a loved one’s ashes was improper and imprudent: What if the house burned down? What if her children did the same to her? What if the expensive urn was lost or stolen? What if the urn was sold or given away? What if it ended up in the yard sale, estate sale or antique shop? These are but some of the scenarios that make it troubling when a person’s remains are not given the proper respect they deserve, the respect that our Catholic faith asks that we give to us humans created in God’s image and likeness.
As we pray at Holy Mass each week: “We believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.” In short, we believe that when Christ comes again He will gather us (our total selves, body and soul) so that where He is we shall also be, with the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints in His Heavenly Kingdom.
Father Hillier serves as diocesan director, Office of Pontifical Mission Societies, the Office for Persons with Disabilities and Censor Luborum.
A file photo shows an urn containing cremated remains in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery mausoleum in Coram, N.Y.
—OSV News photo/Gregory A. Shemitz
offers faithful option to teen girls
Teen girls contemplating a life of service united in prayer and liberal doses of laughter during the diocesan “Fiat Day of Discernment” Aug. 30 in Immaculate Conception Parish, Spotswood. Girls had ample opportunities to converse with women religious at all stages, opening their eyes to what life with the Lord might be. Presentations, question and answer periods, pizza and ice breaker activities led to a deeper understanding of what they might encounter as servants of Christ. Top left, siblings Father Jack O’Kane, pastor of the Spotswood parish, and Filippini Sister Barbara O’Kane shared their separate yet intertwined vocations stories with good-natured humor. In the group shot, presenters included, third from left, back row, Father Gilbert Starcher, diocesan vocations director, who advised the girls to ‘make Jesus your BFF’ and discern a vocation with prayer,” and, far right, back row, Msgr. John N. Fell, diocesan director of seminarians, who advised the girls to declare their fiat as Mary did: “Here we are, Lord, we come to do your will.” —Hal Brown photos
By Christina Leslie Contributing Editor
Inside a school gymnasium might strike some as an unusual place to start a garden, but the Diocese of Metuchen employed just such a site for a day-long program for teen girls with the intent to develop a fruitful harvest for its Church.
Sponsored by the diocesan Office of Consecrated and Religious Life, the Aug. 30 “Fiat Day of Discernment” offered a glimpse of women religious’ daily, faithfilled lives of service. The program of witness talks, vocation stories, Q&A sessions with postulants, prayer, games, lunch, Benediction and Mass suggested the diverse pathways the teens might explore while discerning how best to follow God’s call.
Msgr. John N. Fell, diocesan director of seminarians, asserted the accomplishments of Church leaders have been important, but so, too, was the Blessed Virgin Mary of Nazareth’s simple utterance of assent. “When that teenage girl said ‘yes’ to God,” he said, “human history was forever changed.” Asking them the reason for their presence, the young
women echoed Mother Mary’s reply, saying, “Here we are, Lord, we come to do your will.”
Father Gilbert Starcher, diocesan vocations director, advised the teens of the steps they should take if they decide life as a religious may be their call to serve.
“If God is calling you, he will be giving you special gifts,” Father Starcher said. “When you discern a vocation, it always starts with prayer. Pray to Jesus, ‘thank you for coming to visit my soul.’ After receiving Holy Communion, don’t just run out of the church, but listen; when Jesus comes to visit you, take time to think.”
Employing youthful vernacular, the priest continued, “Jesus has to be your BFF, you need to communicate. Accept his love for you. God has made each of us like different flowers in a bouquet … He made us to glorify him.”
Assuring the girls might recognize that possible future call, both young postulates and seasoned religious shared their vocation stories. “You are setting yourself aside wholly for Jesus,” said Sister of Christian Charity postulate Marianna. She continued that taking the
vows of poverty, chastity and obedience led her to realize “God has made you at this time and for this time … A charism is how we live Christlike love and show it to others.” On the other end of the service spectrum, Felician Sister Antonelle Chunka, who began religious life at age 13 and is now celebrating 71 years, asserted, “If God puts a dream in your head, he will give you the opportunity to live it. Don’t let it die.”
Two siblings shared their vocation stories and how they had encouraged each other along their roads to discernment: Father Jack O’Kane, pastor of Spotswood’s Immaculate Conception Parish, and his older sister, Sister Barbara O’Kane, a member of the Religious Teacher Filippini order who teaches religious education in St. John Vianney School, Colonia. Their two vocation testimonies were delivered with both reverence and humor, demonstrating that a life of service can be filled with joy.
Sister Barbara gave the teens her three caveats on religious life. “A vocation is a gift from God to you,” she said, adding, “To hear God’s call to you,
prayer is essential. Surround yourself with people striving for holiness; they will give you support. Be amazed at the lessons and rewards God gives you.”
Sharing his own insights into life as a priest, Father O’Kane stated, “There is a unique plan with your name on it. When I was preparing for the priesthood, my father said he had wanted to be one. I told him, ‘You would have made a better priest than I will, but I’m glad you didn’t!”
He concluded, “The priesthood is the best life, not the easiest life. All vocations can be difficult at times, and beautiful at times. God wants us to take a step of faith, and if God is calling, answer him. He will give you what you need.”
The teen attendees had food for thought when analyzing the day’s witness and acts of faith. Thirteen-year-old Aurelie, a parishioner in St. Joseph, Carteret, enjoyed hearing about “the different sisters and what they do and that there were different charisms,” while Isabella, a 14-year-old member of the host parish, “learned how [the sisters] found their call for God. That conversation is the answer to everything,” she said.
Dr. Joseph White presentation to PCLs, catechists, highlights ‘evangelizing catechesis’
By Jill Kerekes, Special Contributor
A group of 40 parish catechetical leaders and catechists gathered at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center in Piscataway on Sept, 3 for an enlightening presentation given by Dr. Joseph White, associate publisher for Catechetical Resources at Our Sunday Visitor. As an experienced parish catechetical leader and child and family psychologist, Dr. White has written many books and articles on the subject of catechesis and is a much sought after speaker in dioceses around the country. He recently served as a consultant for the working group that developed the Handbook on the Catechetical Accompaniment Process, a new set of criteria for the publishers of catechetical texts in the United States, and presented a brief overview of this Handbook to those gathered on Sept. 6.
The Handbook on the Catechetical Accompaniment Process is a work published by the Institute on the Catechism, a group formed by the Subcommittee on the Catechism of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. As explained by Dr. White, the Handbook is meant to provide a set of guidelines for publishers of catechetical texts to foster “evangelizing catechesis,” which served as a focal point of the Directory for Catechesis promulgated by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization in 2020.
Dr. White explained what is meant
by “evangelizing catechesis” using the five characteristics of evangelizing catechesis found in the Handbook. As noted by Dr. White, evangelizing catechesis “seeks deepen a personal encounter with Jesus Christ” and proclaims the essential message of the Gospel, the ‘kerygma.’
It also is offered with accompaniment in mind and “provides a systematic exposition of God’s revelation within the communion of the Catholic Church.”
The fruit of evangelizing catechesis is the “sending out of missionary disciples as witnesses to the good news of salvation.”
As compared to the previous criteria developed for publishers of catechetical texts in the United States, the Handbook has expanded the depth and breadth of what is expected to meet the challenge of providing an evangelizing catechesis that focuses on “the heart and hands in addition to the head.” The prior criteria was solely focused upon ensuring that textbook content that was in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and did not provide guidance on expected outcomes.
The Handbook still requires that catechetical textbooks conform to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but is structured upon sets of goals in three areas: cognitive goals, behavioral goals, and interior life goals. These goals are organized around the exposition of the content of the four pillars of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Handbook provides these goals with particular atten-
a presentation about the Handbook on the
Accompaniment Process to 40 diocesan PCLs and catechists, focusing on the importance of “evangelizing catechesis” in the religious education process.
tion to child development by categorizing the goals based on the age of the children being catechized: early childhood (ages 3-6), middle childhood (ages 6-10), and pre-adolescence (ages 10-14). Dr. White noted that, in addition to the Handbook establishing the aforementioned criteria for basal textbook series, the Handbook also contains cognitive, behavioral, and interior life goals for resources for immediate sacramental preparation.
Dr. White further expounded on the contents of the Handbook, emphasizing that not only does the Handbook direct the expansion of expectations of textbook publishers in the area of the evangelizing catechesis of children, the Handbook has also expanded the expectations of textbook publishers in regards to the evangelizing catechesis of the adults tasked with catechizing the children. The Handbook provides cognitive, behavioral, and interior life goals for parents and catechists organized in a manner similar to the goals for children. This means that
in order to meet the criteria of the Handbook, catechetical materials for children are required to include catechetical materials for adults.
As one parish catechetical leader commented, “This approach is long overdue. I am so happy we are headed in this direction! Parents are the primary catechists of their children. How can they catechize their children if they are not catechized?”
The presentation concluded with some practical tips from Dr. White regarding how parish catechetical leaders and catechists could still utilize the information from the Handbook even though they are not the intended audience for the Handbook. When asked to summarize her impression of Dr. White’s presentation of the Handbook, a catechist enthusiastically responded that the goal of the Handbook was to “guide publishers to provide materials to help parents, catechists, and children come to know Jesus and not just know ‘about’ Jesus.”
Franciscan Month in October now a nationwide initiative
Month celebration was so successful that, this October, we’ll be going nationwide! We encourage everyone in the Metuchen Diocese to join us in this exciting initiative.
Last October, The Catholic Spirit and faithful in the Diocese of Metuchen helped us celebrate Franciscan Month, and we thank you. The 2024 Franciscan
October is Franciscan Month because St. Francis’s Feast Day is October 4. The goal of the month is to celebrate Franciscan life and spirituality, educate Catholics and others about the Franciscan Movement and its relevance to twenty-first century life, and encourage everyone to answer St. Francis’s call for care, connection, and creation.
Franciscan Month was first launched in 2023 at St. Francis College in Brooklyn. In 2024, Franciscan Month expanded to include people in the Dioceses/Archdioceses of Brooklyn, Metuchen, Newark, New York, Paterson, and Rockville Centre. This October, people, parishes, schools, colleges, and other organizations across the country will join together to celebrate Franciscan Month.
Representatives from all parts of the Franciscan family – brothers, friars,
sisters, nuns, and lay people – as well as representatives from Franciscan organizations – schools, colleges, publishers, nonprofits – have been working together to plan this year’s activities and resources, which will include:
• Virtual and local events
• A daily calendar
• Guide for the Blessing of the Animals (weekend of October 4)
• Lesson plans, toolkits, articles and other downloadable materials
• A dedicated Web site serving as a clearing house for events (franciscanmonth.org)
• … and more!
This year’s Franciscan Month carries special significance because it commemorates the 800th anniversary of St. Francis’s writing of “The Canticle of the Creatures.”
This timeless text, which emphasizes care for creation, gratitude, forgiveness, and right relationship with one another, will serve as the guiding theme for the Month’s celebrations.
“Franciscan Month is more than a commemoration – it is a call to live meaningfully in today’s world guided by Franciscan values,” said Brother Greg Cellini, the founder of Franciscan Month and Director of Mission, Ministry and Interfaith Dialogue at St. Francis College.
“We hope that not only our students, faculty, and staff, but the entire country, will embrace this invitation to live with compassion, gratitude, and care for creation not just during October, but year-round.”
Join the celebration! Sign up for our mailing list via the QR code and check out the Website to learn more – https:// www.franciscanmonth.org/ Also, follow us on social media platforms Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok via @ thefranciscanmonth or @franciscanmonth.
Dr. Joseph White gives
Catechetical
—Jason Cordova photo
By David Karas, Correspondent
For seminarian David Watchorn, the opportunity to explore missionary work has come even before his ordination to the priesthood.
The Frenchtown native – and a member of St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, Flemington – recently returned from spending the month of July in Honduras with the Missioners of Christ. The Comayagua-based Catholic community works to form missionaries and serve the poor in the region, also supporting seminarians from diocesan communities across the United States with Spanish language immersion and missionary work.
“My overall experience was one of great growth and a great desire to live my life in a spirit of mission,” said Watchorn, who is currently a fourth-year college seminarian in St. Andrew’s Hall College Seminary at Seton Hall University. “One
of the mottos of the Missioners is ‘Tu vida es mision’ – ‘Your life is mission’. This is a great reminder to all of us that it’s not just missionaries in Honduras who are called to be witnesses of Christ’s love. We all need to pause and genuinely ask ourselves how we are serving others in our life, when the last time was when we put someone else ahead of ourselves, or if we can give more of our time, talent, and treasure to Christ in the Church and in others.”
During his time in Honduras, Watchorn participated in two mountain-based ministries, which involved driving missionaries and seminarians to remote mountain villages.
“We would visit people in the community, talk with them, pray with them, help them with things around their houses, ask for prayer intentions, and most importantly, simply be there with them,” he shared. “The people saw our visits as very special and treated us with incred-
Seminarian reflects on missionary experience in Honduras
ible hospitality. We also hosted various talks and holy hours at the local parish.”
Watchorn was inspired to explore this opportunity in large part by his spiritual director, Father Mariusz Koch – whose order, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, has a friary in Honduras near the Missioners of Christ. Additionally, he relished the opportunity to improve his Spanish.
One of his most memorable and impactful experiences came on his final night in Honduras, when he participated in one of several small groups organized during a time when the Missioners would open their doors to the community to join them for Adoration, Reconciliation and prayer. The small groups offered locals the chance to speak with the missionaries about things like difficulties in their lives, fear or grief.
“I was blessed to be in one of these groups. My role was simply to pray and intercede for this person who came to us so broken and in need, while the other Missioner spoke with the person,” he said. “While it was very hard for me to understand some of the people – a combination of my Spanish not being perfect, them speaking quietly, and the pouring rain drowning out many of their words –the Lord worked through that.”
While Watchorn could not understand everything that one woman in particular was sharing, he recalled that “the only prayer I could make was one without words.” He sensed that she was struggling with grief, and prayed that God would offer her strength and comfort.
“It was a very powerful and humbling experience, and a great reminder that sometimes, we don’t have to have all the answers,” he said. “Sometimes, just being present is enough.”
As he continues his studies and preparation as a seminarian, Watchorn is grateful for his missionary experience, and the powerful lessons it has reinforced for him.
“God-willing I become a priest one day, one of the most important responsibilities I will have is hearing confessions and giving spiritual counseling to my parishioners,” he said. “They help me to remember that a priest is not called to fix someone’s problem or even to forgive sins on his own. The priest is an instrument of Christ, and the only way he can truly minister to his flock is through allowing Christ to act through him, so that a priest’s every thought, word, and deed is an outreach of Christ, guiding his people towards deeper union with him.”
Below, left, David Watchorn, who wears his cassock after serving a Mass, poses, below, right, with his mission team and host family in the town of La Dalia, Honduras; bottom, left, with other seminarians from the U.S. and Honduras, and bottom, right, with his mission team at La Dalia. —Courtesy photos
From Chicago to Rome Reflecting on common origins, paths crossed with Pope Leo XIV
By David Carollo, Special Contributor
On May 8, after white smoke appeared over the Sistine Chapel, we waited to hear who was chosen as the new Holy Father. All speculation would soon be futile, and a new era would begin. Gathered in front of the television, our staff at the Blue Army Shrine awaited the words “Habemus Papum”, and the introduction. When the name Cardinal Robert Prevost was announced I had a moment of shock and disbelief. Not only is he American, but my age, from my hometown, the same educational institution and with whom I share common acquaintances. ‘Wow,’ I thought, ‘this is surreal.’
I am from the Southside of Chicago and entered the Augustinian high school, Mendel, in 1969, the same year Robert Prevost entered the Augustinian Seminary high school across the lake in Holland, Michigan. If he had not pursued a vocation, he would most certainly have attended my high school as did his two brothers and where his mother worked as librarian. The priests who taught at both schools influenced us all in the line of St. Augustine.
Attending a retreat during high school at Tolentine College near Chicago, I first read the words on the wall which St. Augustine heard, Tolle Lege, take up and read. These words redirected him and his great intellect to pursue the Faith and become a great saint. It inspired many to follow the pursuits of education. I will never be counted among the great Augustinian scholars, such as Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, after whom my high school was named, or as His Holiness, which the order nurtured, but I did come to understand the imperative of listening to Divine inspirations and of critical thinking, something sorely lacking in our techno-world today.
did not come together to elect a successor to Pope Francis, but to elect the successor to St. Peter.” On July 13, Cardinal Burke joined me on a podcast after he officiated at our Fatima anniversary event. We discussed the new pontificate. Here is the link to that show: tinyurl.com/4esx52jj
In an address to youth from St. Paul Outside the Walls Basilica in Rome on July 30, Bishop Robert Barron spoke of the history of the Roman Empire and the fact that it is the “ruins” that mark the legacy, contrasting it with the history of the Church, which despite many issues endures. This comes as no surprise as Christ made the promise to be with us. Caesar never received such a guarantee. I mean no disrespect to the great achievements of the ancient Romans, which are many and great, but the legacy of Christianity is one of God. The continuity of the Papacy is a testament to that.
write this piece, I am looking at a photo on my wall of the five of us at that game. Two in the picture have since passed away, one of them younger than me. We leave a mark in life during our time, but our time passes. I hope to leave a positive mark on what I have touched in my lifetime. It is certain that the Holy Father will leave a larger one.
I remain connected with the Mendel Alumni Association. Now, living mostly in New Jersey, I am unable to attend many functions, although I try to show up for the occasional lunch events when back there. We always knew of Fr. Bob’s work with the mission in Peru, especially his willingness to roll up his sleeves and become one of those whom he went to serve, his rise in the ranks of the Augustinian Order, and elevation to Bishop and Cardinal. I commented to my wife, Dorothy, several months ago, as we witnessed Pope Francis’ physical deterioration, that he could be the next pope, not expecting that to become a reality.
On July 30, Dorothy and I were honored to greet him personally at the Vatican. We exchanged the formalities and then spoke of our many common acquaintances, mostly of several priests who influenced both of our lives. We spoke of Fr. Dudley Day, OSA who was a strong supporter of the Blue Army in Chicago and a friend of my family. The Holy Father said that it was Fr. Day who recruited him for the Augustinian order. In later conversations with Fr. Luke Mary Fletcher, our chaplain at the Blue Army Shrine, who is from Indiana, we found out that he was also guided by Fr. Day while discerning his vocation. I remember the profound direction that Fr. Day offered in the confessional. We also spoke of the Holy Father’s brother who is a fellow alumnus of my high school. I felt our connection brought a touch of home to him, while he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders as the Vicar of Christ.
Everyone asks those who participated in the Conclave, although bound to secrecy, about the particulars to give some insights into the election. In an interview, Cardinal Dolan responded to a question about their choice saying, “We
There have been many clips of His Holiness throughout the years, showing a life of normal activities which we can all relate to. The clips of him at the 2005 World Series caught my eye especially. As a lifelong White Sox fan, I also attended a game in that World Series with four of my friends 20 years ago. As I
In the front left side of St. Peter’s Basilica is the altar containing the remains of Pope St. Leo the Great. The relief above depicts the meeting between Pope St. Leo and Attila with the Holy Father repelling Attila and the Huns from attacking Rome. Perhaps Pope Leo XIV will also rest there someday. My guess is that few if any will care what his sports loyalties were or his favorite pizza. They will however look to the legacy of his papacy which I believe will be a great mark on the Church and the world. I am honored to share his origins, and that God has allowed our paths to cross.
God bless Pope Leo XIV and may Mary keep him in her Immaculate Heart.
David M. Carollo serves as executive director, World Apostolate of Fatima USA, National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima.
Save theDate!
World Mission Sunday celebration
World Mission Sunday will be celebrated Oct. 19, in St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral, Metuchen. Sponsored by the diocesan Pontifical Mission Societies, the event starts at 11 a.m. with a short talk from a guest missionary about their personal experience as a missionary, followed by a recitation of the Rosary.
Noon Mass will then be celebrated by Bishop James F. Checchio, with Father John Hillier, director, serving as homilist. Mass will be followed by the “Children Helping Children” Mission Award ceremony.
For more information or questions about service hours please call 732-2434583 or e-mail pontifical.mission.societies@diometuchen.org. Also, visit www. diometuchen.org/Missions
Pope Leo XIV greets David M. Carollo, executive director, World Apostolate of Fatima USA, National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, (center) and his wife, Dorothy, during an audience in Rome July 30. Carollo and the new pontiff share Chicago roots of faith. —Vatican Media photo
Leslie Hirsch was just seven days into his role as the new CEO of New Orleansbased Touro Infirmary when Hurricane Katrina made landfall 20 years ago this month, leading to catastrophic damage and destruction throughout the city.
Saint Peter’s CEO reflects on lessons, leadership during Hurricane Katrina in former post
By David Karas, Correspondent
In the days that followed, he found himself as the new leader of a hospital without running water or electricity in a city experiencing historic devastation, unrest and need. He would go on to lead emergency evacuation efforts – with patients transported by helicopter and later by ambulances escorted by police.
“It began to be that kind of feeling that you were on a ship that was entering trouble – and as it turns out, that ship was really in big trouble,” said Hirsch. “Fortunately, we got out safely under police escort, but it was definitely a harrowing experience for people as we fled the city and literally left the city behind and barely closed the hospital.”
Not even a month later, Hirsch would work alongside the United States military to reopen Touro, which became the first acute adult care hospital to reopen in the city in the wake of the storm.
Today, Hirsch serves as President and CEO of Saint Peter’s Healthcare System, New Brunswick. And whether it was during the COVID-19 pandemic or in everyday management, he is able to draw upon his experiences in New Orleans two decades ago.
From onboarding to disaster response
When Hirsch first joined Touro, he took on his leadership role as he always had in the past – with a focus on spending the initial days and weeks getting to know employees, and helping them to get to know and become comfortable with him.
“My style of leadership is to be very approachable, to be very regular,” he said. “I do all that I can to have people feel that I am approachable, to be comfortable with me, and to know that I will be an accessible leader.”
While his initial days worked out as planned, things would change later in the week as efforts were focused on preparing for Hurricane Katrina.
“This became a major storm very quickly, and then it was moving very rapidly,” he said. “We were moving into disaster response mode.”
When the storm hit New Orleans, the city fared better than some had expected – until the levees broke the following day and water from Lake Pontchartrain flooded the city.
“That was really when that panic started to set in for people,” Hirsch recalled, noting that the same hospital employees working to care for their patients were also personally affected by the tragedy. “People on my own staff lost their homes and had to worry about that. This was all happening so quickly.”
The photos on pages 16-17 are vignettes of the leadership challenges St. Peter’s Healthcare System President and CEO Leslie Hirsch, then the new CEO of Touro Infirmary in New Orleans, faced during Hurricane Katrina which struck 20 years ago in August. The experience, which included devastating power outages, a lack of water, strained resources, a need for evacuation, martial law and chaos, have left him with lessons learned about how to maintain calm during a crisis and how to plan and prepare for future disasters. —Courtesy photos
Leading an unprecedented evacuation
Conditions at Touro worsened when the hospital’s generator system failed –possibly due to an issue with a load of diesel fuel.
While there was maybe a foot of water in the streets in that area of the city, a short distance away, rescuers needed boats to reach buildings. Amidst all of that, more than 30,000 evacuees were sheltered in the Superdome, where conditions were rapidly deteriorating.
“By later in that day, it was clear to me that we were going to evacuate the hospital,” he said, recalling his realization that he would need to take the lead to coordinate such a massive undertaking. “You draw on your instincts, and I pretty much had my own moment of truth.”
With communications systems and cell phone networks down, Hirsch turned to the only working phone he could find – a pay phone in the emergency room –and called the state’s hospital association. That phone call kicked off coordination for the evacuation of their 238 patients to Baton Rouge.
Hirsch and his staff worked to move patients – having to physically carry some down flights of stairs due to failing elevators – to bring them through a connector to the facility’s elevated parking garage across the street. An ambulance company with an extensive fleet of helicopters worked to evacuate patients by air, and hospital staff worked constantly to triage and prepare patients for the journey.
“In that type of circumstance, you are really triaging in a different way,” he said, noting that with high heat and humidity and no power or water, “the conditions in the hospital were getting rougher by the moment.”
Things were further complicated when the medical transport helicopters were diverted to begin emergency rooftop rescues in neighborhoods with rising floodwaters and trapped residents who often were taking refuge on the roofs of their waterlogged homes – forcing Hirsch and his team to mobilize a caravan of ambulances to evacuate the remaining patients. They required a police escort to safely exit the city, particularly as unrest spread into the streets and martial law was declared.
‘We had to get back’
As Hirsch and his team arrived in Baton Rouge, he was in the midst of acquiring space to house patients and staff when he quickly realized that his work in New Orleans was not finished.
“We had to get back to the city – we were the only adult acute care hospital that physically had the ability to reopen,” he said. “There was a lot of focus on us.”
Hirsch recalls receiving a phone call from a lieutenant colonel with the 82nd Airbourne, who was eager to mobilize his troops to help clean up Touro and facilitate its reopening.
Some 27 days after Hirsch and his team abruptly evacuated, the hospital was able to reopen and restore its care for New Orleans residents. It remained the only facility of its kind to be open in New Orleans in the first six months after Katrina made landfall.
In the months that followed, Hirsh led his team to not only rebuild Touro, but to work on improvements to mitigate the risk of future storms like Katrina. That included digging a well for the hospital to ensure a water supply for air conditioning systems and toilets, adding a redundant fuel system for generators and investing in emergency communications equipment.
Those innovations even drew the attention of former United States Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, who visited the hospital a year after Katrina to review the changes they had made there.
Confronting COVID-19 on the frontlines
Hirsch was later recruited to return to his home state of New Jersey to assume his current role with Saint Peter’s. And while his time there included weathering other actual storms like Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irene, he also faced another major crisis with the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
In a recent interview, he reflected on the similarities – and differences – between Katrina and COVID.
He noted that, while Hurricane Katrina as a storm passed relatively quickly, the severe impact lingered in the region for years – even after the so-called “Katrina fatigue” led to diminishing national interest and attention on the plight of those living in New Orleans.
“COVID became a storm, metaphorically, that didn’t go away quickly either,” he said. “COVID just seemed to hover over our heads, and it did, for several years.”
Through that crisis, Hirsch relied not only on his own instincts and experiences, but also the tremendous team that surrounds him in New Brunswick.
“It takes leadership, and you have to have that function and that presence,” he said, adding that good leaders don’t lead alone. “It always takes a great team.”
No substitute for experience
Looking back on his experiences in New Orleans, Hirsch said he was able to draw on past experiences to help him navigate a difficult situation.
“There is no substitute for time and years of experience,” he said. “No matter how many books you read, no matter how much you learn in school – which is all very important – there is no substitute for the experience that you have.”
Hirsch previously held a number of roles in the healthcare space, including working in organizations that faced financial challenges and were in desperate need of transformation. Facing those obstacles in the past helped him realize an important lesson that all leaders should learn.
In the months that followed Katrina, Hirsch led his team to rebuild Touro and make improvements to mitigate damage from future storms. Impressed by the innovations, former Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, pictured, visited the infirmary a year after Katrina to review the changes made.
—Benjamin Applebaum photo
“You cannot allow yourself to get caught up in the emotion of the moment and the situation, and if everyone around you is emotional and worried and upset, the worst thing you can do is join that and become a part of that,” he said. “You have to really be able to almost put yourself in the position where you are on the outside looking into the situation, so you can look into it as calmly and clearly as you can.”
He emphasized that while he experienced his own emotions during those times of crisis or adversity, he has always worked to think clearly and rely on his instincts and experiences as a frame of reference to guide him to a solution.
“No matter how bad things get, you just have to find a way,” he said. “You have to dig down to the pit of your stomach and find a way to get through, and give people the confidence that you are going to get through.”
Leslie D. Hirsch, FACHE President and CEO
Saint Peter’s Healthcare System
School Days Begin With blessings, encouragement, gratitude for catechists
This month kicks off not only the beginning of the school year, but also the debut of religious education, be it Family Catechesis or the traditional weekly classes. I would like to dedicated this column to our catechists. Having been blessed to participate in the apostolate of education since an early age, and having taught religious education to children in several parishes, I offer these words about St. Bernard as a way to affirm those who are entrusted with the education of our children.
St. Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church was born of noble parentage in Burgundy, France, in the castle of Fontaines near Dijon. Under the care of his pious parents he was sent at an early age to a college at Chatillon, where he was known for his deep piety and spirit of recollection. At the same place he entered upon the studies of theology and Holy Scripture. After the death of his mother, fearing the snares and temptations of the world, he resolved to embrace the newly established and very austere institute of the Cistercian Order.
In 1113, St. Bernard, with thirty young noblemen, presented himself to the holy Abbot, St. Stephen, at Citeaux. After a novitiate spent in great fervor, he made his profession in the following year.
His superior soon after, seeing the great progress he had made in the spiritual life, sent him with twelve monks to found a new monastery, which afterward became known as the celebrated Abbey of Clairvaux. St. Bernard was at once appointed Abbot.
He founded numerous other monasteries, composed a number of works, the greatest of which was his Commentary on the Song of Songs. St. Bernard composed several works in homage to the Blessed Virgin Mary, including the prayer The Memorare. He died on August 20, 1153.
St. Bernard was given the office of “Abbot,” which is a mission in which he endeavored to be a “father” and a “teacher” to the friars of the monastery. You, catechists and school teachers, are embarking on a mission this September. You will impart knowledge of your particular subject on your students. In addition, you may find yourself being a “father figure” or “mother figure” to students who come from dysfunctional homes – or homes plagued by addictions. By the way you teach and treat your students with kindness, with compassion and, in some instances, empathy, you will be more than a teacher, you will be “Jesus” for the little ones entrusted to you. God bless you as
you begin your mission as “teachers.” Catechesis has its own challenges. Many of you, catechists, have to share your faith with kids who are tired, after having spent a whole day in school. In the evening, some of you will encounter children who yearn to relax, engage in play activities or sleep. Well, we know that the kids can’t sleep on your watch, however, there is no reason why you cannot integrate some play activities in the lesson planned for each week. Whether it is an icebreaker at the beginning of class or a game at the end of class, some leisure will show the children that religious education is not just reading out loud or taking notes.
For those who are catechists in the Family model which meets once a month for a whole Sunday, your challenge is different. How do you keep the parents and the children from getting bored? The answer is diversity in your teaching method. Have guest speakers when you can. Take bathroom breaks and time for private prayer. Encourage the families after Mass to share what they gained from the homily. In your favor is the enthusiasm of families who gather as a unit to deepen and share their faith. It is your task to encourage this sharing with questions which elicit good discussions between children
When living our faith, mercy and anger don’t mix
When I entered the monastery, we had a cow, and I learned to milk. A demanding job, especially in the winter, but it was worth it when we had cereal. Corn flakes and cream go very well together! Unless you have a cow or live near a farm, you probably don’t have access to raw milk, and you haven’t had the chance of skimming off the cream and pouring it over your cereal. Store milk is either already skimmed or homogenized. And you have to buy the cream separately, which is a luxury. We no longer have our cow, and our cereal now is just normal.
Homogenization has its place in the scheme of life, but some things just don’t homogenize. Take oil and vinegar. Together they make a delicious salad dressing, but they don’t stay mixed and quickly separate. Some things should stay separate, like milk and lemon juice. In the matter of housecleaning, bleach and ammonia should never be mixed, for together they form chloramine and may even produce hydrazine, which is potentially explosive.
Recently at Mass, we heard about an explosive situation in the journey of the Israelites through the desert. Moses had led the people to Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, a place with no source of water.
(Cf. Num. chap. 20) The people understandably complained, “Why have you brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to bring us to this wretched place?” This is not the first time such a thing has happened. In Exodus, chap. 17, a similar problem arises.
In both stories, God orders Moses to strike the rock and water gushed out for the people. Some scholars believe
he is told, and everyone is satisfied. In Numbers, Moses does indeed strike the rock, but “Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”
Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank.” Yet then it is God who complains to Moses: ““Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”
What did God mean when he said, “You did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites”? -
and parents, between children and their fellow students.
To all of who, like St. Bernard, are engaged in education, keep in mind that what you are doing is a noble vocation, a veritable apostolate of the Church. You may not receive many words of affirmation or thanks from your students, but on behalf of your pastors and the Church, I would like to thank you. I offer you these words of blessing:
Lord our God, in your wisdom and love, you surround us with the mysteries of the universe. In times long past you sent us your prophets to teach your laws and to bear witness to your undying love. You sent us your Son to teach us by word and example that true wisdom comes from you alone. Send your spirit upon these teachers and fill them with your wisdom and blessings. Grant that during this year, they may devote themselves to sharing their knowledge of you with those entrusted to their care, so that their students may come to know, love and serve you. Amen.
Father Comandini serves as diocesan coordinator of the Office for Ongoing Faith Formation.
may be true, but what stands out in this passage is the difference in attitude between God and Moses. God simply tells Moses, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water.” There is no anger or frustration in God’s order.
Moses on the other hand is clearly furious, and because he is God’s representative, his anger makes it seem as if God himself is angry. God’s merciful love therefore comes across as anger. God pinpoints Moses’s lack of trust, for by his anger Moses makes it difficult for the people to trust God. By Moses’s anger, the people’s relationship with God is distorted.
obeyed by striking the rock twice. That
Anger can seem justified. We may have good reason to be angry, but like vinegar in “the milk of human kindness,” anger can curdle our whole attitude. As Bertold Brech wrote, “Even anger against injustice makes the voice grow harsh. Alas, we who wished to lay the foundations for kindness could in the end not ourselves be kind.”
Those of us who know that we have received mercy are able to extend mercy to others with God’s own peace in our hearts, that peace that “the world cannot give.”
Sister Gabriela of the Incarnation is a member of the Discalced Carmelites order in Flemington. Learn more at www. flemingtoncarmel.org.
Back-to-School Mass promotes unity and fruitfulness
The late summer breeze wafting down Henderson Road sent a dozen white and yellow flags aflutter the morning of Aug. 27. The flags, emblazoned with the picture of the youthful Blessed Carlo Acutis, beckoned educators and administrators to the annual diocesan Back to School Mass in St. Augustine of Canterbury Parish, Kendall Park.
Bishop James F. Checchio served as principal celebrant of the Mass, and was accompanied by Father Jonathan S. Toborowsky, Vicar General; Father Robert G. Lynam, St. Augustine’s pastor, as well as pastors of the elementary and secondary Catholic schools of the Metuchen Diocese. St. Augustine Principal Edward Modzelewski extended his greetings to the assembly and noted their common goal: to “begin a new school year united in one mission: to educate and evangelize the children of God… [and] establish the kingdom of heaven here on earth.”
In his homily, the Bishop echoed the words of the soon-to-be saints Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati: the Eucharist is the road to heaven, God made us for greatness, and we must strive towards the heights.
Blessed Carlo’s parents’ tepid faith was fanned into flame by the young boy’s Polish housekeeper, who took him to Church and taught him to pray. When he was five years old, “he wanted to pray the Rosary with his parents and go with them to Mass,” the Bishop said. “Carlo used the internet to further people’s knowledge of the faith.”
He continued, “We are made for something greater. The Eucharist is the key. Every school in the country teaches kids, but we form the whole person.”
Referencing the day’s Gospel reading of the two men on the road to Emmaus who were saddened by Jesus’ absence, the Bishop reminded the congregation, “Jesus is so patient with them and loves them and befriends them. We, too, can get depressed or have to deal with a tough case. We need patience, accompaniment, to stay with them.
“Thank you for what you do to give
you for helping them find the heights.”
The liturgy’s Communion hymn was composed for the occasion by William Berg, St. Augustine music director and principal organist, as a tribute to Blessed Carlo Acutis. Entitled “The Eucharist is Our Highway to Heaven,” it blended music by Berg and lyrics he adapted from Blessed Carlo’s writings. [For further information, and to hear the hymn, see sidebar and QR code.]
Following the liturgy, Msgr. Joseph Celano, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, Somerville, discussed the twin components of Catholic education: unity and fruitfulness.
“We have been created for something greater; our educational mission of Catholic education takes place within this context,” said Msgr. Celano, who also serves as director of Immaculate Conception Elementary School and Immaculata High School. “Success depends upon human effort, and measured by external results: growth in enrollment, testing results, winning athletic teams. Fruitfulness is openness and active cooperation with God’s grace, and measured by interior, transformative growth in holiness and virtue.”
Catholic schools need to be both successful and spiritually fruitful every day, and unity in mission means everyone is committed to the same core mission to serve the greater good, not one’s personal agendas, he continued.
“Where unity exists, the mission of the school is clear and compelling,” stated Msgr. Celano. “We are not competitors, we are partners … I want you to be successful and I want our schools to succeed, but they also need to be spiritually fruitful, plac es open to transforming power of Christ’s grace, ever present, ever ac tive, ever working in our midst. May we be successful and spiritually fruitful.”
Rallying behind the call to “begin a new school year united in one mission: to educate and evangelize the children of God,” educational leaders, staff, teachers and administrators gathered in St. Augustine of Canterbury Parish, Kendall Park, Aug. 27 for the annual diocesan Back to School Mass. Principal celebrant and homilist Bishop James F. Checchio reminded the congregation, “Every school in the country educates kids, but we form the whole person.” Top left, flags bearing the face of Blessed Carlo Acutis, the millennial saint to be canonized Sept. 7, line Henderson Road. Top right, Bishop Checchio was accompanied at the altar by priest pastors of the diocese’s elementary and secondary schools; middle right, rows of religious who serve as invaluable resources of faith listened to the homily. Bottom right, Bishop Checchio greeted members of the Diocesan Office of Schools during the brunch following the Mass. From left are Barbara Stevens, Secretary for Catholic Schools; Joseph Diskin, Superintendent; Bishop Checchio, and Filippini Sister Mary Louise Shulas, Director of Curriculum. —Hal Brown photos
Local composer unites with late saint to create Eucharistic hymn
A musician of the Metuchen Diocese has partnered with the first millennial saint to create a hymn proclaiming their shared love of the Eucharist. Entitled “The Eucharist is our Highway to Heaven,” the hymn was composed by St. Augustine of Canterbury Parish’s William Berg using lyrics he adapted from the writings of Blessed Carlo Acutis.
The local celebration of the young saint’s canonization had been slated for Sept. 7, but, learning the focus for the diocesan Back to School Mass would be on the life of the then-Blessed Carlo, Berg was inspired to finish the hymn a week early. Composing the hymn’s verses proved to be a challenge since the late teen had left few writings.
“I researched him on the internet,” Berg explained, “and called those in charge of the Continued on page 39
A new school year begins
The early days of the school year are a good time to consider the wisdom of Pope Leo XIV, who spoke to young people from the Diocese of Copen hagen, together with teachers from Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland during a July 5 meeting at the Vatican. His words are full of meaning for all Cath olic school students as they continue their journey as young disciples, and teachers, as they strive to be witnesses to the faith for their students.
Pope Leo reminded students that “… God has created each one of you with a purpose and a mis sion in this life. Use this opportunity for listening, for prayer, so that you may hear more clearly God’s voice calling you deep within your hearts. I would add that today, so often, we lose the ability to listen, to really listen. We listen to music, we have our ears flooded constantly with all kinds of digital input, but sometimes we forget to listen to our own hearts and it’s in our hearts that God speaks to us, that God calls us and invites us to know him better and to live in his love. And through that listening you might be open to allowing God’s grace to strengthen your faith in Jesus (cf. Col 2:7), so that you might more readily share that gift with others.
“And addressing you, dear teachers: what I have just said to the young people applies equally to you, especially given your important role in the formation of today’s youth: children, teenagers, young adults. For they will look up to you as models: models in life, models of faith. They’ll look to you particularly as to how you teach and how you live. I hope that, each day, you will nurture your relationship with Christ, who gives us the pattern of all authentic teaching (cf Mt 7:28), so that, in turn, you may guide and encourage those entrusted to your care to follow Christ in their own lives.”
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The unique journey of a Consolata Missionary from San Miniato
By Adriana Molina Special Contributor
Two months ago, I met Consolata Father John Marconcini during a small birthday celebration for a longtime member of the Consolata community.
We were sharing conversation, and at 86 years old, Father John not only carries the wisdom of the years, but also the quiet strength of a life fully devoted to the service of the Gospel. As he shared his story, I was deeply moved by the depth of his missionary journey and the simplicity with which he lives out his priesthood today. I asked him to meet again so we could talk more about the remarkable story that had captivated me.
His journey has taken him across five continents: five years in Andalusia, Spain; thirteen years in Kenya; seven years in Pittsburgh, Pa.; two years in Toronto, Canada; and 11 years in Rome. He also served for 10 years as a spiritual director at a residence for priests from over 60 countries.
During his visit to the Consolata Missionaries’ office in New Jersey, Father John continues to live out his vocation with dedication. He joins a weekly Rosary prayer group on Zoom, celebrates
Mass at St. Augustine of Canterbury Church, Kendall Park, while visiting, and walks five miles every morning before breakfast – the spirit alive in service and movement.
We met again a few days later, and I wished I could write down every word and every moment of his journey – but I’d need days and pages. Father John’s story is deeply rooted in the strong faith of his family. Before getting married, Gerina Gerini and Angelo Marconcini had each considered religious life and sought guidance from their spiritual directors. In time, they realized that God was calling them to a shared vocation as husband and wife, building a family founded on faith.
Giovanni (John) Marconcini was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1938, the youngest of 11 children, seven sisters and four brothers. All were consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary by their devout parents. The family later moved to San Miniato, Tuscany, where his father Angelo worked in banking.
During World War II, their lives were marked and transformed by the tragic Massacre of the Cathedral of San Miniato. On July 22, 1944, as the Allied forces advanced from Florence, the
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German army forced over 200 civilians, including the Marconcini family, to take shelter in the cathedral. They nailed the doors shut, and an American artillery shell struck the church, killing 55 people.
Miraculously, the Marconcini family survived. After praying, Gerina and Angelo had decided to take cover behind the altar. Their survival became a lasting sign to them of God’s protection and providence. A commemorative plaque remains today in the right transept of the cathedral in memory of the victims. This event would later inspire the Taviani brothers’ film The Night of the Shooting Stars, which won the Grand Prix at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival.
“There’s an old Italian song that says: ‘Between destruction and fruit, there is no rose without a thorn,’” Father John often reflects. “Our family lived through the destruction but, oh, what fruit God gave us!”
From those challenging times, the Marconcini family witnessed the grace of seven religious vocations: five religious sisters and two priests, among them Father John, who answered the missionary call with the Consolata Missionaries.
One of his sisters, Sister Annetta
Marconcini, also entered the Consolata congregation. She joined religious life at the age of 16 and, now 95 years old, serves in Colombia. Over the years, she has shared her talents as a physics and math teacher, musician (violin and organ), singer, mural painter, and author.
Although his missionary journey has taken him around the world, Father John remains grounded in the true essence of the priesthood. In a world often driven by recognition, his words offer a humble reminder: “Priests are for the service of the people not to be celebrities.”
Each day, he strives to live what Consolata founder St. Giuseppe Allamano wisely taught: “God always acts in the present; therefore, the Christian life must be lived hic et nunc – here and now – in complete surrender and trust.”
These words are lived out daily in his prayers. I saw it in his presence, and I felt it in his testimony. At 86 years old, Father John continues to walk alongside the people of God one step, one Rosary, and one Mass at a time.
Adriana Molina is a correspondent with The Catholic Spirit and recently began part-time ministry with Consolata Missionaries, North Brunswick.
In the top photo, Father John Marconcini poses with one of his nieces in the Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation, Turin, Italy. In the bottom photo, the youngest of 11 children, Giovani (John) Marconcini is pictured with his 10 siblings. —Courtesy photos
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Rhode
Island
celebrates Pope Leo
declaration that baby’s healing was a true miracle
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (OSV News) –Rhode Islanders are celebrating Pope Leo XIV’s declaration that the healing of a baby born in their state back in 2007 was indeed miraculous and advances the sainthood cause of a 19th-century Spanish priest. Pope Leo XIV had promulgated the acceptance of the miracle for Venerable Salvador Valera Parra on June 20, with various decrees presented to the pope by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. The dicastery’s website specified that Father Parra’s intercession had been attributed to the miraculous resuscitation of “little Tyquan,” born critically ill Jan. 14, 2007, at the now-closed Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Local coverage of the miracle was sparked July 18 with a GoLocalProv article that cited an interview by Vida Nueva, a Madrid-based Catholic news outlet, with Dr. Juan Sánchez-Esteban, the attending physician at the infant’s delivery who invoked the priest’s intercession. Vida Nueva published the child’s full name as Tyquan Hall, noting Hall has since led a normal, healthy
Journalists
killed in Gaza hospital strike,
life. In a statement, Diocese of Providence chancellor Father Timothy Reilly called the miracle “wonderful news” that would advance the priest’s cause toward beatification and canonization.
The intercession of Venerable Salvador Valera Parra, a 19th-century Spanish diocesan priest, has been credited by Pope Leo XIV for the miraculous recovery of critically-ill newborn Tyquan Hall in 2007 at a Rhode Island hospital, in a decree issued June 20, 2025. —OSV News photo/ Public domain via Wikipedia commons
following global day of prayer for peace
By Gina Christian, OSV News
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza (OSV News)
– Days after the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem expressed hope that “hearts can change even in the Holy Land,” at least 20 people – including five journalists – have been reported killed in Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital, located in southern Gaza. BBC News has verified several videos of the Aug. 25 attack, showing two strikes on the facility. The strike comes just three days after the global day of prayer and fasting for peace called by Pope Leo XIV on Aug. 22 – the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary – amid a surge in global conflict, particularly in the Middle East and Ukraine. Speaking to Vatican News ahead of the observance, Latin Patriarch
Priest’s St.
Monica Project helps accompany parents whose children leave the faith
SMITHFIELD, Neb. (OSV News) – Father Jay Buhman, a pastor in Smithfield, Nebraska, was deeply moved by an elderly man who prayed during the night for his daughter who had left the Catholic Church. Inspired by this encounter, Father Buhman told OSV News he founded The St. Monica Project in 2015 with the Masses and Tears devotion to support parents and oth-
A man holds the equipment used by Palestinian cameraman Hussam al-Masri, who was a contractor for Reuters, at the site where he was killed along with other journalists and people in Israeli strikes on Aug. 25, 2025, Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. This still image was taken from what was a video shot by Reuters contractor Hatem Khaled, who was wounded shortly afterwards in another strike while he was filming the site. —OSV News photo/Hatem Khaled, Reuters
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said he was “grateful for this attention to the theme of peace.” In an Aug. 25 state ment, Israel Defense Forces confirmed the latest strike, noting that it “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such.” IDF said its chief of general staff “instructed to conduct an initial inquiry as soon as possible,” and stressed that “the IDF acts to mitigate harm to uninvolved individ uals as much as possible while main taining the safety of IDF troops.” The latest strikes have drawn international condemnation, with World Health Or ganization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghe breyesus posting on X that the blast hit critical areas in the hospital, including its emergency department, inpatient ward, surgical unit and emergency attacks.
ers praying for their loved ones to return to the Catholic faith. The project is named for St. Monica, the 4th century Christian from North Africa who was the mother of the famous St. Augustine of Hippo. It includes Masses, prayers, and a powerful image of St. Monica weeping before the tabernacle, emphasizing the Lord’s grace and the relationship he desires with them. Through the project, Father Buhman said he is providing free materials to encourage and strengthen those praying for their loved ones’ conversions. Father Buhman said the devotion’s success lies not in immediate conversions, but in the growing in holiness and in faith of those who persist in prayer. He explained that, as with St. Monica, God uses such suffering and dedication to sanctify parents and eventually guide loved ones back to Him, deepening everyone’s relationship with God in the process.
“Monica had a profound relationship with the Lord, and she really wanted that for her son,” he said, adding, “Returning to the practice of the faith is returning to an encounter with the Lord and a deep relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who created us for himself.”
This stained-glass window depicting St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica, graces the wall at St. Augustine Church in Washington July 25, 2019. St. Monica is the patron saint of motherhood, known for her resilience and dedication to prayer. —OSV News photo/Elizabeth Bachmann
Pope defends rights of refugees evicted to build US military base
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV blessed five statues of Mary that refugees evicted from their islands in order to build a major U.S. military base plan to place in the chapels they hope to restore when they return to their homelands. “The renewed prospect of your return to your native archipelago is an encouraging sign and carries symbolic power on the international stage: all peoples, even the smallest and weakest, must be respected
by the powerful in their identity and their rights – especially the right to live in their own lands; and no one can force them into exile,” the pope told the Chagos Islands’ refugee group Aug. 23. Between 1967 and 1973, the United Kingdom evicted residents of these islands in the Indian Ocean to allow the United States to build a major military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands.
Pope Leo XIV blesses a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary during a meeting at the Vatican Aug. 23, 2025, with refugees and their descendants who were exiled from the Chagos Islands to clear the way for the establishment of a major U.S. and U.K. military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island. —CNS photo/Vatican Media
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Indifference to the poor is a lack of mercy
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Our Gospel reading this Sunday continues Jesus’ teaching about the proper use of material wealth. Building upon the insight of last Sunday’s Gospel that all must use their resources, material wealth included, to hasten the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God, this Sunday’s Gospel teaches that the chief way to do this is by ministering to the poor and needy.
The Gospel is the well-known account of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The beginning of the story illustrates the lavish, over-abundant wealth of the rich man and the terrible, disease-ridden material poverty of Lazarus. The rich man, aware of Lazarus, did nothing to alleviate his suffering. Eventually both men died; Lazarus was taken to heaven, the rich man to the abode of the dead.
It is important that we realize the reason behind the final destiny of each man; God had created each of them out of his super-abundant love, to love him in return on earth, and to share in the perfect manifestation of that love for all eternity in heaven. Lazarus was one of God’s lowly-ones. Beloved of the Lord, Lazarus was destined to spend all eternity with the Almighty because those who most need God’s love are most shown God’s love. The story portrays Lazarus as the more truly blessed of the two men because, having no one and nothing else to rely upon besides God’s mercy, that mercy was lavished upon him.
The rich man, on the other hand, was not punished for his material wealth; he was punished for his misuse of that wealth. Even earlier than Jesus’ teaching that we must love our neighbor as ourselves, the Old Testament Law imposed a similar obligation upon the rich and mighty. Based upon the principle that “the land is [God’s], and you are but aliens who have become his tenants” (Leviticus 25:23), Jewish law and practice required that property owners pay rent to God’s special representatives, the poor. By neglecting Lazarus, the rich man offended not only the poor man, he offended God himself – our late Holy Father, Pope Francis, has made this point: “To ignore a poor man is to scorn God!” (General Audience, May 18, 2016). The rich man’s blind indifference to the plight of the poor had condemned him to everlasting torment; sadly, he had become an illustration of the plight of those described by the Prophet Amos: “Woe to the complacent in Zion! Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, they eat lambs taken from the flock … now they shall be the first to go into exile, and their wanton revelry shall be done away with” (Amos
6:1a,7). The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” summarizes this teaching: “God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them … It is by what they have done for the poor that Jesus Christ will recognize his chosen ones. ... (para. 2443).
The second scene of the parable presents the rich man crying out to Abraham from the abode of the dead. He asks first for Lazarus to bring him some water to quench his thirst. Abraham responds that one cannot move from heaven to hell or vice versa after death; Lazarus could not get to him even as he himself had no hope of moving toward heaven. The rich man then asks Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn his five brothers so they might be saved. At least the rich man is beginning to think about someone other than himself.
Abraham replies, however, that he is unable to grant this request. He tells the rich man that, on earth, his brothers have the law and the prophets to guide them. If they heed their instruction, they can certainly avoid the torment which has befallen him. If, however, they fail to heed these warnings, Abraham says, they would be unlikely to listen, even if someone were to rise from the dead. St. Luke includes this statement about rising from the dead to make this parable relevant for all ages. Even after the death and resurrection of Jesus, there are still those who fail to heed his teaching and example. Called upon to serve God by serving others, they look only to their own self-aggrandizement– sadly, even Jesus’ resurrection from the dead has failed to win them over.
As we each come to grips with this most poignant parable, we must remember that the rich man did nothing that would be considered actively, intentionally evil – he did not go out of his way to abuse Lazarus nor cheat him out of his fortune. He was condemned, rather, for his lack of mercy. He failed to recognize the less fortunate as God’s special people, and turned an uncaring, indifferent eye to their suffering. Again Pope Francis’ words are compelling: “as long as Lazarus was outside his house, the rich man had the opportunity for salvation, to thrust open the door, to help Lazarus, but now that they are both dead, the situation has become irreparable … the parable clearly warns: God’s mercy toward us is linked to our mercy toward our neighbor ...” (General Audience, May 18, 2016). Having placed his security in his possessions rather than his service to God, the rich man was without a safe haven when he could not take his wealth with him. An old saying reminds us that the opposite of love is not hatred, but indifference. May we never allow such indifference to blind us to our need for God and our responsibility to serve him in his people in need.
Msgr. John N. Fell serves as Episcopal Vicar for the Vicariate for Clergy.
SCRIPTURE SEARCH®
Gospel for September 28, 2025 Luke 16:19-31
Following is a word search based on the Gospel reading for the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C: the man in purple. The words can be found in all directions in the puzzle.
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For collaboration between different religious traditions Let us pray that believers in different religious traditions might work together to defend and promote peace, justice, and human fraternity.
28 Sister Mary of Jesus Caruso, 91, goes home to Christ Josephus Athanasius Babatunde
Carmelite Sister Mary of Jesus Caruso, age 91, passed peacefully to the Lord on August 11th. The eldest of three children born to Arthur T. Caruso and Mary Mc Mahon, Mary Caruso entered the Carmelite Monastery on 31 Britton Drive, Flemington, in 1956.
The Community of Nuns later moved to a small er Monastery on 26 Harmony School Road where Sister Mary faithfully lived her lov ing dedication to Christ until the Lord took her to Himself as the Nuns were praying Night Prayer: “Father, into Your Hands I commend my spirit.”
Surviving Sister Mary are her niece, Jane Gebhardt and husband Jim, her nephew James Johnson and his wife Annie, her great nieces Annabelle and Eliza, and her devoted brother-in-law Jim Johnson.
During almost 70 years in the Monastery, Sister Mary generously fulfilled sev eral offices, some of which were Sacristan, artist, and bee-keeping, which yielded honey for sale and for gifts. May Christ say to Sister Mary of Jesus: “Come, faithful servant, share the JOY of your Lord!”
Rowe, 70, brother of Diocese of Metuchen assistant controller
A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Mary of Jesus was celebrated on August 16 at 10 a.m. at the chapel of the Carmelite Monastery. Interment followed in the Carmelite Monastery Cemetery.
Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Holcombe-Fisher Funeral Home, Flemington. To leave an online condolence, please visit www.holcombefisher. com.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made the The Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Flemington, 26 Harmony School Road, Flemington NJ 08822. Online donations can be made at https://flemingtoncarmel.org/donate.
please call Mary at 732-529-7934
Josephus Athanasius Babatunde Rowe, brother of Theophilus Rowe, diocesan assistant controller, died Aug. 25 in Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa. He is survived by his wife Francess and his son, Cecil, who lives in Illinois. He left behind four brothers, two sisters, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Josephus was educated at the Albert Academy where he completed his high school education in June of 1973. He started his career in accounting at the Sierra Leone External Communication, Ltd., in November of 1973 and, prior to his death, he worked at Buxton Methodist Church of the Wesleyan Methodist Denomination. He was also a lay minister at the family church of St. John the Evangelist of the Anglican Diocese of Freetown. Josephus was 70 years old. May his soul rest in peace.
“Often fill your mind with the great gentleness and mercy with which God, our Savior, welcomes souls at death, if they have spent their lives in trusting him, and striven to serve and love him. Do your utmost to arouse in yourself a love of heaven and the life of the blessed so you will weaken your dread of parting from this mortal and fleeting life.”
~ Saint Francis de Sales
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Stepping forward in charity
Unity Square’s Health and Wellness Fair draws large crowd, offering vital community resources
By Tiffany Workman Special Contributor
Community events like health and wellness fairs bridge the gap between vital services and the people who need them most. By bringing resources directly into a public space, these fairs make health care and information accessible to everyone, especially those who may not have the time, money, or knowledge to seek them out otherwise.
Unity Square in New Brunswick held
“We are so proud of the incredible success of our Healthy Connections: A Community Wellness & Nutrition Fair. With the support of our 30 amazing partners, dedicated volunteers, and the Catholic Charities USA Team Up Grant, we were able to welcome nearly 600 community members, distribute 300 backpacks filled with school supplies, serve over 500 meals, and connect families to vital resources,” said Michelle Gil, director of Community Outreach, Unity Square.
The event was made possible by the
found at teamupproject.org.
“What made this event truly special was the way it was built with the community,” says Gil, “from monthly planning meetings to the many hands that helped bring it all to life. This fair was about more than supplies; it was about building bridges, lifting each other up, and ensuring families feel supported heading into the school year.”
Attendees also enjoyed a vibrant and engaging atmosphere. The Elijah’s Promise food truck was on-site, serving
bers were in attendance, underscoring the city’s strong support for public health initiatives and community collaboration.
Unity Square Community Center is located at 81 Remsen Avenue in New Brunswick. Besides addressing food insecurities, Unity Square also focuses on other social concerns in the community and will assist with housing resources, whether you are a tenant or landlord. They encourage you to call at 732-545-0329 or stop by Monday through Friday from 10am-5pm. They can even assist those who speak other languages, including Spanish.
Like and Follow Catholic Charities on Facebook, Instagram, and X @ccdom1 to stay updated on upcoming events and ways CCDOM helps clients get the services and assistance they need.
Tiffany Workman is the Communications Specialist in the Office of Communications and Public Relations.
1 - Unity Square volunteers and workers pose in front of Unity Square.
3 - Elijah’s Promise food truck was on site serving food to all attendees.
4 - Mayor of New Brunswick James M. Cahill with Michelle Gil, director of community outreach, Unity Square.
5 - Krista Gynn CCDOM service area director, and Michelle Gil, director of community outreach, Unity Square.
—Courtesy photos 1
Mount Saint Mary
YourJourneyStarts
Open House
Food, Fair and Fundraising
Parishioners start an early setup for their Food Fair Fundraiser held Aug. 10 at St. Joseph Parish, Washington. The day included activities such as volleyball, cornhole, face painting and more. Latin and North American cuisine, covered dishes, hot dogs and hamburgers, all donated by parishioners, were the highlight of the event, which raised more than $5,000 to be used toward the renovation of the floor in the parish bingo hall. —Courtesy photo
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Saint Peter’s Healthcare System is committed to assisting members of the community prevent or delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes through a free, year-long program that educates individuals about improved nutrition, increased exercise, stress management and weight loss. The Prevent T2 National Diabetes Prevention Program is open to anyone 18 years or older diagnosed with prediabetes or with a history of gestational diabetes. The next year-long session, which will be held virtually, begins on Wednesday, October 15. Registration is required; space is limited.
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Sessions are designed to be both fun and educational. The curriculum focuses on improving nutrition, increasing physical activity, managing stress, and achieving weight loss. The group format provides support and encouragement. The next session begins on Wednesday, October 15, with all classes meeting virtually on Wednesdays from 7 pm to 8 pm. The year-long program meets every other week for the first six months, followed by monthly meetings in spring 2026.
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For many years, our religious community was best known in the United States as half of a college sports parody comparing the worst teams to the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Since 2013, we have been in the limelight for a completely different reason as we found ourselves involved in a lawsuit against the federal government over the HHS Contraceptive Mandate.
After 12 years and three victories at the Supreme Court, we were in the news once again this summer as a U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania vacated our hardwon religious exemption in this case.
We are grateful for the prayers and support of many people of good will who appreciate our commitment to our Catholic faith.
At the same time, however, we would prefer to be known for who we are – the spiritual daughters of Saint Jeanne Jugan, and for what we actually do. Our mission is to accompany and care for needy elderly persons of every race and religion.
In this month when we celebrate the feast day of our foundress, Saint Jeanne Jugan, I would like to highlight her life and spirit, which were heroic and which are, I believe, more relevant than ever.
On a recent Sunday Pope Leo XIV preached about Jesus’ words in St. Luke’s Gospel, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing” (Luke 12:49).
Jesus was speaking here, the pope said, of “the fire of love – a love that stoops to serve, that responds to indifference with care and to arrogance with gentleness; the fire of goodness, which
Saint Jeanne Jugan
A woman ahead of her time
doesn’t cost like weapons do, but freely renews the world.”
There can be no greater peace, our Holy Father said, than having this fire of love in our hearts.
Saint Jeanne Jugan was “all heart” – she welcomed this flame of divine love into her own heart from an early age.
Precocious and fervent in the practice of her faith, in her youth some of Jeanne’s peers found her a bit too austere but this didn’t stop her from following Jesus, poor and humble of heart, in a radical way.
By the time she left home in her
early twenties, Jeanne had already turned down a marriage proposal, citing a vague inner certainty that God wanted her for himself, for “a work not yet founded.”
Jeanne’s season of discernment lasted for many years, during which time her friendship with Jesus Christ grew stronger and her selfless service to the poor and abandoned more committed. God was preparing her for greatness, although it would be a greatness couched in humility and poverty.
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the face of Jesus Christ in the person of a poor, blind old woman in need of assistance. Her name was Anne, and she would be the first in a long line of elderly persons who would be welcomed into Jeanne’s home; there they would be warmed by the fire of love bursting forth from her heart.
Jeanne Jugan threw in her lot with the poor, holding nothing back for herself and identifying herself completely with them.
She epitomized the ideal described by Pope Leo when he spoke of the fire Jesus brought to earth.
The pope thanked those who carry the fire of charity to others and encouraged them not to distinguish between those who help and those who are helped, between those who seem to give and those who seem to receive.
“We are the church of the Lord,” the pope said, “a church of the poor, all precious, all subjects … Each is a gift to the others.”
It is when the fire that Jesus came to bring burns the prejudices and fears that marginalize those who bear the poverty of Christ, the pope explained, that we truly become the Body of Christ. Pope Leo beseeches us to see Our Lord in the poor, to welcome them into our lives, our homes and our churches.
Saint Jeanne Jugan often said, “Never forget that the Poor are Our Lord.”
She would have fully agreed with these words of our new pope. She was a woman ahead of her time, a woman on fire with the love Christ came to bring to earth.
Like Jeanne Jugan, may you be all heart!
May you allow yourself to be guided by love – the fire of love that stoops to serve, that responds to indifference with care and to arrogance with gentleness; the fire of goodness, which will renew the world!
When the moment of God’s choosing arrived, Jeanne Jugan recognized
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Sister Constance Veit is the communications director for the Little Sisters of the Poor in the United States and an occupational therapist.
To join this retreat guide, email mgregory@diometuchen.org
This month’s featured retreat house
Saint Jeanne Jugan, founder of the Little Sisters of the Poor by Léon Brune 1855
EUCHARISTIC CONVERSIONS
Stories to inspire others to greater devotion to the Blessed Sacrament By Father Michael Fragoso, Special Contributor, Pastor, Parish of the Visitation, New Brunswick.
Servant of God Hermann Cohen, 1820-1871
We are still in the midst of the Eucharistic Revival. As time goes by it is human nature that we tend to become lukewarm. We should foster the love of God, that burning fire that the Spirit ignites in the heart which must be tended to. How do we do this? Every time we participate in the Eucharistic celebration of Holy Mass, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Processions, brief visits to Church, keeping Jesus present in our heart … It’s all of one piece: the memory of that first instance when we were touched by the love of God in the Eucharist, whenever that may have been, inspires to continue and each experience brings back the original encounter. Which, in a way, is what happens at Holy Mass; it’s the salvific sacrifice of Christ come alive for us once again, here and now.
With the forthcoming canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis there has been interest in Eucharistic miracles throughout the ages. These are signs to us. But there are also personal signs which are very powerful: Eucharistic Conversions. I’ve come across several of these, where an encounter with the Eucharist changed a person’s life suddenly, “… in an instant, the twinkling of an eye…” (1 Cor 15:52).
The first of three examples, to be shared in three installments, is Servant of God Herman Cohen, who was born to a prominent Jewish family in Hamburg, Germany. He showed prodigious musical talent from an early age, playing the piano at age four and giving concerts at age seven. He studied with such masters as Franz List and Carl Czerny. Unfortunately, these associations led him to a dissolute life of gambling and other depravities including adultery, causing constant debt, and a lack of disciplined study which in turn caused him to suffer professionally.
Eventually he was accused of embezzling by Liszt who severed all ties, even though Cohen denied it. He then eked out a living traveling with his sister and mother giving concerts and as an accompanist wherever he could.
All this led to a profound spiritual crisis: he lost his compass; he found no meaning to his life. One day he substituted as choir director at a Catholic service in France. In his words: “During the ceremony, nothing affected me much, but at the moment of Benediction, though I was not kneeling like the rest of the congregation, I felt something deep within me as if I had found myself. It was like the prodigal son facing himself. I was automatically bowing my head.” He returned the next Friday and had the same experience. Hermann resolved to become Catholic. He met with Marie Théodor Ratisbonne, a prominent Jewish convert who guided him to the priest who would instruct and
Baptize him. As he was baptized, he said he was bathed in a brilliant light and an overwhelming feeling of love. He then asked for dispensation to become a priest (necessary for converts in those days) and he joined the Discalced Carmelites, taking the religious name of Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament. In time his old mentor Franz List came to admire him. And Liszt, himself, took orders as a Franciscan tertiary. Later, Cohen developed glaucoma and lost his sight. But that was not the end of our story. He made a pilgrimage to Lourdes, after nine days of prayer he bathed his eyes at the grotto and his vision was restored. We have the testimony of Dr. Gustave Boissaire, then head of the Medical Bureau of Lourdes: “We are not accustomed to cures as complete and instantaneous as this. They are quite outside the rules and traditions of our art. For my own part, I don’t know how to contest or interpret this happening.”
He retuned to a life of prayer and adoration when in 1870 war broke out between Germany and France. German nationals were expelled from France, and he exiled himself to Geneva. He read of French prisoners kept in Berlin and traveled there to help them. He found 5000 prisoners in squalid conditions and did all he could for them, spiritually and temporally. Some time later, there was an outbreak of smallpox in the prison and while administering Extreme Unction he contracted the illness and died at the age of 49. The case for the Beatification of Carmelite Father Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen in secular life) has been opened.
Our next installment will feature Blessed Niels Stensen (or Steensen), also, latinized as Nicolas Steno.
Hermann Cohen (1820-1871), Jewish convert, Carmelite priest, by contemporary photographer, 1850 - Newsletter 1/2013 of the St. Philip Neri Institute, Berlin
Immaculata girls soccer begins season with state championship aspirations
By Greg Johnson, Correspondent
An old adage in sports is the idea that it’s not about how you start; it’s how you finish. But for this year’s Immaculata High girls’ soccer team, the start could make all the difference in the end.
Knowing that the Spartans have a realistic chance to take the next step and win a state championship, head coach Jeremy Beardsley asked some premier programs if they would scrimmage against Immaculata this summer.
So instead of typically playing only one difficult preseason game, Immaculata faced three top-13 teams in New Jersey, as ranked by NJ.com: Mount St. Dominic, Morris Knolls and DePaul.
Mount St. Dominic and DePaul are two of Immaculata’s top competitors in non-public competition, and the Spartans came away with a 5-3 win and a 2-0 win in those games.
“I think it was a good opportunity to get us ready for the season. Going against a tough team gets us ready for other harder teams like this team (DePaul),” said RJ Ramos, one of three star juniors on the team alongside Amari Manning and Sabrina Karoly.
There is a different vibe now around Somerville because the team graduated only four seniors. Immaculata brought back a plethora of firepower from last year’s 13-6 squad, which advanced to a Non-Public A South final for the first time in Beardsley’s seven seasons leading the program. The winner of the sectional final goes to the Non-Public A state final.
“Anything but a sectional championship or making a county final, being competitive in our conference, will be difficult to swallow, because expectations are so high,” Beardsley said.
Manning and Ramos accounted for 30 of the team’s 42 goals last season. Karoly transferred in from Montgomery and was a dynamic play-maker up top with eight assists.
“Those kids have already proven to be able to score big goals on a pretty big stage, and now we’ve surrounded them with a lot of really good players, too, so any day it could be anybody,” Beardsley said. “But there’s a lot of good teams we play. Our schedule is really, really difficult, so you almost have to be able to have some depth in order to deal with the
grind of high school soccer.”
That depth includes Beardsley’s two daughters, senior captain Micaela and sophomore Emily. Another sophomore, Sela Powell, notched one goal and three assists last year.
Defensively, junior Jillian Drzyzga returns after totaling 84 saves as the starting goalie. Immaculata features other talented, experienced players on that unit like senior Paige Lynch, senior Amalie Imbriglio and sophomore Maggie Averell.
“I feel like there’s a trust level that comes with it,” Manning said of having such an experienced squad. “We have a great senior class, great junior class. Our sophomores are good, and even the freshmen who may get some time on varsity, everyone is so talented. But I think we all trust each other, so it’s gonna be exciting just to see the chemistry on the field.”
Ramos, a Bound Brook native, added that the chemistry helps the team keep pushing and be better than last year, rather than some years where several players need time to adjust to the varsity level at the outset of the season.
“I think the players that came in, they’re confident getting on the field,” Ramos said. “When coach says to go in, they’re ready for it. Nobody is scared, we’re all ready to go.”
Ramos and Manning have both been playing soccer since they were five years old and are part of the local Players Development Academy.
Manning, a Flemington native, was also part of the U-16 Girls’ National Team
Left, Immaculata junior RJ Ramos lines up to kick the ball during a game against Pingry on Sept. 3 at the Torpey Athletic Complex in Bridgewater.
Above, Immaculata junior Amari Manning controls the ball.
Below, Immaculata girls soccer coach Jeremy Beardsley speaks to his team. —Hal Brown photos
that played this summer in the Netherlands and at a camp in California. She called that experience special and an honor, as well as a validation of her hard work.
In leading Immaculata as one of the best players in New Jersey with 46 points last fall, Manning said her focus in the offseason was getting even better at finishing.
“I think I do a good job and my teammates do a good job of getting me in good positions, so being able to capitalize, essentially, that’s what our season is based on,” Manning said.
Collectively, the Spartans held summer workouts with speed and agility training. They also worked on set plays,
shooting and crosses.
When the regular season got underway in the first week of September, Immaculata lost its opener to Pingry before rebounding with a 2-0 win against Bridgewater-Raritan. Karoly scored both goals.
The Spartans are determined to keep improving over the next two months and bring some hardware back to the school. It would mean everything for a program that earlier this century struggled to win many games.
“We have a great coach, great staff and just great girls,” Manning said. “The environment on and off the field definitely helps us, so I love it.”
Immaculata’s Mike Columbo reaches 150th coaching win at outset of promising football season
By Greg Johnson, Correspondent
Not many high school football coaches have enough sustained success to reach a milestone as high as 150 wins.
Mike Columbo joined a group of about 50 coaches in New Jersey history on Aug. 29 as Immaculata won its season opener against Kellenberg Memorial, giving him a career record of 150-119 at four different schools, including Immaculata for the past eight seasons.
“Does it mean a lot? It just means that I’ve had some great coaches and great kids over the years,” said the classy Columbo, who previously coached at Delaware Valley, Summit and Manchester Regional. “I think what it means more than anything is the longevity that you’re able to stay in a profession where so many guys are getting out of it because of various reasons. The wins and losses don’t really matter as much, but the longevity and the ability to stay in this profession as long as I have, I think it’s something I might be a little more proud of than the actual numbers.”
Columbo has been teaching and coaching for 35 years. Following in the footsteps of the legendary Pierce Frauenheim, he has spearheaded a new era of winning for Immaculata both on and off the field.
“We’re a seven-, eight-win team on a consistent basis now for the last few years, so it’s coming back,” Columbo said. “It’s been a long haul, it’s been a major rebuild here. And we’re not there yet, but we’re getting there.”
Coming off an 8-2 season, Immaculata expects to have another strong campaign with the return of seven starters on offense and six on defense.
The Spartans are again running the unique single-wing offense, which is predicated on misdirection and direct snaps to ball carriers. Columbo says the strength of the team is its four “outstanding” running backs: Daysir Spille, Brian Cilento, Nic Stokes and Jaiden Drake.
Spille, who received an offer from Syracuse University in June, looks poised for a big senior season after rushing for 199 yards and six touchdowns in Immaculata’s season opener and then 297 yards and three touchdowns in a win against Peddie.
“He works extremely hard, number one; number two, he’s just a very strong kid. He’s a strong runner,” Columbo said. “He’s 210 pounds, he’s a difficult kid to tackle. And combining that with the speed he has, he’s a dangerous kid, no doubt.”
The offensive line features two first-year starters at the tackle spots in CJ Montgomery and Christian Tozzi, along with returning guards Jordan Harrison and Gianluca Taddeo and returning center Qualee Hardy.
“The o-line is strong,” Columbo said. “That’s been a big thing for us here over the years. We take a lot of pride in what we do up front, and I think it shows by the way we run the ball.”
The difference this year is that Immaculata no longer has a dynamic running quarterback because three-sport star Cole Hayden graduated. Jaime Marin and Bo Almeida are both taking snaps at quarterback, with Columbo hoping that one of them eventually takes the reins.
Defensively, Immaculata has two experienced defensive ends in Harrison and Noah Doss, who also starts at tight end. The nose tackle is Vito Marcogliese, while Al-Rachid Gordon is a budding first-year varsity player at the other tackle spot.
The Spartans are particularly strong at linebacker with the aforementioned running backs going both ways: Spille, Cilento, Stokes and Drake. And behind them is an experienced secondary with Micah Smith, Damian Mack and Quinn Hayden.
Immaculata has a new defensive coordinator in Jimmy Parker, who last coached at St. Joe’s (Metuchen), but the scheme and style of the unit haven’t changed aside from a few tweaks.
“A lot of times coaches come and go and they want to come in and change things,” Columbo said. “It’s got to be what the overall culture of the school is for us. I’m going to let a guy come in here and make his changes, but it’s got to stay within our system.”
The challenge facing Immaculata as it seeks to finally win a Non-Public B state tournament game – it lost on the
final possession of playoff games in 2023 and 2024 – is that the team needs more kids to play on both sides of the ball than other big schools in North Jersey.
Still, Columbo is optimistic about the direction of the program and growing throughout a tough schedule including prep schools Peddie and St. Francis.
“I think we’re going to be right there again (contending in Non-Public B),” Columbo said. “If we can get past the first-round game, that’s where we want to be, and then let it go from there. Other than Non-Public A, Non-Public B is the toughest bracket in the state – bar none.”
Immaculata
Columbo holds up a special football commemorating his 150th career win before a game against Peddie on Sept. 5 at the Torpey Athletic Complex in Bridgewater.
Immaculata junior Quinn Hayden carries the ball during the game against Peddie.
Immaculata senior Daysir Spille makes a move on a Peddie defender.
Left,
head coach Mike
—Hal Brown photos
Crossword Puzzle
QIn all the discussion over the years of whether or not pro-abortion politicians should be denied Holy Communion, I’ve always wondered: Why couldn’t their bishops just excommunicate them? Then at least everything would be clear-cut, public knowledge and therefore probably less controversial in the media. (Wisconsin)
AThe short answer to your question is that excommunication is specifically a punishment for canonical crimes. And although political support for pro-choice policies is morally problematic, it is not a canonical crime in and of itself.
For context, usually when we speak of pro-choice politicians being denied Holy Communion, the relevant citation is Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law. Canon 915 tells us that those who are “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.”
Canon 915 gives ministers of Holy Communion and pastoral authority figures (namely, bishops and pastors of parishes) some objective criteria with respect to whether a particular Catholic should be denied Holy Communion. This is important, because the church’s default position is to make the sacraments as accessible as possible on the principle that the faithful have a fundamental right to the sacraments.
The central criterion in Canon 915 is that the sinfulness in question be “grave,” or extremely serious – and actively promoting government policies in favor of the destruction of innocent human life would certainly qualify.
The sin must also be “manifest,” or readily known to the public or otherwise outwardly observable. And broadly speaking, politicians’ platforms, positions on hot-button issues, and voting records are matters of public record. Finally, the person must be “obstinately persevering” in their sin, meaning that they are committing the sin in an ongoing way, even after they have been warned by an appropriate pastoral authority about the grave sinfulness of their actions.
Even though these considerations might seem very legalistic and may suggest the person is somehow “on trial,” this canon is part of the Code of Canon Law’s section on sacraments and is not actually related to the church’s penal law. That is, Canon 915 and its neighboring canons are
meant to protect the dignity of the sacrament as a primary “goal”; it is not meant as a direct punishment for canonical crimes. And the church sees the application of Canon 915 as a matter of person-to-person pastoral dialogue and admonishment, rather than the result of an ecclesiastical criminal trial or juridical process.
In contrast, the church’s criminal law is meant to identify and punish crimes. This is both for the good of the offenders themselves, when punished with “medicinal” penalties; as well as for the good of the wider ecclesial community, when offenders are punished with “expiatory” penalties.
Excommunication is an example of a medicinal penalty, since it is meant as a sort of “wake up call” that the offender is on the wrong path, and it can be lifted relatively easily if and when the offender repents. Examples of expiatory penalties include things like loss of the clerical state, where a priest convicted of a canonical crime is essentially kicked out of the priesthood.
The church’s law requires that “laws which prescribe a penalty…are to be interpreted strictly” (Canon 18). This means that canonical penalties cannot be liberally applied to every bad behavior the church might want to curb. Rather, a canonical penalty can only be imposed for things that are specifically listed as crimes in canon law.
While the act of directly causing an abortion is a canonical crime that is punished with an automatic excommunication, (see Canon 1397, 2) this only applies in scenarios where a particular individual actually brought about an abortion personally – and not in situations where a person promoted abortion in a more abstract way.
In light of this, it would be neither possible nor pastorally appropriate to try to use the penalty of excommunication as a way to avoid the awkward conversations sometimes associated with Canon 915.
A view of the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the monstrance during Eucharistic adoration at SEEK25 in Washington Jan. 3, 2025. —OSV News photo/courtesy FOCUS
Gabriel Castillo, author and popular YouTube creator comes to Diocese in October
The Diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult will host two events with Gabriel Castillo, author, Catholic lay evangelist and popular YouTube creator of “GabiAfterHours.” will be held Oct. 24 in the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, Metuchen, 6:30-8:30 p.m. and will include a talk on the Rosary, Eucharistic Adoration and an ice cream social. Fee is $10.
A Young Adult Retreat will be held Oct. 25 at St. Joseph Church, Hillsborough, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. The day will start with Mass, and will include Eucharistic Adoration, talks on Mary and the Rosary and lunch. Fee is $15.
To register visit: Youth Night – https://igfn.us/form/CclZrw; Young Adult Retreat – https://igfn.us/form/3EBXSQ. For questions contact Jay Donofrio at Jdonofrio@diometuchen.org
“The Power of the Rosary,” by Gabriel Castillo, is more than a book: It is a theological bombshell, a detonator for spiritual renewal, and a lifeline for modern Catholics who feel lost in the storm. At once mystical, scholarly, and deeply personal, this work deserves to be placed alongside the classics of Marian devotion. It is “The Secret of the Rosary” for a new generation – expanded, clarified, and intensified.
From the very first pages, Castillo makes clear that the Rosary is not a sentimental string of beads for the weak but a divine weapon forged by the Queen of Heaven and designed to sanctify, deliver, and transform. With the precision of a scholar and the urgency of a preacher, he traces the Rosary’s roots from Sacred Scripture and the Gospels, through St. Dominic and Bl. Alan de la Roche, to Lourdes, Fatima, and the towering figure of St. John Paul II. Every chapter is saturated with insights from the greatest
saints, grounded in tradition, and supported by the lived witness of souls who have been changed by Mary’s intercession. Yet what makes this book shine is not just its doctrinal clarity but its deep intimacy. Castillo writes as one who has been saved by the Rosary. He speaks not just to minds but to hearts – to the young who are searching for purpose, to sinners trapped in mortal sin, to heartbroken parents, exhausted priests, and lukewarm souls in need of fire. His voice is bold but fatherly, convicting but compassionate.
Particularly illuminating is his teaching on mental prayer—how to truly pray the Rosary, and pray it well, using the method of the saints. He combines Carmelite mysticism with Dominican structure. It is here that mystical theology becomes tangible. Readers are not just invited to recite prayers but to encounter Christ faceto-face through Mary, to gaze into the eyes of Jesus in the mysteries of the Rosary, and to converse with God from the heart.
What people are saying ...
In this marvelous book, Gabriel Castillo refines an ancient practice into a living treasure. He then fashions it into a powerful weapon that links deep spiritual truths to concrete psychological realities. He lays out a step-by-step plan to sainthood along the path of the Rosary. This book is sure to touch the hearts of the young, sinners, parents, and priests. Gabriel gives priceless, timeless, practical tips on how to release the power of the Rosary in your life.”
Father David Michael Moses, Founder, Pilgrim Rosary
“Any lover of Our Lady and her Rosary will find this book to be a great aid and treasure. It is both sublime and practical.”
Father Elias Mary Mills, F.I., Retreat Leader and Missionary, Franciscans of the Immaculate
“’The Power of the Rosary’ is a bold and Spirit-filled rallying cry for our times— solid, clear, and deeply rooted in Marian tradition. I’m honored to endorse this work, which will surely ignite hearts and win souls.”
Father Donald Calloway, M.I.C., Author, Champions of the Rosary
“Gabriel’s love for our Blessed Mother and the Holy Rosary is both obvious and contagious. With clarity and devotion, he unpacks the richness of this prayer and how it draws us into deeper communion with the Most Holy Trinity. This book is a beautiful guide for anyone seeking to grow closer to Jesus through Mary.”
Sister Mary Mediatrix of All Grace, S.O.L.T., Our Lady of Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas
more information or to order a copy, visit www.sophiainstitute.com/product/the-power-of-the-rosary/
Light of the World
By John Mulderig, OSV News
NEW YORK (OSV News) – “Light of the World” (Salvation Poem Project), an animated recounting of the Gospel story, provides an excellent vehicle for delivering its fundamental message in an easily absorbed manner. Although the film includes material that would be too frightening for tots, more mature youngsters are its appropriate target audience.
Told from the perspective of a youthful John the Evangelist (voice of Benjamin Jacobson), this generally jaunty journey through the tale of salvation necessarily has its more serious moments. Among these are a brief look back at the fall of Adam and Eve as well as scenes establishing the oppressive nature of the Roman regime in the Holy Land of the first century.
Against this historical backdrop, John – here a well-meaning but impetuous and hot-tempered lad – undergoes a conversion experience once he comes under the influence of Jesus (voice of Ian Hanlin). Becoming one of the Twelve, he witnesses the promised Messiah’s miracles and takes his teaching, some of it conveyed through parables, to heart.
From the outset, John and his brother James’ (voiced by Dylan Leonard) parents, Salome (voice of Erin Mathews) and Zebedee (voice of Dave Pettitt), represent the opposite poles of steadfast faith and skepticism, respectively, with John uncertain, at times, which of their examples to follow. (Spoiler alert, Mom wins.)
The theology underlying directors John J. Schafer and Tom Bancroft’s endearing, humor-tinged drama is patchy from a Catholic perspective. Peter (voice
of Sam Darkoh) is presented, albeit in passing, as the rock on which Jesus will rely. And his post-Resurrection reconciliation with the Savior, healing the wound of his denial of Jesus, is mutely but effectively portrayed.
The Virgin Mary (voiced by Rebekah Schafer) is also front and center, endowed with greater insight than those around her and more courageous than others in the face of Jesus’ condemnation to the Cross. A tableau touchingly reminiscent of Michelangelo’s Pieta follows his death.
Yet, as scripted by David and Drew Armstrong, the movie displays a distinctly evangelical stamp. Thus the sacraments get short shrift. The institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, for example, feels almost casual, with the
Apostles not sharing in the one loaf and chalice given them by Jesus but instead consuming portions of bread and wine already at their places.
As for baptism, the situation is more complex. John the Baptist (voice of Jesse Inocalla) is an important character in the narrative (in a recurring joke, his eccentric fondness for eating insects grosses out both young John and Jesus). And the ritual of cleansing he practices is accurately described as symbolic rather than sacramental.
But the fact that Jesus eventually elevated baptism into a sacrament – and established it as the gateway into membership of the new covenant in his blood – is ignored. Instead, recitation of the poetic prayer from which the picture’s production company takes its name is shown, in
a climactic scene, as sealing the deal on a character’s desire to become a Christian.
Parents may want to make these lacunae the basis for a family conversation. They’ll also want to note, in advance, that the Passion is depicted too graphically for small fry. Yet the bottom line remains that, taken as a whole, “Light of the World” can serve as a valuable catechetical tool – as well as an enjoyable viewing experience – for preteens and their elders.
The film contains scenes of suffering and death and characters in peril. The OSV News classification is A-II – adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG – parental guidance suggested. Some material may be inappropriate for children.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
By John Mulderig, OSV News
In this splendid send-off for both the upstairs and downstairs inhabitants of the titular stately home, its proprietors (Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern) are troubled by financial worries and by high society’s shunning of their recently divorced daughter (Michelle Dockery). Among the servants, both the butler (Jim Carter) and head cook (Lesley Nicol) are preparing for retirement and experiencing mixed feelings about the impending change. As he brings the early 20th-century family saga first chronicled in his popular ITV and PBS television series up to the year 1930, screenwriter Julian Fellowes deftly deploys the music of real-life theatrical master of all trades Noel Coward
(Arty Froushan) to entrancing effect. Under the direction of Simon Curtis, the film salutes family solidarity, kindness and mutual respect across classes. But the plot involves an implicitly condemned heterosexual indiscretion and a tacitly endorsed gay relationship. So the abundant elegance on offer is best reserved for grown-ups, though its congenial broader values make this wrapup possibly acceptable for older teens. A benign view of homosexual acts, an offscreen casual sexual encounter, a bedroom scene with partial nudity, at least one slightly crass term, some mature references. The OSV News classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG – parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.
Laura Carmichael, Harry Hadden-Paton, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, and Michelle Dockery star in a scene from the movie “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.” —OSV News photo/Rory Mulvey, Focus Features
Benjamin Jacobson voices a young John the Evangelist and Ian Hanlin voices Jesus in the animated children’s film “Light of the World” by Salvation Poem Project. —OSV News photo/courtesy of Salvation Poem Project
Diocesan Events
Join fellow PCLs and catechists for a morning of Marian spirituality with “Mary: Receiver of the Word,” 10 a.m. – noon, featuring Dr. Sella Marie Jeffrey, from Catechetical institute, Franciscan University. The event, sponsored by the Office of Discipleship Formation for Children, will take place in St. John Neumann Pastoral Center, 146 Metlars Lane, Piscataway, and includes coffee and a light breakfast. To register visit: https://diometuchen.org/parish-catechetical-survey.
Beginning Oct. 4, Saturdays, or Oct. 6, Mondays, Salvation History for Catechists. Join catechists and PCLs on an eight session journey through Salvation History: from Creation to the Church, offered by Jill Kerekes, diocesan director, Office of Discipleship Formation for Children. To register, see dates and locations, visit: https://diometuchen.org/upcoming-events-2.
Four Days for Our Lady: A Rosary Pilgrimage, a special four day series of events honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary during the Month of the Holy Rosary. This rare alignment of First Saturday, Rosary Sunday, and the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary offers a unique spiritual opportunity for the faithful. Events include public rosaries, Traditional Latin Masses, a theological lecture, a Men’s Rosary Rally, relic veneration, and the traditional blessing of roses. All events will take place in Raritan and Somerville, including at the Shrine Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, Church of St. Joseph Parish Hall, and an outdoor Men’s Rosary Rally in downtown Somerville. Visit https://www.blessedsacramentshrine.com/october-rosary-pilgrimage for the full schedule and details. Also, for more information call 908-361-3483 or visit njrosary@protonmail.com
DIOCESAN PROGRAMS
Adoration at Pastoral Center – The faithful are invited to Eucharistic Adoration at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center, Monday through Friday, from 9 -11:45 a.m. As Pope St. John Paul II noted. “The Church and the world have a great need of Eucharistic adoration.” Anyone interested in signing up should contact Angela Marshall at amarshall@diometuchen.org.
Perpetual Adoration - Shrine Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament The Shrine Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, Raritan, is looking for adorers to sit with the Blessed Sacrament Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament is also being offered the first Saturday of each month (Night Vigil) from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. Anyone interested in signing up should visit https://blessedsacramentshrine.com.
AROUND THE DIOCESE
Oct. 12, Our Lady of Fatima Candlelight Procession, gathering at 7 p.m, Our Lady of Fatima Parish, 501 New Market Road, Piscataway. Commemorating the 108th Anniversary of the “Miracle of the Sun,” and the apparition of our Blessed Lady and Saint Joseph in Fatima, Portugal, Oct. 13, 1917. For questions call 732-968-5555.
Oct. 11, “Music is the Soundtrack of Our Lives,” a night of music, dinner, dancing and good company sponsored by Our Lady of Lourdes Knights of Columbus, Council 6930, Whitehouse Station. Songs from the 1950s through 1980s with entertainment by DJ “Doctor D” from Clinton. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., tickets are $50 per person. Venue is Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Hall, 390 County Road 523 Whitehouse Station. For tickets contact Bill Murphy at 908-5002999 or wkmurphy@att.net, or Jim Siessel at 917-903-2174 or jimsiessel@yahoo.com. The event enables the Knights to support many local organizations like Starfish Food Pantry, Hunterdon ARC, Clinton ARC, and Lyons VA Hospital.
Blessed Carlo’s message put to music
(Continued from page 19)
travelling panels display (known as the Eucharistic Miracles of the World exhibit). So many of his quotes came from prayer cards and his website and were translated from the Italian language.”
Gathering input from fellow musicians and others, he rehearsed the final version with the congregation before the Aug. 27 back-to-school Mass and was rewarded with the sound of the assembly’s enthusiastic participation. Berg explained, “If you understand what you are singing, the congregation will sing it better and participate more.”
Berg earned a bachelor’s degree in sacred music from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Princeton; a master’s degree in Church music and organ from Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., and a certificate from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Liturgy, Sant’Anselmo, Rome. He is beginning his 20th year as music director and principal organist in St. Augustine of Canterbury Parish.
Berg reported that a number of teachers present at the Mass requested copies of the yet-to-bepublished work, written for guitar and organ, and he would be pleased to comply. The hymn will next be sung by the St. Augustine Children’s Choir at the Sept. 7 diocesan Mass to mark the canonization of both Blessed Carlo and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.
Berg’s praise for his late, saintly co-composer was fervent. “Blessed Carlo’s love for Jesus in the Eucharist was beyond amazing,” he declared.
Berg can be reached at musicdir@staugustinenj.org. Follow the QR code to listen to “The Eucharist is our Highway to Heaven.”
SELLING YOUR HOME?
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EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY - PARISH CATECHETICAL ASSISTANT OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHURCH, WHITEHOUSE STATION, NJ
The Faith Formation Ministry of Our Lady of Lourdes in Whitehouse Station, N.J. is looking for an individual to fill the Parish Catechetical Assistant position. This administrative position works closely with the Parish Catechetical Leader in planning, organizing, and executing all Youth Faith Formation and Sacramental Programs. The Parish Catechetical Assistant is a part-time, long-term position with some flexibility in work hours. Please click the link on the homepage of our parish website at www.ollwhs.org, to see the full job description and application procedures. Email your resume to Nina Forestiere at faithformation@ollwhs.org. Thank you for your interest.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY - FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
The Diocese of Metuchen is seeking a freelance photographer to cover important events throughout the Diocese, particularly the Bishop’s pastoral visits. The ideal candidate will have knowledge of how to appropriately photograph liturgical events in the Diocese and assist the Office of Communications and Public Relations, as well as The Catholic Spirit. Interested candidates should contact Adam Carlisle at acarlisle@diometuchen.org.
