News - June 2019 RSS Feed

Regardless of one’s religious affiliation, at one time, people who served in the medical field not only understood the importance of the sacrament of Baptism, but even performed the Sacrament in emergency situations. In recent years, however, it is unclear whether anyone besides Catholic clergy even understands the necessity of baptism.

This section of the Catechism brings us to the beginning of several articles that deal with the seven sacraments of the Church, including the three Sacraments of Initiation – “Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist – [which] lay the foundations of every Christian life” (ccc 1212).

When I hear the words “Paschal Mystery,” my memory jumps to my high school days when my teacher, an Irish Christian Brother, would recite the phrase over and again, drilling it into our minds that “the Paschal Mystery refers to the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ.” These words were echoed almost 30 years later in the 2002 “Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.”

This section of the Catechism considers “where the Liturgy is celebrated.” The opening paragraph tells us that, as members of the New Covenant, our worship “is not tied exclusively to any one place” (ccc 1179). What matters “is that when the faithful assemble in the same place, they are the ‘living stones,’ gathered to be ‘built into a spiritual house’” (ccc 1179).

Who is eligible to receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders? The quick answer: Faithful Catholic men who have received the three Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, the Eucharist and Confi rmation) are eligible to receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Additionally, in the Western Catholic Church (the Latin Rite), candidates for Holy Orders are to be unmarried. In the Eastern Catholic Church, married men are eligible to be ordained as priests, but not as bishops.

Immaculate Conception Parish bid a fond, tearful farewell to the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary June 8 and 9 in a series of Masses and receptions designed to express gratitude for the order’s legacy of service in the parish and its elementary and high schools.

The first evidence for the existence of deacons would be in Philippians 1:1 where they appear as a permanent ministry in the community, as they work under the bishops. If then the apostles, prophets and teachers can be traced back to Jewish (Hebrew-speaking Masoretic) traditions, the bishops and deacons appear to be rather in the Hellenistic (Greek-speaking Gentile) communities

On June 9, 1985, I was ordained a transitional deacon. What does this “transitional” imply? Following four years of college and three more years at the major seminary, I was called to holy orders by the Bishop of Metuchen. A bishop only calls a man to become a transitional deacon if it is his intention that following one year as a deacon, he would then ordain this man to the priesthood.

“People have come tonight with a sense of longing and anticipation,” declared Father Timothy A. Christy to the hundreds seated before him in the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi June 8. “Tonight is a time to be refreshed in the fact that God will do something awesome in our midst.”

Your generous and faithful support of the ministries of the Diocese of Metuchen is an inspiration to me and gives me great hope. As of this date, we are just shy of 97% of goal for the 2019 Bishop's Annual Appeal and on our way to reaching 100% for the third consecutive year! I am particularly grateful to our pastors, parish staff, and parish coordinators for their ongoing efforts on behalf of this campaign which remains open to receive new pledges and payments through October 2019.

Last weekend the Church celebrated the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, also known as “Corpus Christi.” This feast makes me nostalgic for a summer I spent in Portugal as a young priest. There, the feast in honor of the Eucharist was held on a Thursday, not on Sunday as it is in the United States. Also noteworthy is that the solemnity is called “Corpo de Deus,” or “Body of God.”

The Catholic Spirit received six Catholic Press Awards, including Third Place in the category of “Best Newspaper,” announced at the Catholic Media Conference Gabriel Awards Banquet June 21 in St. Petersburg, Fla. The awards for 2019 were chosen for “Non-weekly Diocesan Newspaper, Circulation 25,000 or Less.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,Thanks be to God, our diocese has recently been blessed with new deacons and priests that were ordained at our Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi during June. We have five new permanent

Theology of the body: Part seven of a nine part series “Admittedly, Christians have not always appropriated and developed the spiritual treasures bestowed by God upon the Church, where the life of the spirit is not dissociated from the body or from nature or from worldly realities, but lived in and with them, in communion with all that surrounds us.” (Pope Francis, “Laudato Si’,” pa. 216)

Many Catholics are still ambivalent about confession. In conversing with some Catholic adults, I was astonished to hear how people were reluctant to go to confession because they do not remember the words used in the confessional. These adults are embarassed to ask the priest confessor for help in making a good confession.

This section of the Catechism begins with the question, “When is the Liturgy Celebrated?” In the 15 paragraphs that follow, we are given an overview of the liturgical seasons including the Lord’s Day, the liturgical year, the feasts of the saints in the liturgical year, and the Liturgy of the Hours.

In this column, I thought that I would address a dilemma, which many of us, who have loved ones with a terminal disease or irreversible condition, face: “When is it ethical to withhold or withdraw nutrition and hydration?” The problem actually becomes less complicated if we make a distinction between medical treatment and palliative care. Medical treatment would include artifi cial substitutes for irreversibly broken-down body functions, such as kidney dialysis, a respirator, the installation of a mechanical heart, a feeding tube when used as a substitute for a malfunctioning alimentary system.

Some readers may recall the once popular 1971 hit song called “Signs,” written and performed by the Canadian rock group “Five Man Electrical Band.” I would try feverishly to strum the music of this song on my guitar as a young teenager with notions of future stardom.

In light of the laicization of Theodore Mc-Carrick, some Catholics whose children or grandchildren were baptized or confirmed are wondering if the sacraments administered by McCarrick are still valid. “Must these individuals be re-baptized or reconfirmed?” Many couples who asked Mc-Carrick to officiate at their weddings are also puzzled by the sacramental status of their marriage. “Do they need to exchange vows again in front of a priest and two witnesses?” Then there are those, like me, who were ordained to the transitional diaconate and later to the priestshood by McCarrick.