Jesus, speaking in the synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of his ministry, used the words of the prophet Isaiah to describe what was being accomplished in the world as he, the Son of God, undertook the mission given to him by his Father, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me … to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free…" (Luke 4:16-22). At the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus commissioned his disciples to go forth in his Name and "make disciples of all nations." (Matthew 28:16-20)
Relying only on the grace of God that comes to us in Jesus Christ, this parish of Saint Catherine of Siena, a Roman Catholic parish within the Archdiocese of Newark, accepts Jesus' challenge to make his mission our own.
Our parish has put our understanding of that mission into contemporary words in our Mission Statement. We invite you, our virtual visitor, to see how we are trying to accomplish that mission through our parish's life that is chronicled on this web site. If you are already a Saint Catherine's parishioner, you will be moved to come more deeply into that life. Perhaps you will find a service here that meets your needs. Perhaps you will see a way to share even more generously your gifts and talents with our parish. If you are searching for a way to follow Jesus as a disciple, we invite you to consider joining this community of disciples and walk with us.
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God has blessed us with every good gift, spiritual and material. We seek to live a lifestyle of gratitude, giving thanks to the Giver of all gifts, using all we have been given responsibly, and giving back to God a sacrificial portion of our time, talent and treasure, in generous service to the needs of the world around us, with a preferential concern for the poor and marginalized. All this we call the lifestyle of Stewardship, and our parish is committed to grow in the spirit of Stewardship. It is the way we see ourselves fulfilling our call to be disciples of Jesus in our time and in the midst of our culture.
We seek to give thanks by giving back. Even when we exercise Stewardship in our personal, family and work lives, we do so as members of Christ's Body, the Church. Our parish seeks to model the life of Stewardship by gathering its parishioners to work together in the ministries of the parish, serving needs both within St. Catherine's and the larger Church, and outside the parish, in the community and world of which we live. Our parish ministries are clustered into four groupings: the ministries of Word, Worship, Christian Service and Community-Building.
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"But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" asks Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Romans.
(Rm.10:14) Our Ministries of the Word seek to bring the Word of God and break open that Word for the benefit of children and adults.
Saint Catherine of Siena School offers a pre-K to 8 elementary education based on the Word of God lived and taught in the Catholic community. Our Religious Education program (CCD) teaches children from Grade 1 through 8 the elements of their Catholic Faith. Sacramental Preparation Programs are designed for the proximate preparation of all parish children for the sacramental celebrations of Eucharist, Reconciliation and Confirmation. There are programs for pre-school children both on Sunday and during the week. Baptismal Preparation prepares parents to present their children for Baptism. Marriage preparation assists couples preparing for the sacrament of Matrimony, according to diocesan guidelines.
We prepare adults for the celebration of the saving sacraments of initiation in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), and assist baptized Catholics to complete their initiation sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation if these were not celebrated in childhood.
Many parishioners serve in these ministries; there is always need for more. Saint Paul continues, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring [the] good news. … Thus faith comes through what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ." (10:17)
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The Second Vatican Council teaches us, "The Sacred Liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the source from which all its power flows." The center of our life as a parish is the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy, centered in
Sunday Mass, and including the
sacramental celebrations and the feasts and seasons of the
liturgical year.
Ministries of Worship, the second of the four clusters of parish ministries, organize parishioners for the service of their brothers and sisters at liturgical worship.
Ministers of hospitality,
lectors,
extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist,
music ministers,
altar servers assist the worshipping Assembly to celebrate the Eucharist on the Lord's Day. The
Funeral Mass Ministry provides adult altar servers to serve Funeral Masses on weekdays.
Our parish community includes those who are ill, homebound, and those who are incapacitated by the burden of their years. They are included in our community prayer every Sunday, and the Sacrament of the
Anointing of the Sick is celebrated by priests of the parish at home as requested, in local nursing homes, and communally in church twice a year. Priests and Eucharistic ministers bring
Holy Communion to the homebound as requested.
The Catholic people have always found the Lord Jesus uniquely present in the sacred actions they are given to perform in the liturgy. That is why we encourage one another to gather faithfully every Sunday to celebrate in the Eucharist the Lord's passage from death to life. Ministers of Worship are profoundly yet humbly conscious of the sacred service they render to their sisters and brothers.
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At the Last Supper, on the night before he offered his life on the cross for us, Jesus illustrated the imperative behind both Supper and Cross with an act that shocked his disciples. Taking the role of a slave, Jesus washed their feet. Then he said to them, and all who would be his disciples, "I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do."
(John 13:1-17; see also Philippians 2:5-11)
Our parish accepts the challenge of Jesus and we seek to become more and more his disciples by becoming more and more servants after the model he has given us.
Ministries of Christian Service, our third cluster of parish ministries, organizes the work of parishioners who serve others in the name and in the power of Jesus the Servant. Parishioners who volunteer for our service ministries enable this parish to express our communal commitment to service; their ministry trains them for the individual, often hidden acts of Christian service they will offer at home, in civil society, at work.
Parish ministries serve the needs of God's poor in a monthly food collection for St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Newark and by serving meals at St. Patrick's in Newark. We knit prayer shawls for the sick, organize a Christmas Giving Tree for the needy, and a Lenten Shoebox Ministry for the homeless. Shepherds of Service (S.O.S.) enables parishioners to commit to various service projects on a one-time basis.
The parish Stewardship Council fosters the Stewardship lifestyle and assists parishioners to become involved in parish ministries. The Bereavement Ministry offers a multi-week series of bereavement sessions four times a year. Saint Catherine's School and the Religious Education program (CCD) involve children in Christian service in appropriate settings. The Social Justice Committee seeks to involve the parish community in the service of advocacy against the structural forces in society that foster injustice and poverty, and in support of those societal energies that foster respect for the dignity of human life.
In our life of service, we pray that God might keep us faithful to the example and command of Christ. We want to serve as Jesus.
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In the fourth cluster of parish ministries, the
Ministries of Community Building, we seek to put into practice Jesus' method of gathering his disciples into community. We see the Catholic Way as a communal way of holiness. We are linked together in the Body of Christ, each of us a member of that Body.
(see 1 Corinthians 12:12-27)
The Pastoral Council of Ministries is the premier leadership group in the parish, selected by a discernment process from among those active in parish ministries, advising the pastor in the guidance of the parish on its faith journey.
Saint Catherine's Carnival, which takes place annually the week after Memorial Day, offers fun for our towns as well as for our parish. An open invitation for helpers is extended every year, and literally hundreds of parishioners participate in its running.
The Rosary Ministry is a religious and social society for women. Men's Night occurs every year on the night before Ash Wednesday, and features a corned beef dinner at Siena Hall and an inspirational talk for fathers and sons. The Welcome Ministry hosts Newcomers' Brunch for new parishioners and organizes refreshments for parish events. Appreciation Night in June invites all parishioners involved in parish activities to a dinner in Siena Hall, a "thank-you" for a year's hard work, and is hosted by the Pastoral Council.
The ministries of this parish have evolved incrementally over the years in response to changing needs and fueled by the energy and initiative of our parishioners. We are always looking for new members for our existing ministries; we are hopeful that new ideas and new energy will yield new ministries. We ask for new ideas. We welcome new volunteers.
Saint Catherine of Siena parish is served by a Pastoral Staff consisting of pastor, parochial vicars, and lay professional staff members. The dedicated professionals of the Support Staff see to the business management of the parish, maintenance of the parish plant, and provide administrative assistance in the offices of the parish, school and religious education office. Without the dedicated service of its staff members, our parish simply could not accomplish its mission.
The parish's financial affairs are overseen by the Finance Council, appointed by the pastor from among parishioners well versed in the areas of business and finance. The Maintenance Committee draws on the expertise of parishioners who work in the construction trades, engineering and plant management to assist in the management of the physical upkeep of the parish buildings and equipment.
Under the guidance of our Chief Shepherd, the Most Rev. John Joseph Myers, Archbishop of Newark, and our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, successor of Peter and Servant of the servants of God, we ask the help of God in fulfilling our mission, the mission entrusted to us by Jesus. God will surely send His Holy Spirit upon us if we ask for that gift.
Saint Catherine's collaborates with our New Energies partner, Our Lady of the Lake parish in Verona. We believe that working together in various ways, we can more effectively offer comprehensive Catholic ministry to the people of our area.
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Our parish logo illustrates our understanding of our mission and ministries. This logo is inspired by the rose window that graces the façade of our church. That rose window has twelve panels radiating out from a central circle, each panel containing a symbol of one of the twelve apostles, the foundation stones upon which Christ builds his church. In the rose window, those twelve radiating panels form a closed design. All that the Church requires for her effectiveness and growth has been given to her by her Lord, and handed on faithfully by the apostles. In our logo, however, the design is incomplete. A contemporary song by Marty Haugen that we often use at Mass says, "Gather us in, the lost and forsaken. Gather us in, the blind and the lame." We see our community as incomplete until all are gathered in, and to that goal we dedicate our energies. The rose window, and our logo, both are centered on a circle within which is a three-lobed device called a "trefoil," ancient symbol of the Holy Trinity. It is the communion of Persons in the One God that is our inspiration and the very source of our communion. May God be praised in all we do here at Saint Catherine's, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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