News - March 2022 RSS Feed

I ask your prayers this week for the members of our parish community who will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation from Bishop David O’Connell on Thursday. Eighty-seven students from our religious education program and thirty-five students from the school have prepared over the past eight years of faith formation and are now deemed ready to take this important step in their lives of faith. Unfortunately this means that many of them will now be checked-out and inactive in their lives of faith. Let our prayers then be that they and their families will grow in the life of faith. Confirmation is not a graduation from religious education but rather a step forward into full and active participation in the life of faith. Read more.

Our Lenten journey continues at what seems to be a rapid pace. We had a good turnout last weekend for our annual Lenten Penance Service. Of course, Confession is always available by appointment. There are other opportunities at parishes in the area to attend a Penance Service if you have not done so already: St. Mary (Colts Neck) on April 3rd at 3:00 p.m.; St. Catharine (Holmdel) on April 7th at 6:00 p.m.; and at St. Gabriel (Marlboro) on April 13th at 7:00 p.m. Read more.

Today is the opportunity for Penance here at the parish. Over a dozen priests will be with us between 4:00 and 6:00 pm to hear confessions. As part of our “Easter Duty” all Catholics are required by canon law to go to confession at least once per year between Ash Wednesday and Pentecost Sunday. While this is a minimum, for many of us this becomes the minimum, and perhaps most of us miss this all together. We confess our sins to a priest because the forgiveness of sins is a gift given by Jesus to the church. The verbal pronouncement of our sins is itself a healing exercise, allowing us to say that which we may not want to say anywhere else, knowing that it can never be repeated or reported. An examination of conscience using the Ten Commandments as a guide enables us to break the ice with the Lord and open a lifelong conversation. Read more.

Our Lenten journey has begun. Hopefully our walk with Jesus this season will enable us to grow in faith and will provide us with new opportunities to share that faith with others. As you can see, our outdoor stations are in place, so if you cannot make – or even if you can – the communal Stations (Wednesday at 5:30 pm and Friday at 7:00 pm) you and your family can come here and either pray them in the car or walk along the path. As the weather gets nicer through March and April, walking and praying the stations outside would be good spiritual and physical exercise. Read more.