From Our Pastor: 22nd Sunday In Ordinary Time

Brothers and sisters :

I want to share a bulletin article from my pastor, Fr. Joe Molloy, a mentor from my first assignment as a pastor. He’s a wonderful man with great wisdom, and is the pastor of Saint Joseph the Worker in Chatham. He doesn’t have a school, so he is writing about his parish school of religion. But this applies to both parish school of religion, and a Catholic school. He said it better than I probably could, so I’m just going to share with you what he said.

“Dear SJW Parishioners:
The end of August already! Time doesn’t wait for anyone, does it? I hope you all have another blessed week of faith, prayer, relaxation and fun. You deserve it!

Last week in my column, I discussed the importance of Catholic education for our young people. Just as it is important for them to learn about History, Math, Science, Literature and all the rest, so, too, is it very important that they learn about Jesus and our Catholic faith—each and every week in our Faith Formation classes.

I want to add something VERY IMPORTANT to the idea of Catholic formation of our young people. There is NOTHING more important to the formation of our youth, for their growth in the Catholic faith and their love of Jesus than EUCHARIST. NOTHING!! The Eucharist is the MOST important ritual we Catholics celebrate and do. As Vatican II said in its document on the liturgy: “The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith.”

That said, I see students in our FF classes each week, but I don’t see them at Mass each week. How can that be? We are definitely not teaching our children correctly about being a Catholic. Yes, it is great to have them at class to learn more about their faith and the Lord. But, to not bring them to Mass each week not only is a sin, but it says that Mass is not that necessary, doesn’t it? And nothing could be further from the truth.

That is why our universal Catholic Church has this special Year of the Eucharist. It is a year to focus on the centrality of the Eucharist in our faith. It is a vital part of our belief. Jesus told us at the Last Supper to do this (the Eucharist) in memory of Him. Yes, the Eucharist celebrates the Suffering, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. And nothing is more important than that. We need to teach our young and each other to obey the Lord’s command, to obey the third Commandment and keep holy the Sabbath Day.

May we ALL see the absolute necessity of the Eucharist in our lives. We receive THE Body and THE Blood of Jesus Christ each time we gather. We remember how much He did for our salvation. See how easy it is to understand why the Eucharist is the SUMMIT of our faith?

Your Pastor Father Joe”

-Rev. Steven Arisman