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Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski
has assigned Edgar
Madarang to Holy Family
Parish, upon his ordination
to the diaconate on May
17.
Deacon-to-be Madarang, a
native of the Philippines,
will work at Holy Family
until his priestly ordination
approximately one year
from now.
We wish him every grace
and blessing.
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF CRS RICE BOWL!
This year we tried to do our
first joint activity, and CRS
Rice Bowl lends itself very
easily to that effort.
Thanks to everyone who
participated in the prayer,
fasting, almsgiving and
learning that CRS Rice Bowl
offers. We will have our
collection totals soon. And
we can still receive your
donations through
Pentecost Sunday, June 8.
One For All
Issue
01
MAY 2014
NEWSLETTER OF HOLY FAMILY PARISH, New Brunswick, NJ
Issue 01 May 2014
Holy Family Parish
56 Throop Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-545-1681
Holyfamilyforall.org
Easter Sacrament Season in Full Bloom!
First Communions on:
May 3 – Sacred Heart
May 10- St. Joseph
May 17- Sacred Heart
May 25- St. Joseph and Sacred Heart (separate liturgies)
A lot of effort, commitment and
faith goes into reaching this
milestone. Congratulations and
blessings to our candidates, their
parents, our catechists and
everyone
everyone who makes events like these possible.
The Easter Season is also a time
when the baptismal font springs to
sacramental life again, and the
calendar is filling up with
numerous infant baptisms. Again,
congratulations and blessings to
the many families who have
experienced the joy of new life,
and through Baptism will now
experience the additional joy of
new life in Christ.
We also have our hope-filled share of Quinceanera Masses and Christian Marriages to celebrate during this time.
A reminder to anyone who is
considering any of these
sacraments or celebrations for
yourself or family members, to
please being the process by
contacting Rocio Ramos, our
coordinator of pastoral services, at
732-545-1681, ext. 11, or e-mailing
her at
Starting with the Easter Vigil reception of many new fully-initiated parishioners, and continuing through the Pentecost celebration of Confirmation, Holy Family Parish will be growing on practically a weekly basis this year.
St. Ladislaus celebrated the First
Communion of six children on April
27, and as we write, the parish is
preparing to celebrate additional
Fri
Holy Family Parish
this issue
May 17 Spring Cleaning P.1
Catholic Charities update P.2
Parish Gardens set to grow P.3
Easter Sacrament Season in Full BloomP.4
May 17: parish day to love thy neighborhood
Even in the best of circumstances, the emergence of
spring prompts many of us to look more closely at
the outdoors, especially our immediate surroundings,
and try to improve things a bit.
Many parishioners lament the trash and debris that
collect around Sacred Heart, St. Ladislaus and St.
Joseph churches on an ongoing basis. It’s a function
of everything from the winds to the willfulness of
residents who choose to litter.
This year, we can do something about it.
On the morning of Saturday, May 17, teaming up
with the newly-formed Esperanza Project, a
neighborhood revitalization effort headed by our
own parishioner Charles Bergman, we’re going to
spruce up the areas around our church homes.
At 10am on May 17, interested parishioners can
gather at two sites: the parish halls of either St.
Joseph or Sacred Heart. There, they will receive
materials and instructions. The first several dozen
will also receive free T-shirts with our new parish
logo on it.
Weather permitting, we are going to work for a
couple of hours and hopefully the results will be
immediately visible.
At the same time, we are going to conduct a
“street audit.” We will record what we see on
our parish streets, and whatever we can’t fix on
May 17 we will follow up with either the city or
whoever needs to be contacted.
We want to develop a corps of parishioners who
feel as much ownership for our parish
neighborhoods as we do for the churches and
our parishioner themselves. Can Holy Family
Parish be a parish community of great
neighborhoods? May 17 is a good day to start to
answer the question.
If you are interested in our “team up to clean up”
day on May 17, just contact Rocio Ramos at the
Throop Avenue Center (732-545-1681, ext.11).
o
8am Daily Mass moves
to Sacred Heart hall
chapel June 9
Saves air conditioning cost
A reminder to daily Mass
attendees that our 8am
Eucharist at Sacred Heart will
move from the church to the
hall chapel on Monday, June 9,
and will continue until returning
to the church on Monday, Sept.
15. Thank you for your
flexibility.
The 7pm Wednesday Mass at
Sacred Heart continues in the
church.
And the 7am daily Mass at St.
Ladislaus remains as always.
Social media
Parish sites
Holy Family Parish participates
in both Facebook and Twitter.
We use our Twitter feed
together with the Catholic
Charities Solidarity Team, so
our tweets will be a
combination of parish news
and social justice items.
You can access it at:
https://twitter.com/holyfamily
4all
Our parish Facebook page is:
https://www.facebook.com/pa
ges/Holy-Family-
Parish/177192002490655
PARISH CASE MANAGER
Alexi Motta
Alexi Motta and her newlywed
husband Charles Bergman left
Chicago in October to resettle
in New Jersey upon accepting
the offer of Catholic Charities
and Holy Family Parish to join
the parish staff in the newly-
established position of parish
case manager.
Since her arrival, many others
have moved to a new and
happier place in their lives,
thanks to her dedication and
expertise.
Alexi is the parish go-to person
for any drop-in type of basic
human needs of parishioners
and residents within our parish
boundaries.
Alexi has also initiated
programming at the parish,
first launching the Sts. Martha
and Mary Group for women
who want an action-and-
reflection experience together.
And then she teamed with the
Seattle-based Intercommunity
Peace and Justice Center to
begin Women’s Justice Circles
at both Sacred Heart and St.
Joseph Parish.
For her efforts, Alexi will be this
year’s recipient of the William
Stillwell Community Award of
the New Brunswick Knights of
Columbus. The award will be
presented May 7 at the Robert
Wood Johnson University
Hospital atrium.
The Catholic Charities
Connection Although not often mentioned in parishioner
conversations about Holy Family, having Catholic
Charities around is a big plus for everyone.
Holy Family Parish is the
diocesan home for Catholic
Relief Services, the official
overseas humanitarian relief
agency of the U.S. Catholic
community.
Many Metuchen parish priests
have diocesan jobs, and Msgr.
Joe Kerrigan also serves as the
director of CRS for the
Metuchen Diocese.
Fortunately, his key daily
colleagues also work at the
Throop Avenue Center. Ernie
Revoir is the diocesan director
of the Office of Social Justice,
and Alexi Motta is the parish
promoter for CRS in the
Metuchen Diocese.
If you want to learn more,
contact Msgr. at
The website for Catholic Relief
Services is crs.org, and our
local website (currently
undergoing revision) is
ccsolidarity.org.
BASIC HUMAN NEEDS, IMMIGRATION, SOCIAL JUSTICE ALL UNDER ONE ROOF
It has been enough of an effort to
continue to integrate pastoral
services, communication, staff
and the many other aspects that
went into the unification of Holy
Family Parish. That effort
continues four months into the
establishment of the parish.
In the meantime, parishioners
still face financial difficulties,
immigration questions,
counseling needs and so on.
In that respect, Holy Family Parish
is more than ready to be of
assistance.
Building on a strong decade-long
presence of the Society of St.
Vincent de Paul, which serves the
most immediate needs of
parishioners and residents,
Catholic Charities at Holy Family
Parish also offers immigration
services, case management and
social justice programming.
Additionally, in the last year,
thanks to a grant from the
national office of the Catholic
Campaign for Human
Development, a project is being
undertaken to work more actively
with clients of Catholic Charities
In the parish so that they can be
equipped with leadership skills
and work on common issues
together.
Key personnel of Catholic
Charities connected with Holy
Family Parish include:
Brian Ruiz, Board of Immigration
Appeal-accredited case manager
for Catholic Charities. His office is
open Mon-Thurs from 1p-8p.
Often he is joined by colleague
John Donnolly. You can reach
Brian with any immigration
questions at [email protected].
Ernie Revoir is diocesan director
of the Office of Social Justice. He
can be reached at
Alexi Motta, parish case manager,
works Sunday-Thursday. She is at
the parish number: 732-545-1681
(extension 16) or by email:
Several of our parishioners either
serve on the Catholic Charities
board or are involved in agency
programs. If you would like to
learn more, just see Msgr.
Kerrigan.
Pentecost Feast Ripe for Holy Family
This year at the parish, both the Vigil of Pentecost (June 7) and the 12pm Pentecost Mass at St. Joseph (June 8) will feature the Sacrament of Confirmation. We wish the newly-confirmed every grace and gift of the Spirit on this special day.
But looking ahead, the Vigil of
Pentecost in future years might
be an opportunity to especially
celebrate our unity and
diversity as a parish.
We could, as the liturgy offers,
have a Vigil more akin to the
Easter Vigil, with several
readings and a wide expression
of our several cultures. It’s
something to think about. Joe
Szabo and Tony Varas and
others will be pondering this.
For now, enjoy the birthday of
the Church and the sending of
the Spirit. And, if you can, wear
something red on Pentecost to
show your solidarity in the
Spirit.
Throop and George St. for a
new garden, named by
Visitation pastor Fr. Jimson
Varghese as “Pope Francis
Garden.”
And, thanks to parishioner
demand, we have added a third
garden, “Solidarity Garden,” on
the land of the former St.
Joseph rectory.
Just as no two gardens are alike
in their look, soil or fruits, so
too our parish community
gardens have their own mission
in service to our parishioners
and to our Catholic identity.
For one thing, we are going to
focus more actively on prayer
and reflection with our
gardens.
This effort will begin with the
public launch of the gardens
themselves, on Thursday, May
15 at 7pm, with an outdoor
prayer service or Mass (details
still being finalized) at the St.
Isidore Field.
May 15 is both the feast of St.
Isidore and the first official day
that gardeners in New Jersey
can plant worry-free from frost.
The parish gardens also will be
an environment where leaders
will be grown as readily as
plants. The goal is to have new
parish and civic leaders surface
from the crop of gardeners, and
a leadership training program is
in place toward that end.
Catholic social teaching will also
be applied in our specific care
for the gardens, following the
good work of Nancy Finn and
Lorena Gaibor in this area in
years past. We are probably
going to revive our highly
successful “Turbo Farmers
Market” later in the summer.
Parish artist Pavol Olsavsky is
bringing his work to the garden.
On World Water Day, March
22, Pavol installed the “Tree of
Life” woodcut in St. Isidore
Field, and on May 15 he will
present his latest work. We are
grateful to The Charles
Engelhard Foundation for their
continued support of our art
projects.
For more, contact Ellen
Maughan
What can be more fundamental
than a garden? From the early
pages of Genesis, we know how
key a garden is to both our faith
story and life itself.
After some brainstorming
among parishioners and staff
last fall, Holy Family decided to
return more actively to
community gardening for 2014.
We again are shepherding the
St. Isidore Field, located on the
corner of Throop and
Townsend on the Sacred Heart
side of the parish.
Thanks to the fellowship with
the new Visitation Parish, we
also reached an agreement to
lease property on the corner of
Holy Family to launch three gardens
