Dear Friends,

For those who may have been elsewhere last weekend, at the request of the Bishops of New Jersey, along with all the parishes in the state, we conducted a Petition Drive for the preservation of marriage, as we have known it for almost seven thousand years – the union of man and woman.  The Bishops believe that after the November election, there will be a move to change that understanding.  This drive is not an endorsement of any candidate, simply a petition to all legislators to leave marriage alone.  There is already on the books the Civil Union Law, which protects the rights of those who choose a different lifestyle. 

If you did not get a chance to sign last week, petitions are on the card tables at all the doors of the church.  Only your name is needed.  Please do not include your address or phone number.  Also, please do not sign again, if you did so last week.  And thanks – to all those who did so. 

I want to say a word about one of our important pastoral offerings of the year, which begins tomorrow.  At the heart of all we try to do here at OLMC is to offer a road, to open a way to meet Jesus Christ.  Many things are happening in the parish, like today’s Block Party.  Many things need your support, like the Petition Drive, or the Academy of Our Lady Fund, which will be coming up toward the end of October (a little later than usual this year because of the crowded calendar,).  But of all the things we do, the events we sponsor, the most important are those which are ways to the Lord, ways to find Him again (if we have put Him to the edges of our lives) and to deepen our life with Him.  Tomorrow could be such an opportunity for you.

A persistent theme of Pope Benedict’s homilies is the growing secularization of our world, a world which, in so many ways, seeks to banish God from its sight and its hearing, a world seeking to push God out of daily living. We face it every day (such as in the attempt to change the understanding of marriage).  And I would have to admit that these efforts, some conscious, have taken their toll on the religious life of our country and of our Church. 
For every one reading this bulletin right now, there are two at home who do not find a reason to be here.  And yet, at the same time, it often seems that the world is coming unglued.  The feeling of unease in the country, and the world, causes us to look at what we’ve considered important in our lives,  especially these last two decades.  More and more people, in this last year, as they struggle with many personal problems, have been asking themselves, “Who am I,” and “What am I living for”?

Tomorrow night, Monday September 21 at 8:00 PM, a journey to rediscover God, and to answer some of these nagging questions, will begin through a series of catecheses, presented by the Neocatechumenal Way ministry of our parish.  A “catechesis” is a proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ, not just as a lecture, but also as an experience of what it means to be a Christian in today’s world. 

If you find yourself searching, I invite you and all adults and young people (13 years and older) to take advantage of this opportunity.  But remember those two-thirds who are not here with us, who have grown cold or lukewarm.  Consider inviting them as well.  Consider being an instrument of Jesus’ call. 

God Bless,
Fr. Ron