Bishop issues decree regarding parish merger; Youth ministers, others, participate in Synod prep

On June 9, 2017, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., issued a decree calling for the merger of Divine Mercy Parish into Sacred Heart Parish, both in Trenton. Set to be effective July 1, 2017, the merger is the first parish change resulting from the Diocese of Trenton’s pastoral planning initiative, Faith in Our Future, which is now in its implementation phase. 

In his decree, Bishop O’Connell provides the context and rationale for the proposal that he accepted on the merger, and lays out details that will be in place as part of the newly-formed parish community, including the name of the community, which will remain Sacred Heart; the geographical boundaries; the use of worship sites; the disposition of goods and debt currently belonging to the two separate parishes, and the retention of sacramental records from the former Divine Mercy Parish. The official document can be viewed HERE. 

Faith in Our Future is an eight-step pastoral planning process, which was commissioned by Bishop O’Connell in 2015 to strengthen and enliven the parishes of the Diocese.
   
More than two dozen youth-focused members of the local Catholic community gathered in the Chancery June 13 to discuss the upcoming 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be held in October 2018 on the theme “Youth, faith and vocational discernment.”
 
The participants were invited to form a consultative group on youth and young adult ministry in order to fill out a pre-Synod questionnaire from the Holy See. They include parish youth ministers; Catholic high school administrators, teachers, guidance counselors, campus ministers and chaplains; public school teachers; social workers; scouting leaders; coaches and JusticeworX leaders.
 
A full report on this conference will be published in the June 15 print edition of The Monitor, and on TrentonMonitor.com.

(Father MIchael Santangelo, pastor of Epiphany Parish, Brick, and diocesan scouting chaplain, participates in a consultation on youth and young adult ministry June 13 in the Chancery in prepartation for the October 2018 Synod of Bishops. The theme of the Synod is "Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment." Photo courtesy of Bishop O'Connell)