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Bishop’s Message for WYD ∙ NFP Awareness Week ∙ Religious Anniversaries celebrated in special issue
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July 25, 2023BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., HAS SHARED THIS MESSAGE for World Youth Day 2023:
As Bishop of the Diocese of Trenton, I join the Holy Father in those prayerful, good wishes, especially for those young Catholics from our Diocese and the other dioceses in New Jersey making the trip. “Our young Catholic faithful are not only the future but also the ‘present’ of the Church. Whatever can be done to encourage, support and deepen their faith and their encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ in and with one another provides the opportunity to strengthen our Catholic Church and its mission of evangelization.”
Read the message in full HERE.
THE NATIONAL NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING AWARENESS WEEK is slated this year for July 23-29, prompting efforts at the diocesan level to help provide resources to parishes and families.
“Our efforts for NFP Awareness Week will call attention to the importance of NFP in marriage in terms of strengthening trust and communication in the marital relationship, understanding the notion of openness to life and responsible parenthood, and enhancing the reproductive health of Catholic wives and mothers,” said Peg Hensler, associate director of diocesan Marriage Ministries and NFP.
Natural Family Planning Awareness Week is a national educational campaign sponsored by the USCCB to build awareness of all aspects of responsible parenthood and fertility-based awareness methods of family planning that uphold Catholic values and protect the dignity of marriage and family according to God’s design. Individual dioceses offer a variety of educational formats in the local Church to focus attention on Natural Family Planning methods and Church teachings which support their use in marriage.
The dates of Natural Family Planning Awareness Week highlight the anniversary of the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae (July 25) which articulates Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, conjugal love, and responsible parenthood. The dates also mark the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne (July 26), the parents of the Blessed Mother.
For more information and to view a complete set of NFP resources for parishes and families, contact Peg Hensler at [email protected] and visit HERE.
IF THERE IS ONE THING WE KNOW ABOUT OUR READERS,
it is that they love seeing stor
ies about the priests, deacons and religious men and women who serve in their local parishes and schools. There is no shortage of affection and gratitude for these individuals, who typically do not get a lot of recognition. As a result, this is the content that gets seen and shared the most on our website and social media and these are the stories of retirements and anniversaries that folks wait all year to read in The Monitor’s annual tribute: Lives of Faith.
Offering his yearly blessing for the honorees of this tribute, Bishop O’Connell writes: "In the priests, deacons and religious whose anniversaries we celebrate in these pages, we thank our gracious God who has fulfilled his promise in them, through Christ the Lord.”
We are indeed grateful for the combined thousands of years that the men and women marking these milestones have given in service to God’s people. We invite you to read their stories, remember them in your prayers and also pray for more good men and women to follow in their footsteps!
Complimentary access of this special keepsake edition is available HERE.