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Blessed Carlo Shrine • RCIA in Spanish • special thanks • Standing Together for Life date announced
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September 27, 2023ALL ARE INVITED TO ATTEND the 9 a.m. Mass Oct. 1 in St. Dominic Church, 250 Old Squan Rd., Brick, where the Diocese of Trenton will welcome Antonia Salzano, mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis.
On that occasion, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., will dedicate the Shrine to Blessed Carlo Acutis whom he named “Diocesan Patron of Youth, Especially Those in Catholic Schools and Religious Education Programs” in St. Dominic Church. Created by pastor Father Brian Woodrow and his team of supporters, the Shrine will hold the relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis obtained for the Diocese by Father Marian Kokorzycki during a pilgrimage to Italy in 2021.
Recognized the world over for his deeply spiritual life, Blessed Carlo developed a website catalogue of all Eucharistic miracles throughout history as a young teenager. Blessed Carlo died of leukemia at the age of 15 on Oct. 12, 2006, and he was beatified by Pope Francis on Oct. 10, 2020. His remains are displayed at the Church of Saint Mary Major in Assisi.
It is especially appropriate that the Shrine is being dedicated in the Diocese of Trenton during the final year of the United States’ “National Eucharistic Revival.” An exhibit featuring the Eucharistic miracles catalogued by Blessed Carlo Acutis is currently traveling throughout the parishes of the Diocese.
“UNA INTRODUCCIÓN AL RICA: LA VISIÓN DE LA INICIACIÓN CRISTIANA” – An Introduction to RCIA: The Vision of Christian Initiation – is planned for Nov. 4 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Holy Family Church – worship site of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish – 1139 E. County Line Rd., Lakewood.
Sponsored by diocesan Department of Catechesis, the workshop is a foundation class for Spanish-speaking RCIA leaders and team members and will offer an in-person basic training to help them understand the entire RCIA process. The course will include an overview of the four stages of initiation and the rituals that accompany them. In addition, the course will examine the pastoral principles associated with this ministry, as well as the role of the baptized faithful.
The Diocese has partnered with Liturgy Training Publications to offer this day, co-sponsored by the Annual Catholic Appeal and a grant from the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions through The Forum Legacy Grant Fund.
Presenters include Oscar Cruz, director of the Catechumenate in the Archdiocese of New York, and Lia Garcia, director of Hispanic ministries in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Learn more HERE.
BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., ALONG WITH
THE CLERGY, RELIGIOUS AND FAIT
HFUL OF THE DIOCESE, were recently acknowledged for their generous support of three recent collections sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In a letter dated Sept. 15, Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston, Minn., thanked Bishop O’Connell for the Diocese’s $10,000 contribution toward the National Eucharistic Congress – Bishops Solidarity Fund. Bishop Cozzens, who serves as chairman of the Board of Directors for the Congress, noted, “Your support helps create a movement of missionary disciples to build up our Church.”
He continued, “The National Eucharistic Congress in 2024 will not only be a generation-changing moment in our country, but will also be a profound witness to the global Church… [to] help others to encounter Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and be sent on mission.”
The Trenton Diocese faithful also awarded a donation of $142,649 toward Catholic Relief Services’ Operation Rice Bowl collection. The program, run annually during Lent since 1975, benefits those in need both domestically and abroad. While 75 percent of the Rice Bowl collection supports CRS’s relief around the world in more than 100 different countries each year, 25 percent of funds stay in each U.S. diocese.
The Diocese also received acknowledgement for its $109,516.23 donation to the 2023 Catholic Home Missions Appeal. Home mission dioceses are those dioceses in the United States, its territories and former territories that cannot provide basic pastoral services without outside help, such as celebration of Holy Mass, religious education and ministry training for priests, religious and lay people. Currently, nearly 40 percent of dioceses in the United States and its territories are considered home missions.
THE SECOND ANNUAL STANDING TOGETHER FOR LIFE Jan. 19 will begin with Mass at 11 a.m. celebrated by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M. in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, 61 Georgia Rd., Freehold.
A luncheon seminar will follow in the parish hall from 12:15 to 4 p.m. and will include a panel of guest speakers with engaging and actionable information and resources that participants can take back to their parishes and neighborhood communities.
All are welcome to attend the Mass without registration. The Mass will also be livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook. Both the Mass and the seminar will be recorded and posted online.
Registration is required for the luncheon seminar, limited to the first 200 registrants. Check https://dioceseoftrenton.org/march-for-life for registration in mid-October.