Diary of a Parish Priest

Confirmation

You can't tell in the pictures from their backs that everyone is wearing masks.

Confirmation Retreat Filled With The Spirit

Confirmation will be conferred on Friday this week and in preparation, our confirmandi prayed a retreat this weekend. The retreat leader team of adults and teens is shown. Please pray for those who are about to be confirmed and their families, that the gifts of the Holy Spirit may fill them forever.

Holy Cross Church Confirmations 2018

Sacrament of Confirmation Today at 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM

Join in prayer today for our confirmandi as we celebrate the conferral of the Sacrament of Confirmation by Msgr. Ed Arnister in Holy Cross Church.

Sacrament of Confirmation on Friday

Please continue to pray for our confirmandi, their sponsors and families as we prepare to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation on Friday, May 12th. The bishop's delegate to confer the sacrament will be Msgr. Ed Arnister, pastor of St. Rose in Belmar. 

Come Holy Spirit enliven the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love!

 

 

Come Holy Spirit

Confirmations are celebrated today at Holy Cross Church. We welcome Msgr. Thomas Gervasio, Vicar General of the Diocese and pray that our confirmandi will be filled with the Spirit on this holy occasion which they have anticipated with great joy.

 

The Exciting Easter Season

Wow, last weekend was a powerhouse of the Holy Spirit at Holy Cross. Six baptisms, a marriage convalidation, the final Religious Education session for this year's confirmandi and of course, our weekend masses. We eagerly  look forward to our First Eucharists and Confirmation.

Baptisms are joyful!

Some of the confirmandi and the retreat team teen leaders

Gathering for a blessing at the Marian Shrine

Sacrament of Confirmation to be Conferred at Holy Cross

Please pray for our confirmandi and their families who will be confirmed by Msgr. Thomas Gervasio at Holy Cross this coming Friday. The sacramental  outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our children has a ripple effect of grace on our whole parish family.

 

Sacrament of Confirmation Conferred Tomorrow

At long last, the Sacrament of Confirmation will be conferred on the eight graders of our parish tomorrow afternon in two separate ceremonies.

School will be dismissed at noon to make way for our celebrations.

Please pray for the confirmandi and their families and for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the entire parish.

 

Sunday Mass at 5 PM for 8th Grade Confirmandi

Confirmandi is a Latin expression which loosely translated means, "those who will be confirmed." 

Worshipping our Lord and receiving the Eucharist at least weekly is an integral expression of our Catholic faith in all the years of our lives, but especially whenever we prepare to receive one of the other sacraments like Confirmation, Holy Orders or Marriage. So our parish two year confirmation program includes an opportunity for our young people to express their faith with their peers. 

This weekend is the first of our monthly Sunday 5 PM masses and it follows a formation session for the 8th grade confirmandi. While parents and sponsors of these children are surely invited, please be aware that if younger brothers and sisters are brought to these masses, the homily may be rated PG-13. This is not simply another regularly scheduled mass, but an opportunity to focus on some contemporary issues with not only a specificity which is difficult at other Sunday masses, but using vocabulary appropriate to the Christian truth being explored in the gospel. 

Thanks to our Religious Education teacher volunteers and Religious Education staff members for planning these gatherings and praying with our young people.

Not only are the fruits of the Eucharist available in abundance during these times, but the group interaction and communal aspects of the afternoon formation sessions are crucial for young people to explore and develope their faith. The old sacramental preparation mentality that there is a simply a core of information that you "gotta know for the test" presumed a solid foundation of weekly mass attendance and faithful attendance at the "classes" themselves. 

Let us pray for the graces of the Holy Spirit to inspire our confirmandi and their families. This year, as you may know, Fr. Douglas Freer, Vicar for Catholic Education will confer the sacrament here at Holy Cross.