St. Michael's Church

12/29/11

Bishop O’Connell pulled out all the stops inviting Catholics to come to Church at Christmas time . He heavily used all the central Jersey media.

St. Michael’s usually sees a great deal of Christmas visitors, but this year the numbers sometimes overwhelmed the counting process we have in place.

For the early Masses on Christmas Eve, we adopted a rolling Mass schedule . As soon as the upper or lower Church filled, Mass would begin .

For our parish history books, there were five 4:00 PM Masses . Three upstairs and two down.

Using the rolling Mass schedule led to a much less hectic time for Mass goers, but a pleasant strain on the priests .

Please be sure to thank our assisting priests who fulfill their other Christmas duties and then invest precious time to ours.

There were many confessions , always an indicator of spiritual depth to the numbers.

Our choir and volunteers were splendid . I have asked our staff to see to it we acknowledge their generosity with time and talent.

Our collections were good , most parishes would be delighted with our numbers . Few parishes do what our parish does.

One family contributed $115,000 this year, an increase of $15 ,000. All of us will want to keep this family in our prayers .The rest of our collection decreased by about 15,000.

Our parishioners are surely feeling the effects of the financial environment. We will continue to watch costs.  Still, a well deserved thanks to those who give as best they can.

My prayers for a healthy and happy new year for us all.

12/15/11

Dear Regular Attenders:

The Church challenges us during the Christmas season to think back to the time when God sent His Son to share in our humanity.

We recall this loving and sacred event in the beautiful accounts of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem.

There is a second theme for this time. This is the affirmation that the Christ will return at the end of time to free the human family from all that oppresses us. This final moment is also the time of the last judgment.

The memory of the first Christmas warms us with wonder at the extravagance of God’s love for us. Keeping in mind that we shall be judged can build up in us a reverential fear.

God loves us. How do we respond to that love?

Warm appreciation for God’s love and a reverential fear mark the life of the faithful Christian and of the Church.

We pray that these sentiments mark our life as a parish.

We work to offer fitting worship to the Lord, service to our neighbor and the growth of each of us as individuals and as families.

Over most of the past year we have thought and prayed together about Holy Mass as we prepared for the changes in the language of our worship.

Visitors, priests and lay people at St. Michael’s remark about the overall reverence parishioners show at Mass here.

Certainly few parishes offer the number of Masses with the variety of soundly Catholic styles as St. Michael’s does.

St. Michael’s makes a substantial financial investment in worship. We have a very strong music program lead by very able musicians who train several choirs here.

There is one priest assigned to this parish. A number of nonresident priests make the full Mass schedule possible.

Each of these priests has challenging full time responsibilities elsewhere. Since we preach mostly book based sermons here, each man has to prepare an additional weekly talk specifically for St. Michael’s.

Justice requires that we pay these men well. Most already have a heavy weekend workload and their helping here is personally costly. Please make them aware of our gratitude when you meet them.

Passing on the faith to the next generation is difficult in an increasingly disconnected culture. The overall failure of Catholic religious education over the last thirty or forty years compounds the problem. The Catholic Church has not equipped parents to lead their children into closer connection with Christ and His Church.

St. Michael’s offers a strong and demanding religious education program for our students. Parents of children in Catholic schools send their youngsters to our CCD to insure they receive a solid Catholic education.

We have wonderful teachers and teacher aides who model what they teach. Parent fees do not cover all the costs of this program.

By helping families pass on the faith we actually enable them to develop more healthily. Our HomeLife program offers practical support in building stronger families.

The child to be born will be called holy, HomeLife offers literature, cd’s, and learning experiences such as workshops and discussion groups.

Each weekend there are cd’s available at Church. These cd’s teach of family life and growth in faith. While we very much welcome payment for these materials, the messages they contain are so valuable and needed that we make them easily available. They are worth the investment.

St. Michael’s offers small groups to help adults learn more about the faith and to do so while interacting with other believers and seekers.

Of course, of critical importance is the care of the poor and meeting the needs of all our people.

Our St. Vincent de Paul Society carefully invests over $100,000.00 in cash in assisting the poor. Due to very difficult times there are some who for many years helped St. Michael’s who now receive the care of the Society.

The Society also provides practical training which enables people to manage things better and the personal support in maintaining their sense of personal dignity.

There is no reckoning the dollar value of the amount of food they distribute, the new school clothes they provide and the Christmas toys they give to children.

St. Michael’s is helping to support those who long supported the parish but now find themselves unexpectedly in need. It is a privilege to do so.

Our Stephen Ministers receive ongoing training to provide a valuable presence to parishioners facing life’s challenges. We can read in the bulletin each week the numbers of lives they have touched.

Our Paduan Ministers bring Communion and can provide company to parishioners who are permanently or temporarily unable to conveniently get to Church.

St. Michael’s passes on the warmth of God’s love and works to worship, teach and care in such a way that when Christ comes we will be found worthy.

Christ’s final coming may be far away. His coming in death to each of us is certain if unpredictable.

An increased offertory campaign yielded larger collections for about a year. Our weekend collections are now not so strong and vary significantly from week to week.

We face real and costly issues keeping up our beautiful Church building. This challenge will lead to a special campaign in the Spring.

We want to be able to use our weekend collections for what we do here at St. Michael’s.

To do this we look to the Christmas collection to meet our tax for the Diocese which is $117,661.00 this year.

Our tax for Catholic schools is $73,109.88. Our aim is for the Easter collection to provide for this tax.

Many in our parish feel keenly the effects of the economic downturn. Others are more fortunate.

St. Michael’s needs your help this year.

I ask those in especially difficult times to pray for us.

I ask those more able to give to stretch themselves.

Sincerely, (The Rev.) Charles B. Weiser, Pastor

12/7/11

Dear St. Michael’s Regular Attenders:

Christmas at St. Michael’s is a wonderful hectic time.

The priests hear many confessions.  The number of those returning to the Sacraments is encouraging.  Hearing the way God’s grace brings people back is thrilling and fascinating.

As we learn how many people our St. Vincent de Paul Society feeds and the amount of money they carefully distribute, we take comfort in knowing that our Church makes a real impact on the lives of the needy.

Our Stephen Ministers support those who find the holiday difficult.  Our Paduan Ministers brighten the lives of the infirm by bringing them Christ in Holy Communion and their own presence as visitors.

Many families strengthened by the use of resources provided by our HomeLife Ministry will be closer to Christ and one another than they were last year.

Members of our choirs make the power of the Christmas spirit more powerful by the beauty of the music they provide.

The members of our youth groups have a more keen awareness of the Catholic faith and so, can build upon their appreciation of the Christmas story as they move beyond childhood.

This is also the time when we ask parishioners who are able to stretch themselves in giving to the Church.  We ask those who are not to keep St. Michael’s in their prayers in a special way this Christmas.

This is a delicate matter.

St. Michael’s is helping to support those who long supported the parish but now find themselves unexpectedly in need.  It is a privilege to do so.

But we also take note that the more expensive restaurants have been increasing their prices.  There are some who are doing ok financially.

We look to our Christmas collection to satisfy our obligation to the Trenton Diocese.

Our Diocesan tax is $117,661.00.

At Easter time we will be turning to you again to help meet our tax for Catholic education of $73,109.88.

We get to use our weekend collections for parish life this way.

I ask you to stop, pray and think for a moment, then decide on your Christmas gift.

  Sincerely, 

(The Rev.) Charles B. Weiser, Pastor

11/30/11

Kurt Bruner and Stephen Stroope are Texas pastors who began a movement which expresses itself here as HomeLife.

Their book, "It Starts At Home", will be the basis for a sermon series which will take place most weekends for the next few months. The book is thoughtful and practical. St. Michael’s wants to strengthen family life.

As a single person, I am very much aware of the very large number of other single people in our congregation, and was hesitant to focus so long a period on marriage. A staff member pointed out that what we will be talking about is relationships.

Most of what we will be talking about will have some application to everyone. Most of us too are members of families.

I have asked the priests and have challenged myself to make some helpful connections for singles in our sermons.

We seem to be handling the changes on the language as well as any place. I am blessed with a good memory which works against me in this so, no doubt, I will be among the last to adapt smoothly.

Do keep in mind the St. Vincent de Paul Society's campaign for gift certificates and toys. The gift certificates may be placed in the collection basket. Toys can be left off in the back of the Church or at the rectory during business hours.

These gifts will make a real difference in the way some youngsters feel this Christmas.

The spirit of thanksgiving is part of the heart of Catholic life. We 

call the Mass the Eucharist, which in turn means thanksgiving.

We are grateful to God for our lives and for our sharing in the life 

of God the Father, son and Holy Spirit.

There are people and things which call thanksgiving out of us. 

That list grows longer over the years.

Making lists of people and things we should be grateful for is 

worthwhile.  Just doing this seems to be good for our health and 

sanity.

When there is quiet time during the long thanksgiving weekend, 

setting about creating such a list in a secure place is likely to 

change our attitude and enable us to see things in a new way.

Why not test it out.  What am I grateful for and, better yet, for 

whom am I grateful?

Whenever our view of life gets out of focus, asking these

questions will sharpen our vision again.