January 10, 2021: The Baptism of the Lord

Dear Parishioners:

Happy New Year and I pray this year will be a happy and healthy one!

This week is the last days of the Christmas Season and I think it is important to reflect on what we have celebrated during this brief, yet important, season of Christmas.  We celebrated that God became man and dwelled with us, as a little baby, the he honored by both shepherds and kings from far off lands.  The three Magi, honored Jesus as the newborn King and “light of the nations,” which was not simply an honorific, but more importantly, foreshadowed Jesus as the savior of the world and the King of the universe.  The Epiphany makes us think of the end of our Church year, when we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe.  At Christmas, we nostalgically gaze upon the baby Jesus in the manger and the visiting shepherds and especially the Magi and think how beautiful that visit was, but it is important to recognize how prophetic it was at the same time: Jesus was born to be Our King, the King of the Kingdom of God and the King who would return to just us all.  The little baby would become our King.

Throughout history, many kings proudly believed that they were divinely appointed to their position and that their subjects were under them to serve them. Our newborn King never held that position; instead, God our King lowered himself to become one of us, to be in solidarity with humanity and to share in our human joys and sufferings.  God truly became one of us and not to be served by his subjects, but to serve us, by teaching us to love and to sacrifice and to offer himself for us.  This Sunday we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord: a very clear reminder that, although Our Lord was without sin, he joined humanity in a ritual specifically for sinners in order to reveal himself completely as one of us, just without sin.  How blessed we are to have a savior as we do in the Lord Jesus!

I want to use this as an opportunity to inform you all of a few important items: Next week, all registered parishioners will be receiving a letter from Cardinal Joseph Tobin, our Archbishop as an initial contact about this year’s Annual Appeal, so please expect a note from him asking for your generosity and cooperation in helping make it a successful Appeal for 2021, as we, the Archdiocese of Newark, use this Annual Appeal as a way of helping the neediest in the Church and at the same time to build up the Kingdom of God.

Next, there have been some changes in our parish office that I would like everyone to be aware of: Eileen Ziegler, after 23 years of being the Parish Secretary, retired on December 31^st.  We will miss her in the office, however, she will still be an active parishioner, so she will still be around.  Eileen is replaced by Jane Ryan our new Parish Secretary.  At the same time, the business office has seen some changes, as Walter Springer who was the Business Manager in the parish is now the Operations Assistant, assisting me in some of the day-to-day operations.  Nick Cofone is the new Parish Bookkeeper and will be working closely with me and the Finance Council to keep our finances running smoothly.  Lastly, many of you have asked about Stephen Powers, our Parish Director of Music.  Stephen has been out for nearly two months with some health issues and is recovering nicely and we expect him back in a few weeks.  In the meantime, I have hired Valerie Shondel to be the full-time temporary Director of Music until Stephen returns.  So far, everything is still running smoothly and I welcome our new employees and these changes.

I wanted to give a brief update on what is going on in Cite Soleil, Haiti and the St. Cassian Pediatric Nutrition Center that so many of you have so generously supported.  The demolition of the part of the building that is no longer being used has taken place and once that is complete and cleared away, the building that will be used as the Pediatric Center will begin to be constructed.  There are photos of this demolition here in the bulletin and I will keep you updated on the next stages.  Dr. James Morgan, our parishioner and co-founder of Lamp for Haiti, has been wonderful in keeping me abreast of everything and is very appreciative of all your support.

Again, Happy New Year everyone and how blessed this Parish is to have Parishioners like you!

Most sincerely,

Fr. Marc A. Vicari.
Pastor