Dear Parishioners:

The Gospel says that

“Jesus unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.’

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, ‘Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.’” (Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21)

Jesus made the announcement that he is the Messiah, the anointed One, the Savior has arrived and that things are changing, the Messianic era has arrived. Jesus would be in the world as a teacher and preacher for three years, then he would suffer, die, and rise from the dead. Before he ascended into Heaven, he had taught how to build the Kingdom of God (with love), he appointed Apostles to go throughout the world to make the message of the Kingdom and salvation known, he also made it clear that he needed his followers to continue his mission.

All these years later, we are his followers charged with continuing his mission. This mission is to bring glad tidings to the poor (material help), proclaim liberty to captives (captured by sin) and recovery of sight to the blind (those who don’t know or see God). Let the oppressed go free (those stuck in terrible situations). We see all these situations in our Archdiocese, sadly.

I like the Annual Appeal because what Jesus proclaimed in that synagogue was not just for him and during his time, but for us. We have the opportunity to bring glad tidings to the poor; to help those who are captive, perhaps by addiction, those who do not know/see God. That is the purpose of our Annual Appeal, nothing other than to build up the Kingdom of God and bring glad tidings/good news to those who are marginalized or don’t yet know Jesus.

The video that we showed at Mass shows whom the Appeal helps: the food pantries; children in Catholic school who want to know Christ; the young adults who want to build a better relationship with Christ; the seminarians who want to serve as priests and will serve you here one day; mothers who have no one to help them, so they go to Mercy House in Newark for supplies and food for their babies. This Appeal is to bring Good News/ glad tidings to the poor.

This year our goal this year is $82,300, the same as last year, which we reached, and I thank you. We have 1,700 families, so if every family contributes what they can, we will easily reach our goal. If we exceed it like we did last year, the amount that exceeds our goal comes back to St. Cassian Parish. It is a win-win.

The Appeal lasts until December, so your gift can be spread out through December, but if we achieve our goal of helping the poor by the end of June, we receive some great financial rewards that will help our Parish as well. I would love to have this complete by May or early June the latest so that we can accomplish this early and quickly.

I give to the Appeal every year (20+ years) and it is a sacrifice for me, but I know that it is worth it, and I am happy to do it.

Many of you have already received letters and envelopes from the Archdiocese about this (some have already given), but if you haven’t you can grab an envelope in the church, in the pews or back table. You can return your gift this weekend but know that we will earmark the weekends of Feb. 5/6 and Feb. 12/13 as Collection Weekends.

Please consider a gift to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to help the oppressed go free.

Blessings and thank you for your generosity,
Fr. Marc A. Vicari,
Pastor

Dear Parishioners:

Two years ago almost to the day, a Washington state man became the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, the world, and our little corner of it, was plunged into an abyss of fear, severe illness and death. Countries worldwide locked their doors to outsiders. Families, friends and neighbors did the same thing. Scientists worked 24/7 around the world to find a way to stop the spread. They’ve done a great job and all of us have done our part to follow the guidance they gave us to stay healthy and safe.

In the midst of all the loss of loved ones and terrible things we heard and saw during the first full year of the pandemic, something amazing happened. People reached out to people anyway they could. From the immense sacrifices of healthcare professionals and first responders sacrificed to the small acts of kindness like little libraries popping up on someone’s lawn, each of us wanted to do something, anything, to relieve someone’s suffering be it physical, emotional or financial.

We are grateful to God that we are on a positive path. But we have not yet completely conquered this enemy. Nor have we found a sustainable way to conquer the enemy that has plagued our world for at least as long as there is recorded history – need. The ability to extinguish need of many kinds always seem to be just an arm’s length out of reach. But, as we did during the worst of the pandemic, we continue trying to do our own part, in our own corner of the world, to meet the needs of others.

This weekend at all the masses, we viewed the video produced by the Archdiocese that introduced us to some of the needs of the those around us. Many of those needs are invisible as people go about their day. Some of them, sadly, are too visible. All of us here today are in need of the spiritual healing that only being fully together as a family of faith can bring. I realize that life today does not provide the certainties we once enjoyed and it’s not easy to ask you to dig into pockets that may not be as deep as they may have been before our world was turned upside down. But I ask you today to consider some gift to the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal as a way of reaching out to those in need who, now more than ever, may literally be your neighbor. Regardless of who we are, what we do to make a living, our politics, or anything else that makes us different from one another, the past two years have been undeniable reminders that we need each other.

Thank you for your continued support of our parish so we can continue to provide this beautiful place of worship and spiritual sanctuary and support you any and every way we can on your journey. And thank you for any contribution you can make to the Annual Appeal.

Blessings,
Fr. Marc A. Vicari,
Pastor

Dear Parishioners:

It seems odd to be reading about Jesus as a grown man first last week with his baptism by John and now this week with the wedding feast at Cana when we celebrated his birth just two weeks ago. But if we take a step back and consider the past three weeks not as individual events, we realize that we have been given everything we need to know about who the long- awaited Messiah is. At Christmas, Jesus was born an everyday human, not someone with power, wealth or station in life that wouldn’t know what life was like for the ‘regular’ people; at his baptism, God the Father announced to the world that Jesus was his son; and at the wedding feast at Cana, by ‘saving’ the bridegroom from the embarrassment of running out of wine and then providing the guests with the best wine of the feast, Jesus announced his intent not only to save us from sin, but to provide us with an eternal life beyond our wildest dreams. What a way to start off the ‘ordinary’ time of the church year! Maybe this time before Lent is not so ordinary after all. Maybe, we are not so ordinary.

In fact, through the other two readings this week, we are told how extraordinary we are. In the first reading from the Old Testament, we are told that the Lord calls “My Delight.” Then, in the second reading from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians that each of us is given a gift chosen specifically for us. Aren’t we all given all seven gifts at baptism? Yes. And aren’t those same seven gifts enriched in the sacrament of Confirmation? Yes. But isn’t it true that each of us seems to radiate one gift of the Spirit perhaps a bit more clearly than others? It seems so. Which gift of the Spirit seems to come to the forefront in your life?

Blessings,
Fr. Marc A. Vicari,
Pastor

Dear Parishioners:

By now, for most of us, Christmas has become a ‘thing of the past’. Most of us have taken down our Christmas trees and packed up the decorations. Every year it seems that we wait forever for Christmas to arrive. Then, in what seems like an instant, all the beautiful decorations, special family traditions and visits with those we only see at this time of year are gone in an instant. But, according to the Church’s liturgical calendar, today, the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, is still part of the Christmas season.

By this time in our lives, we’ve heard the story of Jesus’ baptism many times and probably take it on its face. But think for a minute – why was Jesus baptized? He certainly didn’t need to be since he wasn’t born with original sin. We learn that being baptized was a way Jesus could connect with his humanity, reveal his true identity as the Son of God and begin his ministry as the Messiah. Since most of us were baptized as infants, we do not remember the event, only what we may have been told about the day years later. No matter what age we were, with the exception of needing to be cleansed of original sin, like Jesus, our baptism proclaimed us a child of God, united us with the entire Church and began our ministry to proclaim the good news of the gospel. This afternoon in the celebration of the sacrament of baptism, we will welcome several children into the fellowship of the church. What better day for each of us to take some time to thank God for the gift of our baptism and reflect on our relationship with God and how we can continue to help it grow and deepen. So for those of you who have been holding out on packing up your Christmas things and have been teased by family and friends, you can tell them that today is still technically part of the Christmas season. After today, you’re on your own with defending the extension of Christmas decorations.

It has been wonderful seeing so many of you continuing to come to mass each week even as we begin the annual cold and flu season and deal with Covid and its variant. Be assured that we continue to clean and disinfect our church thoroughly and follow any federal, state, Archdiocesan or local mandates. Priests and Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist continue to use hand sanitizer before and wear a mask during the distribution of communion. You may be aware that only the Township of Montclair (not the county, state or federal government) passed a masking resolution on December 21st requiring masks to be worn in public places. You many not be aware that the resolution excludes certain general public situations (like eating and drinking in public places), people with prohibitive medical issues, religious services and political activities from strict adherence to the resolution. Whether or not you wear a mask in church continues to be your choice. We continue to encourage everyone to remain faithful to our Catholic Christian values by being mindful of all everything available to protect your own health and safety as well as that of all the people of our parish and town.

Blessings,
Fr. Marc A. Vicari,
Pastor

Dear Parishioners:

I have a feeling that everyone’s sentiment is the same as we prepare for the New Year: “Thankfully 2021 is over and 2022 will be a better year for sure!”

That is my prayer not only for the Parish here, but for the whole world as well. I pray that the New Year will mean good health for all; a greater appreciation for our loved ones; a renewed love for the Lord and His Church and especially the Eucharist that many of us have not been able to receive; a sense of thanksgiving that the Lord has protected us; and gratitude for so many. Thank you, Lord, for all these blessings!

I am happy to see so many of you back in church again and grateful for your faithfulness. In many ways, after so many being away for so long, the return will be like a new birth and a new start to everything we do here at St. Cassian Parish and I am excited to begin all over again. I realize there are new concerns about virus variants and we, as a parish, continue to be vigilant with our regime of cleaning, sanitizing, social distancing and wearing masks where appropriate. I encourage you to do as you feel best to safeguard your health, but hope that, if you feel safe, you will continue to join us in prayer and worship.

We certainly do count our blessings as the year comes to an end and the new one begins. We thank God for the blessings we did receive this past year and firmly believe that the New Year will be filled with God’s graciousness and new blessings.

New Year blessings to all,
Fr. Marc A. Vicari,
Pastor

Dear Parishioners:

This time of year is such a blessed time for us as a parish and as a local community; there really is nothing like it!

To all who are our ‘regular, come-every-week parishioners’, thank you for being here and your wonderful support. To those who have been away from this parish or are just finding your way back to the Catholic Church, I am excited that you are with us and hope that you feel comfortable enough to return on a regular basis. And if you are visiting for the Christmas, I wholeheartedly welcome you.

It is incredible how, for the past few weeks, we have this building crescendo of excitement growing: all the while, baking cookies, buying the perfect gifts, singing along with the Christmas carols, decorating our houses; all this adds so much to the spiritual festivities! It is not just the “Season” that we embrace, really, but it is the celebration of the great Solemnity of the Birth of Jesus who ushered into the world with him the promise of salvation, eternal life and the Good News which is happiness with the Father in heaven! This is what we truly celebrate. Remembering all this makes the celebration of Christmas even more meaningful because then it is not just a fun day of cookies and get-togethers, but a solemn and wonderful day that we as a Christian people praise God through the family get-togethers, gifts to each other commemorating the gifts brought to Our Savior as well as the many other activities we take part in that give glory to God as a little Child.

On behalf of Msgr. Anthony Kulig, our weekend assistant, Msgr. Doran, Fr. Gene Gniewyk and the parish staff, we pray that this Christmas Day and the Christmas season that follows will be a time of fun, the pleasure of being together we so sorely missed last year, moments filled with grace, and most of all an opportunity to time and time again remember how God was born to live and grow like us and eventually bring us to heaven!

May this be a time of wonderful blessings for all! Be assured of my prayers for you! Merry Christmas

Blessings,
Fr. Marc A. Vicari,
Pastor