Saints for Our Time

M ONITOR M ONITOR MSaints for Our Time ONITOR M

Special Supplement • APRIL 10, 2014

THE

Newspaper of the Diocese of Trenton

THE

Newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton, N.J.

Blesseds John XXIII and John Paul II, who, each in their own way, transformed the Church and impacted the world, will be declared saints by Pope Francis during a Canonization Mass April 27 at the Vatican.

Special coverage on their lives and legacies begins on C2.

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Catholics throughout the Diocese of Trenton share in the joyful celebration; tribute begins C4.

Pope John Paul II reaches out to young women during World Youth Day in Denver in 1993.

He inaugurated World Youth Day 30 years ago.

Its international gatherings have drawn hundreds of thousands of people. CNS photo/ Joe Rimkus Jr

Blessed John XXIII is pictured in this undated photo. Blessed John, who convened the Second Vatican Council, will be canonized along with Blessed John Paul II April 27 at the Vatican. CNS photo/Catholic Press Photo

CNS photo/Catholic Press Photo

Blessed John XXIII prays after his election in 1958 at the Vatican. At the age of 76 he was the oldest pope to be elected in more than 200 years. CNS

Blessed John Paul II greets the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in this Dec. 25, 2002, file photo.

CNS photo/Alessa ndro Bianchi, EPA

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Papal Canonizations

The Monitor

A Pope for modern times: Blessed John Paul brought moral force, intellect, flair to world stage

By Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY • Blessed John Paul II, who will be canonized April 27, was one of the most forceful moral leaders of the modern age.

He brought a philosopher’s intellect, a pilgrim’s spiritual intensity and an actor’s flair for the dramatic to his role as head of the universal Church for more than 26 years.

The Polish pope was a tireless evangelizer and forceful communicator, speaking to millions in their own languages. But toward the end of his life, his powers of speech faltered with his worsening illness, which left him often unable to even murmur a blessing.

The first non-Italian pope in 455 years, Blessed John Paul became a spiritual protagonist in two global transitions: the fall of European communism, which began in his native Poland in 1989, and the passage to the third millennium of Christianity.

As pastor of the universal Church, he jetted around the world, taking his message to 129 countries in 104 trips outside Italy – including seven to the United States.

Within the Church, the pope was just as vigorous and no less controversial. He disciplined dissenting theologians, excommunicated self-styled “traditionalists,” and upheld often unpopular Church positions like its opposition to artificial birth control. At the same time, he pushed Catholic social teaching into relatively new areas such as bioethics, international economics, racism and ecology.

In his later years, the pope moved with difficulty, tired easily and was less expressive, all symptoms of the nervous system disorder of Parkinson’s disease.

Yet he pushed himself to the limits of his physical capabilities, convinced that such suffering was itself a form of spiritual leadership.

He led the Church through a heavy program of soul-searching events during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, fulfilling a dream of his pontificate. His long-awaited pilgrimage to the Holy Land that year took him to the roots of the faith and dramatically

Roots of Faith • Pope

John Paul II prays at the Western Wall in Jerusalem March 26, 2000.

Praying at the Jewish holy site was among the many “papal firsts” of his pontificate.

CNS photo/Reuters

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Connected in Spirit • Pope John Paul II embraces Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio after presenting the new cardinal with a red beretta at the Vatican Feb. 21, 2001. It was the Polish pontiff’s choice of cardinals that would help set the stage for the eventual election of Cardinal Bergoglio (Pope Francis) following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. CNS photo/Reuters illustrated the Church’s improved relations with Jews.

He also presided over an unprecedented public apology for the sins of Christians during darker chapters of Church history, such as the Inquisition and the Crusades.

His social justice encyclicals, including his landmark document, the apostolic letter “Novo Millennio Ineunte” (“At the Beginning of the New Millennium”), made a huge impact, addressing the moral dimensions of human labor, the widening gap between rich and poor and the shortcomings of the free-market system.

He called for a “new sense of mission’’ to bring Gospel values into every area of social and economic life. At the pope’s request, the Vatican published an exhaustive compendium of social teachings in 2004.

As a manager, he set directions but often left policy details to top aides. His reaction to the mushrooming clerical sex abuse scandal in the United States underscored his governing style: He suffered deeply,

Lasting Memory • Pope John Paul II leans on his crosier during Mass at Giants Stadium in New Jersey in 1995.

Catholics from all five (arch)dioceses in the state filled the stadium to see the Holy Father and participate in the Mass.

CNS photo/ Michael Okoniewski

prayed at length and made brief but forceful statements emphasizing the gravity of such sins by priests.

He convened a Vatican-U.S. summit to address the problem, but let his Vatican advisers and U.S. Church leaders work out the answers. In the end, he approved changes that made it easier to laicize abusive priests.

The pope approved a universal catechism as one remedy for doctrinal ambiguity. He also pushed Church positions further into the public forum. In the 1990s he urged the world’s bishops to step up their fight against abortion and euthanasia, saying the practices amounted to a modern-day “slaughter of the innocents.” His sharpened critique of these and other “anti-family” policies helped make him Time magazine’s choice for Man of the Year in 1994.

The pope was a cautious ecumenist, insisting that real differences between religions and Churches not be covered up. Yet he made several dramatic gestures, including: launching a Catholic-Orthodox theological dialogue in 1979; visiting a Rome synagogue in 1986; hosting world religious leaders at a “prayer summit” for peace in 1986; and traveling to Damascus, Syria, in 2001, where he became the first pontiff to visit a mosque.

To his own flock, he brought continual reminders that prayer and the sacraments were crucial to being a good Christian. He held up Mary as a model of holiness for the whole Church, updated the rosary with five new “Mysteries of Light” and named more than 450 new saints – more than all his predecessors combined.

The pope lived a deep spiritual life – something See Humility • C6

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Papal Canonizations

April 10, 2014 •

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Short pontificate, long impact Blessed John XXIII launched reforms

By Catholic News Service

month recess. Subsequent sessions – the final one ended in December 1965 – produced documents on the role of VATICAN CITY • Although he bishops, priestly formation, religious served as Pope for less than five years, life, Christian education, the laity and Blessed John XXIII left one of the most interreligious dialogue. lasting legacies in the Catholic Church’s He produced a number of hishistory by convening the Second Vatitoric encyclicals, including “Mater can Council. et Magistra” on Christian social A plump, elderly, smiling Italian of doctrine and “Pacem in Terris,” peasant origins, the future Pope had an issued in 1963 at the height of the illustrious career as a papal diplomat in Cold War, on the need for global Bulgaria, Turkey and postwar France. peace and justice.

He became Pope amid the dismanHe established the Pontifical tling of colonialism, the rise of the Cold Commission for the Revision of the War and on the cusp of a technological Code of Canon Law, which oversaw transformation unlike anything the world the updating of the general law of the had seen since the Industrial Revolution.

Church after the Second Vatican CounCiting the Holy Spirit as his source cil, culminating in publication of the of inspiration, he called the Second new code in 1983.

Vatican Council to help the Church conBefore he was elected Pope, he front the rapid changes and mounting served as a Vatican diplomat. His work challenges unfolding in the world – and, by inviting non-Catholics to the council, in Bulgaria and Turkey put the future Pope in close contact with many Christo work toward Christian unity.

As Pope from 1958 to 1963, Blessed tians who were not in full communion with the Catholic Church and inspired John launched an extensive renewal him to dedicate so much effort as Pope of the Church when he convoked the to try to recover the unity lost over the council, which set in motion major recenturies. It was Blessed John who, as forms with regard to the Church and its structure, the liturgy, ecumenism, social Pope in 1960, created the Vatican’s office for promoting Christian unity. communication and Eastern churches.

With his humility, gentleness and After the initial session’s close in active courage, he reached out like the 1962, he set up a committee to direct Good Shepherd to the marginalized and council activities during the ninethe world, visiting the imprisoned and the sick, and welcoming people from every nation and faith.

He visited many parishes in Rome, especially in the city’s growing suburbs. His contact with the people and his open display of personal warmth, sensitivity and fatherly kindness earned him the nickname, “the Good Pope.”

Blessed John brought a humble yet charismatic, personal style to papacy. He placed great importance on his modest upbringing in a village about 25 miles northeast of Milan, saying: “I come from the country, from poverty” that he said was “happy and blessed poverty – not cursed, not endured.”

Born in Sotto il Monte, Italy, in 1881, Angelo Giuseppe Vatican Diplomat • Archbishop Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was one of 13 Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, is pictured in 1926, the children in a family year after he was ordained to the episcopacy. CNS photo/courof sharecroppers. He tesy of Archbishop Loris Capovilla

‘The Good Pope’ • A mosaic on the

wall of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome shows Blessed John XXIII, who convened the Second Vatican Council in 1962.

CNS photo/ANSA, EPA

entered the minor seminary at the age of 11 and was sent to Rome to study at the age of 19.

He was ordained to the priesthood in 1904 and, after several years as secretary to the bishop of Bergamo, he was called to the Vatican. In 1925 he began serving as a Vatican diplomat, first post-

ed to Bulgaria, then to Greece and Turkey and, finally, to France. He was named a cardinal and patriarch of Venice in 1953.

After more than five years as patriarch of Venice, then-Cardinal Roncalli was elected Pope Oct. 28, 1958.

He died of cancer June 3, 1963.

Blessed John was beatified in 2000,

by Blessed John Paul II, with whom he will be canonized April 27.

For Blessed John XXIII, calling Vatican II was an act of faith

By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY • Blessed John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council in the conviction that it was necessary for the Catholic Church, yet without pre-conceived ideas of what it would accomplish, said Vatican II participants who recalled the event half a century later.

The men spoke in exclusive interviews featured in a forthcoming Catholic News Service documentary film, “Voices of Vatican II: Council Participants Remember.”

Blessed John had come to a “conviction that something ought to be done in order to make the Church more responsive to this modern world, in order to make the modern world more responsive to the Church. And that intuition went far beyond his intellectual preparation,” said Jesuit Father Ladislas Orsy, a “peritus” – or expert theological adviser – at the council.

Cardinal Loris Capovilla, who served as Blessed John’s private secretary during his pontificate, was privy to some of the Pope’s first remarks, made only a few days after his election in 1958, about what would become

Vatican II. Cardinals and bishops had presented the new pontiff with a litany of challenges before the Church – “not doctrinal but pastoral problems,” Cardinal Capovilla said – in areas that included liturgy, diplomacy, and the education and discipline of priests.

“My desk is piling up with problems, questions, requests, hopes,” Blessed John told his secretary. “What’s really necessary is a council.”

When the secretary refused to comment, the pope interpreted his silence as disapproval.

“You think I am old,” Blessed John told him. “You think I’ll make a mess out of this enormous task, that I don’t have time. ... But that’s not how you think with faith. ... If one can only begin with the preparatory commission, that will be of great merit. If one dies, another will come. It is a great honor even to begin.”

Blessed John died June 3, 1963, after the council’s first session, and the remaining four sessions took place under his successor, Pope Paul VI. Yet Blessed John’s ideas greatly influenced the outcome of Vatican II in certain areas, including liturgy.

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Pontiff’s lasting vision Continued from • C3

Cardinal Paul Poupard, who served as a peritus at the council, said Blessed John believed “liturgy better expresses the mystery of the Church insofar as everyone takes part, so the more who take part, the better.”

In that spirit, Cardinal Poupard said, the liturgical reform that followed in the council’s wake produced a missal that was simpler, clearer and celebrated in modern languages.

The pope’s influence was also eventually seen in the council’s 1965 declaration “Nostra Aetate,” which exonerated the Jewish people of collective guilt for the killing of Jesus and affirmed that God’s covenant with

them had never been abrogated.

Cardinal Georges Cottier, a Vatican II peritus, said Blessed John appreciated the special need for the document in the aftermath of the Holocaust. His sensitivity to the matter reflected his experience as a Vatican diplomat in pre-war Bulgaria, where he had befriended many Jews, and his later actions to save Jews in the region from the Nazi genocide.

“So he knew the drama” of the Jews, Cardinal Cottier said. “Right away he said yes, with enthusiasm,” to a proposal for such a document.

Yet the pope who called the council refused to define it for the bishops who would actually serve as its fathers. When asked what Vatican II was, Cardinal Poupard recalled, Blessed John would reply: “On the subject of the council we are all novices. But when all

Celebrating

IN COMMEMORATION OF THE CANONIZATIONS OF BLESSEDS JOHN XXIII AND JOHN PAUL II

We join the world in celebration of this Most Holy Occasion through our prayers, expression of thanks, gratitude and happiness!

From Rev. Jacek W. Labinski, S.T.D. And

St. Hedwig’s Parish Family, Trenton The parishioners of

Holy Family Church Keyport

celebrate the holiness and thank the Lord for the Pope Saints of our times: Angelo Roncalli and Karol Wojtyla, Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II, respectively.

Please join the staff and parishioners of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Seaside Heights,

as we pray and celebrate.

The Monitor

the bishops are there, the Holy Spirit will be there and all will go well.”

Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, another Vatican II peritus, recalled the now-legendary occasion when the pope stepped to the window of his study and said: “’What is the council? I don’t know.’ He opened the window and said, ‘At least some fresh air for the Church.’”

Though Blessed John did not have a set program for the council, he did have models for it, including some contemporary secular initiatives.

“After the Second World War, it was a very good thing that there arose three international institutions: the U.N. for peace, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) for bread, UNESCO for culture,” Cardinal Capovilla recalls the pope saying. “Why don’t we get together to talk?”

Saints for our time

The twin parishes of

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Highlands and St. Agnes, Atlantic Highlands, Celebrate the canonizations of Blesseds John XXIII and John Paul II

“Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Pope John Paul II “Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams...Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.” Pope John XXIII

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e join the faithful around the world in offering our prayers to Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II on this most joyous occasion.

Incarnation-St. James Parish Ewing, NJ

The parishioners of

Divine Mercy Parish, Trenton, joyfully celebrate the canonizations of

Blessed Pope John XXIII and Blessed Pope John Paul II.

In Honor of the Canonization of Blesseds John XXIII and John Paul II

Christ the King Parish 380 Division Street Long Branch, NJ 07740 Worshiping at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church and Holy Trinity Church Long Branch, New Jersey Rev. Juan Daniel Peirano, Pastor Staff & Parishioners

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e thank God for our new saints.

Sts. John XXIII and John Paul II, pray for us!

Parishioners of

St. Charles Borromeo Cinnaminson

St. John Paul II and St. John XXIII Pray for us.

St. Benedict Catholic Church Holmdel, NJ

www.TrentonMonitor.com

The parishioners of

Sacred Heart Parish, Bay Head, offer our congratulations and best wishes as we celebrate the canonizations of

Blessed Pope John XXIII and Blessed Pope John Paul II.

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St. John Neumann Parish, Mount Laurel and the Very Rev. Phillip C. Pfleger, E.V., Administrator, wish to join Bishop David O’Connell, C.M. and the faithful of the Trenton Diocese in

celebrating the canonizations of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.

San Papa Giovanni XXIII e San Giovanni Paolo II, prega per noi!

Papierzu Swiety Janie XXIII i Papierzu Swiety Janie Pawle II, modlcie sie za nami!

St. Pope John XXIII and St. Pope John Paul II, Pray for us!

Church of Saint Rose 603 Seventh Avene, Belmar

St. Mary’s Parish Rejoices and Celebrates The Canonization of Blessed John XXIII & Blessed John Paul II

Please join us for a Parish Mission to commemorate this most Holy occasion.

Monday, April 28th, Tuesday, April 29th & Wednesday, April 30th 7:00 pm each night St. Mary of the Pines Manahawkin, NJ

Stuart Country Day School and Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart in Princeton joyfully celebrate the canonization of Blessed Pope John 23rd and Blessed Pope John Paul II at the Vatican by Pope Francis.

Princeton Academy

Boys JK–8 Open House Wednesday, April 16, 9:00 AM www.princetonacademy.org

Stuart Country Day School

Coed Preschool/JK Open House Tuesday, April 29, 9:30 AM www.stuartschool.org

Sts. John XXIII and John Paul II pray for us!

The Canonizations of John XXIII and John Paul II

Celebrating

Peter said to Jesus: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus replied: You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.

Mt 16: 16, 18 Peter said ut Jesus : Vos es Sarcalogos , Filius of victus Deus.

Quod Jesus restituo : Vos es Peter, quod super is silicis EGO mos constructum meus Templum.

Saints for our time

424 Lincoln Avenue, Avon-by-the-Sea

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e join the Universal Church in celebrating the canonizations of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.

Rejoice!

The Parish Community of

St. Maximilian Kolbe Church Toms River

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otre Dame joins the faithful of the Diocese of Trenton with Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M. in joyful celebration of the canonization of Blessed Pope John 23rd and Blessed Pope John Paul II at the Vatican by Pope Francis on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, 2014.

Through their intercession and the example of their holy lives, may we be led ever deeper into the fullness of your love.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

T

he Administration, Faculty, Staff, Students & Alumni of Christian Brothers Academy join Bishop O’Connell and the faithful of the Trenton Diocese in celebrating the canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II on Divine Mercy Sunday.

St. John XXIII

and St. John Paul II pray for us!

Christian Brothers Academy Over 50 years of excellence in Catholic education in the Lasallian Tradition.

850 Newman Springs Rd, Lincroft 732-747-1959 www.cbalincroftnj.org admissions@cbalincroftnj.org

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Pope John Paul II

www.TrentonMonitor.com • April 10, 2014 •

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Pope John XXIII

A chronological record of the life and accomplishments of Karol Wojtyla

Key events in the life of Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli

© CNS

Blessed John Paul played major role in fall of Soviet communism

By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY • Catholics venerate Blessed John Paul II for his holiness, as demonstrated, among other ways, by his globetrotting evangelism and long-suffering endurance in the papacy despite his illness.

For secular historians, however, none of the late pope’s accomplishments looms larger than his role in the end of the Cold War and the fall of Soviet communism.

Blessed John Paul’s opposition to totalitarianism grew out of his devotion to the idea of God-given human rights. As a father of the Second Vatican Council, then-Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow was a key supporter of the 1965 Declaration on Religious Freedom,

Saintly Paths • Pope John Paul II greets Mother Teresa of Calcutta at the Vatican in an undated file photo. Mother Teresa, the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, Teresa, was beatified

by Pope John Paul in 2003. CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano

“Dignitatis Humanae,” which affirmed that the “right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person, as this dignity is known through the revealed word of God and by reason itself.”

During the 1970s, a period of increasing ferment in Poland marked by major strikes to protest the communist government’s economic failures, thenCardinal Wojtyla became a well-known champion of human rights for all Poles.

“It cannot happen that one group of men, one social group – however welldeserving – should impose on the whole people an ideology, an opinion contrary to the will of the majority,” he said in a 1976 homily.

After his 1978 election to the papacy, Blessed John Paul modified Pope Paul VI’s policy of “Ostpolitik,” whereby

the Vatican sought to foster better relations with Soviet-bloc countries in the hope of improving conditions for Catholic churches there. The new pope kept open the channels of dialogue, while pressing communist regimes to comply with international agreements on human rights.

In June 1979, less than nine months after becoming pope, Blessed John Paul visited his native land, where he spoke to crowds totaling 13 million and publicly called for “political self-determination for (Poland’s) citizens and formation of its own culture and civilization.”

The next year, nationwide strikes forced the Polish government to raise wages, loosen censorship and permit the formation of an independent labor union, Solidarity. Blessed John Paul was a major inspiration for this nonviolent movement. Lech Walesa, a Solidarity leader and later president of Poland, signed the accords ending those strikes with a pen bearing the pope’s picture.

The alarm of Polish officials and Soviet leaders at the pope’s influence in that period has been well-documented in books published since the end of the Cold War. When a Turkish gunman nearly succeeding in killing Blessed John Paul in May 1981, many observers suspected a Soviet connection. That link has never been proven, but Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the late pope’s secretary, wrote in 2007 that Blessed John Paul himself believed Moscow was behind the assassination attempt.

“Don’t all roads, however disparate they are, lead to the KGB?” Cardinal Dziwisz wrote.

Blessed John Paul’s second visit to Poland, in June 1983, came after the Polish government imposed martial law to suppress the democracy movement. The pope met with Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski and called on other countries to lift economic sanctions against the military regime. But he also publicly championed

independent “trade unions as a mouthpiece for the struggle for social justice” and insisted on meeting with Walesa, who was still in custody. Martial law was lifted the next month.

Over the following years, the pope continued to encourage the democracy movement with weekly radio addresses in Polish. In 1989, against a background of liberalizing moves by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the Polish government agreed to hold round-table negotiations with representatives of Solidarity and the Catholic Church. Walesa later wrote that the idea for the negotiations came from Blessed John Paul.

As a result of those talks, elections in June 1989 led to the formation of a new Polish government led by a noncommunist prime minister. Within a few months, the Berlin Wall was down and communist regimes had fallen in Czechoslovakia and Romania. The drive for independence by other Soviet bloc states and Soviet republics finally led to the end of the USSR in 1991.

“Everything that happened in Eastern Europe in these last years,”

Example of Forgiveness • Pope John Paul II is assisted by aides after being shot in St. Peter’s Square May 13, 1981. Bullets fired by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca struck the pope’s hand and lower abdomen as he rode in an open jeep greeting pilgrims on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. His personal secretary, Msgr. Stanislaw Dziwisz, is pictured over the pope’s left shoulder. CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano

Gorbachev wrote in 1992, “would have been impossible without the presence of this pope and without the important role – including the political role – that he played on the world stage.”

Humility and generosity marked life of John Paul II Continued from • C2 Voice for Freedom • Cuban President Fidel Castro gestures to Pope John Paul II in Havana in 1998. It was the first visit to Cuba by a pope, and the Polish pontiff used it to appeal for greater religious rights.

CNS photo/ Reuters

that was not easily translated by the media. Yet in earlier years, this pope seemed made for modern media, and his pontificate has been captured in some lasting images, like huddling in a prison-cell conversation with his would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot the pope in St. Peter’s Square May 13, 1981.

Karol Jozef Wojtyla was born May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, a small town near Krakow, in southern Poland. He lost his mother at age 9, his only brother at age 12 and his father at age 20.

An accomplished actor in Krakow’s underground theater during the war, he changed paths and joined the clandestine seminary after being turned away from a Carmelite monastery with the advice: “You are destined for greater things.”

Following theological and philosophical studies in Rome, he returned to Poland for parish work in 1948, spending weekends on camping trips with young people. When named auxiliary bishop of Krakow in

1958 he was Poland’s youngest bishop, and he became archbishop of Krakow in 1964. He also came to the attention of the universal Church through his work on important documents of the Second Vatican Council.

Though increasingly respected in Rome, Cardinal Wojtyla was a virtual unknown when elected pope Oct. 16, 1978. In St. Peter’s Square that night, he set his papal style in a heartfelt talk -- delivered in fluent Italian, interrupted by loud cheers from the crowd.

After more than 26 years as pope, Blessed John Paul died at the age of 84 at the Vatican April 2, 2005, the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday.

Divine Mercy Sunday had special significance for Blessed John Paul, who made it a Church-wide feast day to be celebrated a week after Easter. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on Divine Mercy Sunday, May 1, 2011, and will be canonized by Pope Francis on the same feast day, April 27, 2014, together with Blessed John XXIII, the pope Blessed John Paul beatified in 2000.

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Tim Ryan and his family join with Bishop O’Connell and the faithful of the Diocese of Trenton in thanking Almighty God for the gift of our two newest saints, Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II. May Our Lord’s abundant blessings be with all of us.

St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II pray for us!

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ear children, I hear your voices. Mine is one voice but recaps the voice of the whole world: here all the world is represented. One would say that even the moon hurried this evening, observe her, in the high, looking at this show. My person is worth nothing: it is a brother speaking to you, a father at God’s willing. Therefore let us go on to love each other, loving each other this

way; looking at each other in the meeting: we have to pick up what unifies us and leave aside the rest… Going back home, you will find your children, give your children a caress and tell them: this is the Pope’s caress. You will find some tears to wipe away: say a good word. The Pope is with us, specially in the time of sadness and bitterness. And then all together we live: singing, sighing, crying, but always full of hope in the Christ, who helps us and listens to us, and let us continue to walk.”

(Pope John XXIII to the crowds in the square, on October 11, 1962) In Thanksgiving for the Canonizations of

Good Pope John and

Pope John Paul II THE PARISH FAMILY OF

Saint Robert Bellarmine, FREEHOLD

Msgr. Sam Sirianni, V.F., Pastor

Papal Canonizations

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April 10, 2014 •

Assumption Parish to observe Divine Mercy

For expanded and ongoing coverage of the canonization

Assumption Parish, New Egypt will observe Divine Mercy Sunday April 27 at 2 p.m. in the Church of the Assumption, 28 Monmouth Road, Wrightstown, in special celebration of the canonization of Blessed Pope John Paul II and Blessed Pope John XXIII. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will begin at 3 p.m. followed by a healing prayer and Anointing of the Sick at 3:30 p.m. Fellowship and refreshments will be available afterwards.

of Blessed John Paul II and Blessed John XXIII,

go to TrentonMonitor.com.

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Saints for our time

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by Pope Francis on celebrates Through intercession the example of27, their holy lives, may we be Divine Mercy Sunday, April 2014. thetheir canonization ofand Blessed Pope John XXIII and led ever deeper into the fullness of your love.

Through their intercession and the example of their holy lives, may Blessed Pope John Paul II at the Vatican by Pope we be Through Our Lord.ofAmen. led ever deeperChrist into the fullness your love.

Francis on Divine Sunday, April 27, 2014.

Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

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• April 10, 2014

Papal Canonizations

The Monitor

Journey to Rome

Pilgrims will witness two popes be made saints

By EmmaLee Italia Correspondent

I

n March 2013, travelers with the Domestic Church Media pilgrimage to Rome surprisingly found themselves in Vatican City for the election of Pope Francis, and witnessed his first appearance and blessing from directly beneath the window in which he first appeared as pontiff.

This month, 43 pilgrims will join DCM for its second historic pilgrimage: to witness the canonization of both Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II the week after Easter, April 27 – also known as Divine Mercy Sunday.

Domestic Church Media operates two radio stations under the call letters WFJS (for Venerable Fulton J. Sheen) – 1260 AM, in the Trenton, Princeton, and Bucks County, Pa. listening areas; and 89.3 FM, which covers Freehold, Colts Neck and Spring Lake, to name a few.

Though live radio broadcast likely won’t be possible given their travel schedule, DCM plans to post updates on social media from the Vatican during their pilgrimage, using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Travel arrangements were made before the group knew with certainty about the Vatican’s plans.

“We knew the canonizations were going to happen, but the Vatican wasn’t announcing any official dates,” said DCM co-founder Jim Manfredonia. “I was led in prayer to go ahead and plan a pilgrimage ... Within a few weeks of booking, it was announced that it would be Divine Mercy Sunday.”

Booking early allowed participants the convenience of non-stop flights and rooms in a four-star hotel in the Villa Borghese area of Rome. Pilgrims will

depart April For multimedia coverage 25 and return on this story, visit May 3.

TrentonMonitor.com “We’ll be in Rome for five days, with a side day trip more info photo gallery to Assisi, and then we’ll travel over to San Giovanni to the St. Padre Pio Shrine,” Manfredonia confirmed. The group is also scheduled to attend the Pope’s Wednesday General Audience on April 30.

Being in Rome during such an historic event will have special meaning for Manfredonia, who co-founded Domestic Church Media with his wife, Cheryl, who will also attend the pilgrimage.

“John Paul II had a major influence on me,” said Manfredonia. “It was his encyclical letter, ‘Veritatis Splendor,’ that was the impetus behind me beginning my journey into Catholic radio. I just feel a special friendship with him.

So, it was only natural that we be there for his canonization.”

Jim and Cheryl stood together with the other pilgrims in the rain in St. Peter’s Square as the white smoke rose last March, announcing Pope Francis to the world.

“Last year’s pilgrimage was the ‘perfect storm’ – and I say that in a good way,” Manfredonia said. “It was planned almost a year in advance. So when everything started to happen the way it did, we all believed it was nothing less than Divine Providence.”

Deacon John F. Vassallo, Jr. and his wife Barbara, of Corpus Christi Parish, Willingboro, are among those attending with the DCM group.

“We had considered going on the trip last year, but didn’t, and then we regretted it,” said Deacon Vassallo. “We

WITNESSING HISTORY •Jim and Cheryl Manfredonia, co-founders of Domestic Church Media, await the announcement of Pope Francis’ election in St. Peter’s Square, March 2013. On April 25 they will be among 43 pilgrims with the DCM group in Rome watching the canonization of Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II. Photo courtesy of Jim Manfredonia

have always wanted to go to Rome, and this sounded like the trip of a lifetime.”

Vassallo hopes the trip will bring “a deeper appreciation of the vastness and universality of Holy Mother Church.”

Vickie M. Ryder, parishioner in St. Joseph Parish, Toms River, wanted to go but was hesitant over the price. Through the generosity of a DCM radio listener from Texas, she was given a generous supplement which allowed her to attend.

Ryder is looking forward to “celebrating the canonization of two popes that influenced me on my journey in this life.” She also plans to bring prayer intentions of family and friends to the tomb of John Paul II. Father Fernando Lopez, parochial

vicar in St. Aloysius Parish, Jackson, will be on the pilgrimage as well.

“I’m going as spiritual guide,” he said. “I’ll be there to celebrate Eucharist every day and Reconciliation. I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone more and have a beautiful experience.”

Father Lopez visited Rome just once before, as a seminarian. “This will be my first trip to Rome as a priest,” he explained. He believes the whole group will benefit from this spiritual renewal. “The way we worship our Lord will change, and it will change me as a priest.”

Domestic Church Media – a completely listener-supported, 501(c)3 lay apostolate – began 11 years ago, when Manfredonia started looking for a station to purchase. WFJS 1260 AM began broadcasting from its Ewing location September 15, 2008. Its sister station, 89.3 FM, started broadcasting May 17, 2011.

DCM programming includes notable EWTN shows, as well as local programs, including Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M.’s monthly first Friday show, “The Shepherd’s Voice.”

“We are currently looking into establishing a radio presence in North Jersey that will include coverage into parts of New York City,” Manfredonia said.

“That’s my special miracle prayer intention for (St.) John Paul II,” Manfredonia said, “to help us get a station there.”

Listen to WFJS radio on 1260 AM, 89.3 FM, and streaming live at www.

WFJS.org. Complete programming schedules are also available on the website.

Download the free radio app for iPhone, Android and Blackberry. For further information, contact Domestic Church Media, P.O. Box 7509, Trenton N.J. 08628, or call 609-882-9357.

Diocesan community to gather in thanksgiving for papal canonizations

T

he diocesan observance of the canonization of Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II will be held on Mercy Sunday weekend with Masses celebrated by Bishop David M. O’ Connell, C.M. St. Robert Bellarmine Parish, Freehold, will host the Mass of Thanksgiving for the Canonization of Blessed John XXIII, April 26 at 4:30 p.m. Multiple choirs, including the parish’s children’s choir, traditional choir and folk group, will lift their voices in song and will be accompanied by brass and timpani.

Monsignor Sam Sirianni expressed his delight at the upcoming liturgy. “On one level, being a child of the council, it’s a great privilege,” the pastor reflected. “The reforms of the council molded and shaped me, and I am very honored to be able to do this. On another level, for the parish, it was founded in light

Papal Relic • Father Jacek

Labinski, pastor of St. Hedwig Parish, Trenton, was presented with a relic of Blessed John Paul II’s blood by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Archbishop of Krakow, Poland, in April, 2013. Photo courtesy of Father Jacek Labinski

of the principles of the council. I would hope that we continue to allow those principles to be the foundation of all our work in the future.”

The Mass of Thanksgiving for the Canonization of Blessed John Paul II

will take place in St. Hedwig Church, Trenton, April 27 at 11 a.m. The celebration will be conducted in Polish and English; children will appear in ethnic dress, and music will be sung in both Polish and English and include both the

Polish and contemporary choirs. Parishioners and guests will also have the opportunity to reverence a papal relic of the blood of Blessed John Paul II. Father Jacek Labinski, pastor of St. Hedwig Church, said, “I am happy to have this celebration of canonization in our parish for so many Polish people, as well as those who built the church [who were] immigrants in the 1920s. I’m sure they never dreamed there would be a Polish pope, and now a canonization of a Polish pope.”

In both churches, visual images of the popes on banners and photographs will be on display, while special prayers and petitions for the canonization will be read during Mass.

St. Robert Bellarmine Parish is located at 61 Georgia Road, Freehold. St. Hedwig Parish is located at 872 Brunswick Avenue, Trenton.

www.TrentonMonitor.com

Papal Canonizations

April 10, 2014 •

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Top 10 most interesting popes declared saints

By Emily Antenucci Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY • From St. Peter to Pope Francis, there have been 266 popes; 78 of them are recognized as saints, and that number will jump to 80 after the April 27 canonizations of Blesseds John XXIII and John Paul II. The earliest popes were martyred for their faith, which the Catholic Church takes as a clear sign of holiness. Once the persecution of the Church ended, the clusters of pope’s names with the title “saint” before them got thinner. Over the past 701 years, and as of April 27, only four popes will have been declared saints.

Here’s a quick look at some of the top 10 most interesting of the earliest popes who are saints: 1. St. Peter, who was first named Simon, was the first to refer to Jesus as Christ, the Son of the living God. His special stature in the Gospels to “feed the sheep” of Christ helped form his mission to proclaim, protect and nourish the faith.

He is also considered the first pope. Early tradition says he was crucified at the foot of Vatican Hill in the mid-60s during the reign of Emperor Nero. His tomb is believed to have been found under St. Peter’s Basilica.

2. St. Soter was Bishop of Rome from around 167 A.D. to his death about seven years later. It’s believed St. Soter formally introduced the annual celebration of Easter in Rome.

3. St. Fabian was pope 236-250.

He is famous for the miraculous nature of his election, in which a dove is said to have descended on his head to mark him as the Holy Spirit’s unexpected choice to become the next pope.

4. St. Damasus was born in Rome and served as pope 366-384. His papacy coincided with the establishment of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380, and he was a staunch advocate of the primacy of the bishop of Rome as being the direct successor of Peter.

5. St. Leo the Great was born with the name Leo, which he kept as pope. Serving as pope 440-461, he was the first pope to be called “the great” and is a doctor of the Church. He confirmed the Church’s position on the Incarnation of Christ. He is best known for persuading Attila the Hun to turn back from his invasion of Italy.

6. St. Gregory the Great was pope 590-604 and was the second pope to be referred to as “the Great,” after Leo. He was related to two popes, and his mother and two aunts were also canonized. He had been a monk and did not want to serve as pope upon his election. He put great emphasis on simplicity and charity and donated food to Rome’s poor as well as invited poor people to eat with him each day.

7. St. Nicholas I the Great was pope 858-867. He was the third and last pope to receive the title of “great.”

He worked to strengthen papal author-

ity. He staunchly upheld marriage laws, supporting freedom to marry and did not endorse some bishops when they excommunicated a royal for marrying without her father’s consent.

8. St. Gregory VII was pope 10731085. He enacted many reforms such as reversing centuries of civil control over Church affairs and giving the pope of Rome full sovereignty over all Church affairs in the West. He fought against simony, the buying and selling of Church office. He introduced the legislation that locked in the observance of celibacy. He

GOOD SAINT JOHN XXIII

decreed the Roman rite for all of Europe and established Nov. 1 as All Saints’ Day. 9. St. Celestine V was a Benedictine monk and hermit who resigned from the papacy just a few months after his election in 1294 because he wanted to return to his humble monastic life.

He issued a papal bull articulating the ability of a pope to resign and establishing rules for an abdication. Pope Benedict XVI, the next pope in history who would voluntarily resign in 2013, placed the pallium he received when he was elected in 2005 on the saint’s tomb

in L’Aquila, Italy, in 2009.

10. St. Pius X was elected pope in 1903 and served until his death in 1914. He promoted greater piety among the faithful, encouraged the frequent reception of the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, and insisted on proper decorum during the celebration of the Mass. He encouraged efforts to ensure that the faithful could participate actively in the Mass by singing.

He reorganized the Roman Curia and established a congregation of cardinals to codify Canon Law.

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• April 10, 2014

Papal Canonizations

The Monitor

Local priests to participate in momentous Canonization Mass in Rome

By Christina Leslie Correspondent Three priests from the Diocese of Trenton will be among the millions of faithful present for the Canonization Mass for Popes John XXIII and John Paul II to be celebrated April 27 in St. Peter’s Square, Rome. Msgr. Edward J. Arnister, pastor of St. Rose Parish, Belmar; Father Stanley P. Lukaszewski, pastor of St. Barnabas Parish, Bayville, and Father Phillip C. Pfleger, pastor of St. Isaac Jogues Parish, Marlton, will take part in the momentous liturgy as ministers of the Holy Eucharist to the throngs expected to crowd the Square and surrounding areas.

“When [the double canonization] was announced in September, I said to myself, ‘I have to be there,’” remembered Msgr. Arnister. The priest’s former Trenton parish had been merged eight years ago into the city’s Divine Mercy Parish, named for the Feast Day instituted by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

He had met the late pontiff on two occasions, once concelebrating Mass with him in his private chapel.

Father Lukaszewski agreed to accompany his classmate immediately, for he, too, had fond memories of Pope John Paul II. During his travels with a

Msgr. Edward J. Arnister

Father Stanley P. Lukaszewski

group led by two polka band leaders, Father Lukaszewski had his first encounter with the future saint. He recalled, “It was shortly after the attempt on [his] life that we were given a private audience with him in his library. What a joy it was to be introduced to him, to shake his hand and to receive his blessing.”

Father Pfleger, who admitted, “This is my first time to a canonization,” had met Pope John Paul II during a longago retreat to Rome with then-Bishop John C. Reiss. “We went to one of his Wednesday audiences,” he recalled.

“We got very close to him, had pictures taken with him, thanks to being with the bishop.”

The three priests decided to make

Father Phillip C. Pfleger

a pilgrimage of faith to Rome for the momentous event, but hotel vacancies were scarce. Msgr. Arnister finally secured rooms at the hotel across from the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and set his sights on Rome.

“Bishop [David M.] O’Connell graciously wrote to the Vatican on our behalf to see if we could participate,” Msgr. Arnister continued, “and received a letter from the papal master of ceremonies stating concelebration would be limited to cardinals, archbishops and bishops. They did allow priests to assist in the distribution of Holy Communion during the Mass, so the Bishop presented us with a ‘celebret,’ a letter stating we were in good standing in the Diocese.”

The Thompson Memorial Home family and Mr. Bruce Thompson wish to gladly join Bishop O’Connell and the faithful of the Diocese of Trenton in celebrating the canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II at the Vatican on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, 2014.

St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II pray for us!

“We will have to obtain special tickets to the Mass a couple of days before and on the day of the Mass report by 8:30 a.m. to meet under the statue of St. Peter in the Basilica, dressed in our cassocks and surplices,” Msgr. Arnister reported.

Promising to keep his parishioners in mind as he sets off on this once-in-alifetime journey of faith, Msgr. Arnister published to them on the parish’s website, informing them about his momentous news and inviting their spiritual presence in the form of written intentions he can carry across the ocean.

Father Lukaszewski reflected, “Just being able to go to Rome is very exciting, and to be a part of, even a small part of, this ‘once in a lifetime experience’ [is] just fantastic.” He plans to print a notice in his parish’s Easter Sunday bulletin and “remember not only my parishioners from St. Barnabas, but also the many wonderful friends from St. Mary’s, New Monmouth; Corpus Christi, Willingboro, [and] St. Denis, Manasquan, at that Mass especially and at any other places we will be visiting.”

Father Pfleger admitted to be “absolutely thrilled” as the trip nears.

He, too, is asking for prayers from his parish and promises to remember them in prayer while in Rome.