LifeSet hits a home run with monthly outing at Patriots’ game

By Tiffany Workman

On a Wednesday morning in May, at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, the Somerset Patriots were all set to play against the Portland Seadogs. Being that it was a weekday morning game, it brought in many students and teachers for class trips. The game also brought in the Catholic Charities LifeSet young adults and supervisors for their monthly outing.

The LifeSet program of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen, is an evidenced based model that provides life skills instruction and case management to young adults ages 17-21 who are aging out of the N.J. foster care system. The Catholic Charities LifeSet program services Essex, Middlesex, Mercer, Somerset, and Union counties.

The LifeSet young adults program members arrived in their suite to watch the baseball game and there was already excitement in the air. After the National Anthem, and the start of the game, they had lunch, participated in an ice breaker activity and then ventured off on a career exploration scavenger hunt where they had to find different items on a list and get signatures for them. This activity, as are many of the activities they do at their outings, was designed to help Young Adults be more social and come out of their comfort zones.

Tova Baron-Loewenstein, director, has been with the program since it started in 2020. She said, “The program is going in a good direction, and we continue to enroll young adults.” She spoke about her specialists and how they each have different roles to play in the program, noting, “Immigration, banking, driver’s license, housing, employment, healthy relationships, coping skills, and mental health are all ways the specialists help our young adults.”

Lucas Salles-Couto is one of those young adults and he has been in the program for about a year. He recently restarted with LifeSet services because he needed help with independent living and college.

“I was able to get into Union County College, and the LifeSet specialists helped me with enrollment,” said Salles-Couto, adding, “I want to be a social worker and have the opportunity to help someone else like they’ve helped me.”

LifeSet specialists meet with young adults in the community on a flexible schedule in order to best meet their needs. The LifeSet program also provides a 24/7 on-call service. For specialists like Maria

Tolentino, who has been with LifeSet for 11 months, “the most rewarding part is seeing young adults coming to events, seeing them find their independence and being able to identify where they need help and where they don’t.” ings put together? Where does the money come from? The LifeSet program is an evidenced based modality developed by Youth Villages and administered in partnership with Catholic Charities.

LifeSet specialists receive extensive training and have small caseloads in order to keep young adults on the path toward their independent living goals. Specialists also work with young adults to address issues related to housing, education, financial literacy, parenting skills, creating and maintaining permanent relationships with supportive adults, and remaining free from judicial system involvement.

Although the average length of stay in the program is nine months, Aliyah Williams always comes back to all the events. When she started the program, through the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, Williams got her license, searched for an apartment, shopped for a car, and attended many events where she learned life skills like budgeting, and savings, with the help of LifeSet specialists. She lives in Trenton and doesn’t have the opportunity to socialize often, so the events are nice for herself and her twoyear-old daughter Khaliyah.

“The Lifeset program is the best,” Williams stressed. “You tell them what you need help with, and they help you.” Her daughter, Khaliyah, who is always a big hit at LifeSet monthly outings, has also become more social because of the events and is now friendlier with other kids.

Brooke Renkens, service area director, Catholic Charities Diocese of Metuchen, said, “The agency is out of Tennessee and incentivized levels of service, and a monetary incentive, that’s where the money comes from for all these events.”

Renkens went on to say, “strict standards make the program successful, it’s a program that supports a population that doesn’t get support.” She loves seeing young adults achieve lifetime success, finish the program and come back.

Michelle Raskin, a LifeSet team supervisor who has been with program since 2020 and with Catholic Charities for nine years, reflected on the program, saying, “I am pumped to have influence on the program and be able to build it and mold it. … to see how far the program has come is drastic.”

Young adults must be involved with DCP&P and be in an out of home placement at the time of enrollment of the program. All referrals must come through the Office of Adolescent Services and Young Adults are pre-screened for eligibility.

For more information about Catholic Charities Diocese of Metuchen or the LifeSet program please visit ccdom.org

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“Each of us has, in one way or an other, fed lambs, tended sheep and fed sheep with the Word of God,” declared Deacon Lawrence J. Duffy to a congregation of men celebrating 25 years of diaconate service in the Diocese of Metuchen.

Bishop James F. Checchio was principal celebrant of a Mass in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Bernardsville, which commemorated the Ordination Class of 1998. Members of the class and their wives gathered in thanksgiving for their vocation over the course of 25 years of ministry. Father John C. Siceloff, pastor of the Bernardsville church, served as concelebrant.

On June13, 1998, Bishop Vincent De Paul Breen ordained twenty permanent deacons and one transitional dea-

Prayer), while others have relocated. Eleven of the members of the class and eight wives joined in the Mass, including Deacon Duffy, director, Mission Services for St. Joseph’s Health, Paterson, and Deacon Benigno Ruiz-Diaz, who served as deacons for the Mass. Deacon Duffy, who organized and arranged for the Mass, also served as homilist.

In his homily, Deacon Duffy reminded the men of the questions asked by the Bishop at their Ordination examining if they resolve to live the life and ministry of a deacon. To the first three questions each man replied, “I do.” But to the last question, “Do you resolve to confirm your way of life always to the example of Christ, whose Body and Blood you are ministers at the altar” their answer was, “I do, with the help of God.” the Gospels as he instructed the new deacon, “Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you preach.”

In the Gospel for the vigil Mass that evening, the Lord tells Peter, “Feed my lambs.” Deacon Duffy recounted the many ways the deacons have exercised and fulfilled that instruction and their promises over the past 25 years: perhaps by leading an RCIA program, teaching CCD, baptismal or marriage prep, hospital visits, bringing the Eucharist to the homebound or conducting wake services and committals. “Let the words of Jesus penetrate our hearts and inspire us to continue the good works we do with even more enthusiasm,” he prayed.

He concluded the homily by remembering the women who have walked