A Little Fun for All Saint's Day!

Happy All Saints Day to everybody!

Welcoming Party for New Parishioners

This Friday evening, at 7:00 p.m. we will have an Open House at the Parish House to Welcome any and all new parishioners to St. Anselm.

I'm aware that this Friday is "Mischief Night", the night before Halloween.

Please join me and some of the members of the Parish Council for some light refreshments and a glass of wine, and let's get to know each other. If you have young children, please know that they are welcome to join us. It's only for about an hour and a half, so you can have the little ones in bed at their regular time.

Please share this invitation with other new parishioners!

Fr. Gene

We've got a "NJ Turnpike" Series!

Let's go Yanks! Now let's put away the Phillies to take another Series!

A weekend at Notre Dame

Just so you know, besides going to a football game at Notre Dame this past weekend, I also concelebrated Mass with Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame.

Check out this video from CatholicTV.com, with the latest video of Sunday Mass from Notre Dame. Check out how the Bishop needs me to "spell" him in distributing Holy Communion!

http://www.catholictv.com/shows/default.aspx?seriesID=12

Back to the Seminary.....and some Notre Dame Football

Tomorrow, I'm off for the 6:30 a.m. flight to South Bend, Indiana. I have a luncheon date on campus with some old seminary friends, and then we'll be taking part in all of the "Football weekend" events of the coming days. While on the campus of Notre Dame, I'll be living at Moreau Seminary, across the lake from the main campus. The seminary is named for Blessed Basil Moreau, CSC, the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and the Superior General who sent 6 missionary priests and brothers to Indiana, where they founded a "school" which would later become a "university" and then recently, the premier Catholic University in the Western Hemisphere.



If some of these images look familiar, that may be because you may have seen them in the movie, "RUDY." Above are two images of the Administration Building of the University, the center of most business of the University.



This is an image of Moreau Seminary, the main residence of seminarians for the Congregation of Holy Cross studying at Notre Dame. It was built to house almost 200 seminarians in the 1950's, but now houses less than 100 people.

Below is a very good photo of the magnificent chapel at Moreau Seminary. The wall behind the main altar is a wonderful work of art in stained glass. When viewed from inside the chapel, the main altar appears to be surrounded by 5 great blue archangels surrounding the altar, with incense, playing instruments to accompany the divine liturgy, singing the liturgy, and lifting the liturgy of the altar to the heavens. It's a tremendous piece of art designed by the late Fr. Anthony Lauck, CSC, who was a beloved resident in the seminary until his death. I had some wonderful discussions when I was a pup seminarian with "Fr. Tony" and he taught me many invaluable lessons in good art, architecture, and the arts for worship.




The picture above shows how we typically surround the altar for the Eucharistic Prayer...a powerful sign of how all of us, the Church, make Eucharist, and sing the Eucharist, and are called to live the Eucharist.

I look forward to being at Notre Dame for 11 days....I look forward even more, to coming back to Saint Anselm!

October Parish Council Meeting

This past Monday evening, we had the October meeting of our Parish Council.

We discussed lots of topics: from Religious Education programs for the very busy families of our parish, to our two Youth Groups, to our need to upgrade our Learning Center with wireless Internet access so that we can host regional meetings for diocesan workshope (and make some $$$ from the organization who use our facilities.

We want to nurture the growth of our parish. We need to expand our efforts in educating all parish members about our identity as a Stewardship Parish. We want to stay financially solvent in these tough economic times, and our Finance Committee is looking after that. We want to continue to reach out to our Family Promise program, even though the economic times are tough. We discussed lots of things at the meeting.

Let's pray that we can continue the wonderful inclusive ministry that has marked our community for over 35 years!

Film on Pope John XXIII

Tonight, we had a Movie Night, showing the CD of the life of Pope John XXIII, the "Pope of Peace." Great movie.

It was a long movie, beginning at 6:30, and ending at about 9:30. (Too late for me!)
But the movie was so good, nobody wanted to leave!


I've picked up a few images of the real Angelo Roncalli (John XXII) from the internet, and included them here.


While I was doing a Google search of Roncalli, I found a significant number of strange sites that claim that Roncalli was an "Anti-Pope." Totally weird to me!

Apparently, these sites are run by ultra-conservative individuals or groups opposing the papacy of Good Pope John and the calling of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, and the Council's reforms.

I can't understand why people of faith would oppose Pope John, and his initiatives, and his calls for dialogue, for openess, and especially, for his calls for peace, in the light of the the dawning of the nuclear age. When you think of his life-span, and the ways in which the Church changed from 1881 till 1963, and all the ways the world had changed in that time....I have a hard time with those folks who can't get with the "Signs of the Times."

Let's pray for each other, and ask "Good Pope John" to put in a good word for us too, as we all seek to make the Church's message more relavent and efficient in today's world.

Last night, we had a great evening in Princeton at the 2009 Guardian Angel Dinner Dance, the major fundraiser event for Catholic Charities of Trenton.

There were lots of great people there, many old friends from around the diocese, who are all committed to the mission of Catholic Charities. Special congratulations to all of the honorees this year, especially Bishop John Mortimer Smith, Deacon Jim Knipper, and Ginny LaMorte, from our own Monmouth County.

The new Roman Missal

Next week, the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions will be meeting near Detroit, Michigan. I won't be attending this year's meeting, due to responsibilities in the parish. However, I know that the main topic of discussion will be the new translation of the Roman Missal....formerly known as the Sacramentary. You may have heard that there's a new English translation coming out, and that there will be some changes in the Mass that we pray on Sundays and weekdays.

The Bishops have set up a website to help us all with the new Roman Missal Project:

http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal/faqs.shtml