Beacon Staff
POMPTON LAKES - St. Mary Parish here celebrates its 100th
anniversary this year by charting a "new era" for the dynamic Franciscan faith
community with a new staff for its nationally recognized youth ministry, the
recent expansion of its social ministry and the opening of its new $3 million
faith-formation center this fall.
"We are very excited to celebrate this great moment in our parish
history, but we are not resting on our laurels. We are moving forward," said
Franciscan Father Kevin Downey, pastor of St. Mary's, which serves more than
5,000 families, who hail from 17 communities in North Jersey. "We are now in an
era of growth. Building on the great foundation laid by our forefathers, we will
be able to meet the demands and challenges that we will face as we begin the
next 100 years."
Bishop Serratelli visited the suburban Passaic County parish Jan. 28
where he was the principal celebrant of a centennial Mass, which kicked off a
yearlong celebration. Concelebrating at the anniversary Mass along with the
Franciscans who serve the parish was Franciscan Father John O'Connor, minister
provincial of Holy Name Province, to which the friars who serve in the diocese
belong.
"The Mass was a great celebration. The people were thrilled," said
Father Downey, who became pastor of St. Mary's in 2002. "It highlighted many of
our strengts as a parish, among them youth ministry, liturgy, outreach and lay
leadership."
To that end, the Jan. 28 centennial Mass also honored six parishioners
who have contributed to St. Mary's by presenting them with highest award
bestowed by the Franciscans' Holy Name Province, the Francis Medal. The awardees
were: Judi Sonne-Damiano, Judith Deak, Basil Ricci, Tony and Anne Rosone and
Deacon Edward Higgins.
"Through generosity and sacrifice, these individuals have enriched our
parish and given concrete expression to the spirit of St. Francis," Father
Downey wrote in St. Mary's bulletin. "By honoring these six individuals, we are
also honoring the memory of all the men and women who have contributed and given
of themselves over the past 100 years to make St. Mary's the special parish it
is today."
Those anniversary celebrations throughout the year will include: a
comedy night presenting "Nunsense," concerts, a Strawberry Festival, Children's
Day, a parish picnic, a dinner-dance and guest homilists each month featuring
former friars who served at St. Mary's.
Recently, the parish hired Barbara Lisa Johnson, formerly of St. Paul
Parish, Ramsey, as the new confirmation director, and Mary Lyons, formerly of
St. Joseph Parish, Mendham, as director of its youth ministry. St. Mary's has
hired or will hire other new staffers for its popular youth ministry, which
serves more than 2,000 young people and was named in the Top 3 of such
outreaches to youth in the country in 2003.
Open to all young people regardless of religious affiliation, St. Mary's
youth ministry serves youth, from sixth grade to seniors in high school. It also
seeks to offer a colorful, dynamic palate of activities and outreaches that give
them a faith-grounded religious education as well as opportunities for social,
educational, cultural and spiritual development.
To
develop the youth spirituality, St. Mary's program has offered religious
education for students, grades 6-8, and confirmation preparation. The faith
community also has held retreats, among them for Antioch and confirmation and a
weekly group for where high-school upperclassmen can discuss religious topics.
Older teens have been able to get more involved in liturgy and in ministry by
being trained to serve as extraordinary ministers of holy Communion.
St. Mary's also promotes Christian service with outreaches to the Father
English Community Center, Paterson, and with visits to local nursing homes,
among others. A new initiative, Helping Other People Everywhere (HOPE) has been
collecting canned goods, school supplies and personal-care products for the area
poor.
In promoting social development, St. Mary's has held monthly junior-high
dances. Youth ministry participants have been able to join in other many other
activities such as ski, white-water rafting and canoeing trips and a journey to
Great Adventure for the annual N.J. Catholic Youth Rally.
St. Mary's also has developed youth leadership potential through its
week-long LEAD conference here on campus and in its training of high-school
upperclassmen, who lead parish retreats. St. Mary's also provides leadership
training for adults, he said.
"The leadership of youth ministry always has seen themselves as
advocates for youth," Father Downey said. "Now, we have good new leadership that
will build on the past."
For young adults, St. Mary's holds Peter, Paul & Socrates Caf}, a
discussion group that covers a wide range of topics that have included "What Is
Patriotism?" and" Empowering the Laity in the Church."
One of parish's biggest pushes over the past three years has been
promotion of JustFaith, a national program that mixes faith formation and
face-to-face meetings with society's poor and disenfranchised. The program
teaches participants to "love big" and inspires them to serve "the least among
us," said Jacquelyn Schramm, parish social justice ministry director.
JustFaith's two graduating classes from 2004 and 2005 have formed a network of
committees to start addressing specific clusters of social justice issues:
globalization, poverty, community concerns and the environment.
"As a Franciscan parish, we have a sensitivity to the poor. With our
strong social justice component, we are challenged to make sure we are living
out Gospel values," Father Downey said. "We also focus on people. People have
found a sense of community here."
Father Downey expects the highlight of the anniversary year to be the
October dedication of the 13,000-square-foot Father Michael J. Carnevale, OFM,
Faith Formation Center, named for the parish's former pastor. The building will
provide space for the more than 60 parish ministries and have classrooms for the
adult formation school and youth ministry and a large fellowship hall. Father
Downey called the center "an investment in our future as a parish."
St. Mary's didn't wait for its completion to start in 2004 the San
Damiano School of Adult Faith Formation, which teaches adults more about their
faith, helps guide them on their spiritual journeys and inspire them to live out
the Gospel.
"We need to deal with the Church today," said Deacon Peter
Casamento, St. Mary's adult formation director, who approached Father Downey
about the idea for the school. "After confirmation, Catholic adults don't
usually have opportunities for formal faith formation. We at St. Mary's want
people to continue to grow in faith and put that faith into practice. We want to
move from preaching to action, causing people to transform their lives."
St. Mary's School also provides academic and religious education to more
than 250 students. A Star School, St. Mary's has earned three best practice
awards for its weather station, prayer partner and middle school electives
programs. It also is Middle States accredited and has been cited for its
outstanding merit through its St. Mary's Integrated Literacy Experience (SMILE)
program.
St. Mary's faith-filled history started in 1906, when the pioneering
Franciscan Father Francis Koch established a mission, then called Our Lady of
the Assumption. The parish celebrated its first Mass that year at the Mathias
Hennion blacksmith shop on Ringwood Avenue. Collecting funds wherever he could,
Father Koch purchased and renovated a small clubhouse in the center of Pompton
Lakes for use as a church. The present church was built on Pompton Avenue in
1935 and enlarged in 1956.
A
year after Bishop McNulty raised the mission to parish status, a friary was
occupied in 1946 for the priests serving St. Mary's, who before that lived at
St. Anthony Monastery in Butler. In 1950, the first church was razed to make way
for the school, which was staffed by the Allegheny Franciscan Sisters from its
1951 opening until their 1974 withdrawal. The Newburgh Presentation Sisters
replaced them until their 1979 withdrawal.
In the 1950s, the school was expanded by eight classrooms; the church was
enlarged to accommodate the ever-increasing congregation; and a convent was
built for the sisters.
Over the years, St. Mary's expanded its social justice and
faith-formation outreaches and especially throughout the 1970s, deepened its
already strong commitment to reaching out to youth. In the 1980s, the parish
started St. Mary's Counseling Service, which is now called Pathways Counseling
Inc.
"I believe it is important for us a parish to celebrate this moment in
our history," Father Downey wrote to parishioners about the 100th anniversary in
St. Mary's bulletin. "It is important for us to look at our past, because it
will give us a glimpse of our future...and remind us of what is important to us
as a parish, what do we value and we not sacrifice and to get in touch with the
core values that make St. Mary's unique and special."
