Category: Fr. Abraham’s Weekly Column

Dear Friends,

Over one billion Catholics all over the world observe today as World Mission Sunday. This annual observance was instituted in 1926 by a Papal decree issued by Pope Pius XI. Every year since then, the universal Church has dedicated the month of October to reflection on and prayer for the missions. On World Mission Sunday, Catholics gather to celebrate the Eucharist and to contribute to a collection for the work of evangelization around the world.

Why does the Church give so much importance to World Mission Sunday? The Acts of Apostles gives a very good answer: “We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). The Apostles were following the missionary mandate that Jesus gave us all to go and proclaim the good news to all creation (Matthew 28:19-20). This annual celebration gives us a chance to reflect on the importance of missionary works for the life of the Church. It reminds us that we are one with the universal Church and that we are all committed to carrying on the mission of Christ, however different our situations may be.

You know that I myself was a missionary in the north-eastern Indian State of Nagaland and you have heard me sharing my missionary experiences. But when I came to this country, I was quite surprised to hear that there were missionary regions in the USA. “Home Missions” is the name for dioceses and parishes in the United States, including its territories and former territories, which cannot provide basic pastoral services to Catholics without outside help. Basic pastoral services include Mass and sacraments, religious education, and ministry training for priests, deacons, religious sisters and lay people.

For many decades, the Church in the United States has sent missionaries overseas to serve the people of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The home missions are dioceses and parishes here in the United States that need the same kind of support. Surprisingly, according to the USCCB, “the Catholic Church is poorly established in many parts of our country, especially Appalachia, the South, the Southwest along the Mexican border, the Rocky Mountain States, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and remote island chains like the Marshalls and the Carolines in the Pacific.” Generally speaking, the home missions are everywhere that Catholics are few and the Church is fragile. Here’s just one example:

In Montana, the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings has 99 parishes and missions stretching over 90,000 square miles. Many priests in this diocese serve multiple parishes – some serve up to five! Many parishes cannot meet the financial obligations of having a full-time priest and communities often feel disconnected from the larger Church.

So, when the World Mission Sunday rightly raises our awareness of the worldwide missionary efforts in the world outside of the United States, let us not forget the missionary regions closer home in our own country.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Dear Friends,

We, the priests of the Diocese of Metuchen, will gather in Spring Lakes, NJ, for the annual convocation this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It is a special time for the priests and bishop to pray together, reflect on our priesthood, share the challenges we face and enjoy priestly fellowship. This is a great opportunity for us to come together and experience a sense of unity, even though we’re all different. There will be enrichment sessions with a guest speaker. We will participate in many other events such as Holy Hour, Mass, Vespers, socials, dinner, etc.

Both Msgr. Seamus Brennan and I will be attending this gathering of priests. That means there will be no Mass in our church this coming Wednesday and Thursday. Thank you to our senior Deacon Ron Caimi who has graciously agreed to conduct a Communion Service at 8 am on these two days. This can be a reminder to us about the pastoral reality of priests’ shortage that we are facing as a nation.

During my nationwide travels as a presenter for RENEW International to promote small groups of faith sharing, I have come across many priests who were pastors of two or more parishes. The highest percentages of such multiple parish pastoring are found in states like Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, where over 50% of the priests serve more than one parish. The lowest percentages (less than 10%) were in New Jersey, the District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Nevada. Multi-pastoring parishes will not be having weekday Masses on a regular basis. Here at St. Matthias, and in New Jersey in general, we have been very blessed to have the gift of daily Mass for those who wish to attend. We thank God for this blessing.

But we, as a Catholic Community, have to address the problem of the priest shortage. How are we going to continue our sacramental availability? Who is going to take responsibility? It cannot be just left in the hands of church authorities. Or it just can’t be left to mere prayers for an increase in vocations to priesthood, diaconate and religious life, though prayer is essential as Jesus himself said: “ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:38). We need to do more, especially to help our people in the pews understand what is happening, challenging them to fully live out their baptismal call, and providing formation for them to participate more fully in the church’s mission.

I am very happy that our parish lay leadership has initiated the St. Matthias Vocations Ministry. Its leaders have been making efforts to bring to us the understanding that the primary vocation for us all is to be holy. As we respond to that call to holiness in our own calling, we need to be on the lookout for young men whom we could encourage to consider vocations to the priesthood. As you must have already heard or read in the bulletin, our Vocations ministry is planning a retreat on November 13. We will have reflections from a priest, deacon, nun, married and single persons. I invite us all to consider spending this half-day to enrich our own vocation to be holy and encourage one another as we need to heed the call of Jesus.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Dear Friends,

We are excited to celebrate the Hispanic Heritage during our 5 pm Mass this weekend, on Saturday the 18th. I’m very happy to welcome Rev. Ron Machado, Pastor of the Most Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Perth Amboy, as our presider for this outdoor Mass. We are arranging for a traditional Mariachi band to augment the celebratory mood. This Mass is part of the National Hispanic Heritage Month observed from September 15 to October 15, celebrating the contributions and importance of Hispanics and Latinos to the United States and those American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.

The theme for this year is “Esperanza: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage and Hope.” According to the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers (NCHEPM), this year’s theme “invites us to celebrate Hispanic Heritage and to reflect on how great our tomorrow can be if we hold onto our resilience and hope. It encourages us to reflect on all of the contributions Hispanics have made in the past, and will continue to make in the future. It is also a reminder that we are stronger together.”

Hispanic Americans have been integral to the prosperity of the U.S. Their contributions to the nation’s economy and culture are praiseworthy. But the most important gift that our Hispanic/Latino Catholics bring to the Church in the U.S. is the faith and popular piety. Bishop Arturo Cepeda, chairman of the US Bishops Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, says: “We celebrate our faith within our Church, in our communities. We celebrate our faith with our families, and we want to continue to celebrate our faith in the larger context of our society.” Bishop Cepeda elaborated further in these words:

“One of the greatest gifts is the sense of community…that sense of being together, of solidarity, of being united with our own planet, celebrating and respecting life, our own Catholic traditions, our great love for Our Lady and the celebration of our faith through the sacraments. This is a sign of hope in a society divided by racism that is also grappling with Covid. We find strength within our families and I think that’s one of the greatest gifts – and that openness to talk to one another, to listen to one another and to be able to encounter one another.”

Such values are extremely important for us all. We join our Hispanic/Latino parishioners to welcome everyone for this Mass and celebrate our diversity. We are happy and proud that our tradition of welcoming and celebrating cultural diversity is one of the significant and meaningful ways to bring about the Kingdom of God more fully here at St. Matthias.

Sr. Marie Therese is the coordinator of our St. Matthias Cultural Diversity Council that has been organizing diversity events, especially during the feast of the Epiphany. She feels that this important Council can be strengthened further by having new members. If any of you feel called to this colorful ministry, kindly contact Sr. Marie Therese at msherwood@stmatthias.net

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Dear Friends,

The 20th anniversary of 9/11 is upon us. Last year when our parishioners joined hands with the Firefighters and the local law enforcement agencies and organized our annual 9/11 memorial day ceremony here in our church, only a few people showed up. That was disappointing to me and to others. The experience of 9/11 is fresh in the minds of those in their 30’s and above. They can never forget the trauma we underwent as a nation, and so we cannot allow the anniversary to be erased from our memories as the years pass by. We need to be more enthusiastic about it and make every effort to keep those memories alive in gratitude to those fallen heroes, including our fellow parishioner John Collins, and family members and friends of many in our community.

But the younger generation, especially those in their teens and early twenties, will have no idea of 9/11 except as a history lesson that could become folklore with the passage of time. That is all the more reason for us to keep this anniversary as an opportunity to enlighten our younger generation about this historic tragedy that struck our nation. They need to be present at the anniversary ceremonies so that they can understand the pain and agony – physical and emotional – of those who suffered and continue to suffer.

I am asking our parents to bring their children who are in the higher grades here at St. Matthias School to this year’s 9/11 Memorial Service in our church this coming Saturday at 2 pm. I am grateful to Bill Cullen, a former fire Chief and John Hauss, Director of the Fire Prevention Office of Franklin Township and others who are taking the lead in organizing this important event.

Desmond Tutu, the famous Anglican theologian from South Africa, said: “As human beings we have the most extraordinary capacity for evil. We can perpetrate some of the most horrendous atrocities.” 9/11 anniversary is a somber time to remind ourselves not only the truth of that statement but also that we are capable of the opposite: that we have infinite capacity to do good. We can build up instead of tear down, because we are created in God’s own image and likeness (Genesis 1:27). Hence we are capable of bringing about conditions for living in harmony and peace with all as St. Paul reminds us:

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone…, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink…. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:16-21)

God bless America!

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Dear Friends,

The Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, leading a Spanish expedition, reached the Philippines on March 16, 1521 and planted Christianity there. 2021 marks the 500th anniversary of this event. Pope Francis kicked off the yearlong celebration with a festive Mass in the Vatican last March. The entrance procession of the papal Mass was led by a young woman carrying a statue of the Holy Child of Cebu and a young man holding a replica of the Magellan Cross that was first planted on Filipino soil, accompanied by Filipino women dancers, followed by the ministers, clergy, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, other cardinals and the Pope.

The Filipino Apostolate of our Diocese, headed by Rev. Gerry Paderon, pastor of Queenship of Mary Church, Plainsboro, arranged to have a novena of Masses at different churches.

The venue for one Mass was here at St. Matthias, on Sunday, August 1, at 5 pm., and it was organized by Don & Gondee Tibay, Aida Santos, Emile Capuno, Jerry Tiongson, Carlo Hermino, Alma Valdez, and Menchie Ventura. They gave me the honor of presiding and preaching. Rev. Roberto Coruna, Pastor of the Annunciation Church in Bloomsbury, and our Msgr. Seamus Brennan concelebrated the Mass, assisted by Deacon Joey Perlas of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Port Reading and Deacon Roger Ladao of St. Francis Cabrini Church in Piscataway. We congratulate all the Filipino friends of our parish for organizing it and making it a meaningful celebration with beautiful singing in Tagalog and having a special 10-foot replica of the Magellan cross for the procession.

For the Philippines nation, the Catholic faith is part of the ethos of the people, etched deeply in their cultural and religious life. The Filipinos have carried their faith wherever they have immigrated. It was quite amusing to hear the comment of Pope Francis that the Filipino women were “smugglers of the faith,” meaning they carried with them the “torch of faith” wherever they went. He encouraged all Filipinos to continue being “smugglers of faith.”

One recent evidence of the Filipino witness to Catholicism was when the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medalist, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, manifested her faith and devotion to Holy Mary for the whole world to see. Diaz’s triumph came in the women’s 55-kilogram weightlifting event on July 26. After completing her final lift in a very close competition, Diaz held her hands to her face, burst into tears and clutched at her Miraculous Medal of the Blessed Virgin Mary hanging from her neck. Later at the medals ceremony on the podium, Diaz pointed heavenward after singing the Philippine national anthem, then made the Sign of the Cross before stepping down and shouting “Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!” (“Long live the Philippines!”)

As we appreciate our Filipino community who have the fire of the Faith in Jesus Christ and a great commitment to the Catholic Church, we pray that their example will continue to inspire us and make us greater witnesses of the Lord.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal