St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Parsippany introduced two new ministries to encourage vocations and family prayer: the Traveling Chalice and Vocations Ministry.
The Traveling Chalice ministry enables parishioners to bring an empty chalice home for a week and pray in front of it with their families and loved ones.
Deacon Luis Carlos Mendez said it’s a powerful way for parishioners “to get closer to the blood of Jesus.” They can do this by bringing Jesus “home” in their hearts through Communion at Mass and by welcoming the “sacred vessel” to their residences.
Deacon Mendez is enthused by the interest in the Traveling Chalice.
“It has taken off. The parishioners own it. Can you imagine the blessings, not just for priests but also for sacramental marriages?” he said.
The ministry aims to encourage families to pray together for many intentions including religious vocations, marriages, Pope Francis, belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the protection of children in the womb, and their mothers.
Deacon Mendez said praying with the chalice can lead couples who are civilly but not sacramentally married to the sacrament.
“Jesus will bring people together, closer to him,” he said.
Robert Jutchenko, a St. Peter’s parishioner and an usher, said his family loves to pray together, and having the chalice at home was another way for his family “to honor Jesus Christ and the beauty of God.”
“I was lucky enough to receive it and was happy to give it back to share with another family to embrace the love of God and the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us.”
Father David Pickens, St. Peter’s pastor, is pleased so many families are praying together as a result of the project.
“It is an important ministry and it has turned out better than I expected.” Some families have signed up twice already. Families can ask for a priest or deacon to come to their home and pray with them.
New Vocations Ministry
St. Peter’s also started a bilingual Vocations Ministry to pray for religious vocations and sacramental marriages.
The Vocations Ministry hosts a bilingual Vocations holy hour on the first Friday night of each month. They recite the rosary of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady and the Litany for Vocations and hold Benediction.
“Our ministry currently consists of seven energetic and prayerful members representing diverse communities, English, Spanish, and Asian parishioners and youth,” said Hyacinth Lawrence, head of the Vocations Ministry.
Lawrence said the Vocations Ministry plans to work with the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and religious education teams and add youth activities. It is important to her for young people to be educated about vocations, and “have the courage to hear the call from God.”
As a young girl, Lawrence attended a Catholic convent school in her native India and “grew up seeing the impact of St. Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.” She even served the future saint juice during a visit.
At the invitation of Father Pickens, Lawrence, and other parishioners attended a workshop at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison last year with Rhonda Gruenewald, founder of the national organization Vocation Ministry.
They were grateful to be given resources to create a culture of vocations “to bring about the fertile soil for the seeds to produce a hundredfold harvest” and to receive a blessing from Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney, said Lawrence, a wife and mother of two sons.
Lawrence cited numbers from the national Vocation Ministry including that 3,500 parishes in the U.S. are without a resident priest; that projections show that many dioceses, especially in the north and northeast, will experience a 50 percent drop in the number of active priests in the next five years; that sacramental marriages, have plummeted by 55 percent since 1990, and that only 5 percent of priests in the U.S. identify as Hispanic out of 39 percent of Hispanic Catholics.
“The data points are staggering, and we are in dire need of vocations to send workers into the harvest. Priests, deacons, sisters, brothers, lay consecrated and marriages are needed for missionaries and sacraments, the crux and foundation of our Catholic Church built on the Rock of Peter,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence and the other ministry members are grateful for support from Father Pickens, Deacon Mendez, and Deacon Peter Cistaro at St. Peter’s.
“We do our part in creating the rich, fertile soil and God will do his part, producing a hundredfold,” Lawrence said.
Diocese of Paterson Vocation Ministries
The parish vocations ministry initiative is a new one for the Diocese of Paterson, said Father Edward Rama, vocation director for the Diocese. Nearly 30 parishes had representatives who attended the workshop in the spring. Father Rama celebrated Mass at St. Peter’s over the summer and was enthused to hear from members of the vocations ministry group who shared their ideas with him.
“It’s wonderful to see,” he said. “We think it is really going to help vocations.”
The vocations ministry of the diocese desires to collaborate with pastors and parishioners on the local level to help them grow their ministries, he said. There will be a retreat with Bishop Sweeney and members in the fall.
The diocese also has other events planned for the fall including Days of Discernment for men college age and older. Another new project — Project Andrew dinners with Bishop Sweeney– are held monthly at different parishes. Priests are asked to invite high school-age young men and older to have dinner with the bishop. Newly ordained priests and seminarians witness about their vocations.
“It’s prayerful, fun, and at the same time very informative for the young men,” Father Rama said. The Project is named after St. Andrew who invited his brother, St. Peter, to follow Christ.
The Beyond The Beacon podcast with Bishop Sweeney regularly highlights vocation stories including a recent episode with high school young men who attended Quo Vadis, a once-a-year retreat featuring prayer, talks, and outdoor sports and fun activities. This year over 50 high school-age males attended. They had the chance to speak to priests and seminarians.
The Jeremiah Project, an open gym night, for high school-aged boys will be held Fridays Oct. 25, Nov. 15, and Dec. 20 from 7 to 9 p.m. at All Saint’s Academy at St. Peter the Apostle. Priests and seminarians will play basketball with the students and there will be a vocation talk.
For more information and resources on vocations, go to patersonvocations.org, and for information on the St. Peter’s ministries visit saintpetertheapostle.org
