WAYNE Every September is the start of a new school year and for young Catholics, often the start of a new religious education year learning about the faith and preparing for sacraments of initiation. So at this appropriate time, Bishop Serratelli went to DePaul Catholic High School here Sept. 13 to meet with freshmen and sophomores from Passaic County preparing to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. He will also meet confirmandi at Pope John XXIII High School in Sparta on Oct. 11 and at Morris Catholic High School in Denville on Oct. 25.
The Diocesan Office of Evangelization at St. Paul’s Inside the Walls in Madison coordinated the day. Father Paul Manning, Vicar for Evangelization, introduced the day’s program, which included catechesis by the Bishop, a question and answer session, music by Dan Ferrari, a member of the music ministry at St. Paul’s, and prayer time with the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.
The Bishop told the young people, “Many people especially your age or a little older say, ‘I could be spiritual but I don’t have to be religious.’ What do they mean by that? I could have a relationship with God but I don’t need the Church. Christ made the Church. He died for us. What do people like Frank Sinatra say? ‘I’ll do it my way.’ When you are confirmed do it God’s way. Be an active, full member of the Church. God offers us his gifts in the sacraments and he expects us to receive them.”
At the end of his talk, he said, “You’re going to face many temptations in your lives. You’re going to face many obstacles in your lives. Every one faces obstacles. You’re going to face some very tough decisions. Even now you face them. Do I take drugs or don’t take drugs? Do I engage in a relationship that will lead to things forbidden outside of marriage? Do I lie to my parents? Christ will always be in your lives, so don’t fear the present or the future. Live each moment in the grace of Jesus Christ, and despite the trials and despite the sufferings you will endure. Jesus, who gives you the Holy Spirit, will fulfill the promise that he made when he said, ‘I will come to that you may have life and have it in abundance.’ ”
After the catechesis, Bishop Serratelli invited the young people to ask him questions. Ariana Arce, a 10th grader and Confirmation candidate at St. Brendan Church in Clifton, asked the Bishop, “How old were you when you decided to serve the Church?”
“Everyone has a different story about their call to vocation. Some decide when they were in high school. Some in grammar, college or even after having a job,” the Bishop said. “God calls each of us at different stages in our lives. Now my story is that one day when I was 5 or 6, my sister took me to church. When we came home she told my mom, ‘I’m never taking him again. He embarrassed me.’ That’s because I ran out of the pew and went right to where the priest was saying Mass at the altar. I went home and said to my mom, ‘I want to be a priest too.’”
The Bishop told the young people, “With the ages you are now, this is the time for you all to ask God, ‘What do you want me to do?’ Every day, ask God, ‘What do you want me to do with my life?’ That’s how we will be happy in our lives — doing what God has meant us to do.”
Father Paul Manning and Brian Honsberger, coordinator of youth and young adult ministry at St. Paul’s, held a trivia contest for all the Confirmation candidates. Questions included ones from Catechism on the Incarnation and redemption, the Lord’s Passion, death, his Resurrection and Ascension into heaven and the Holy Spirit.
To end the event, Bishop Serratelli led Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with the young people, who knelt in reverence.
Yarleny Mejia, a sophomore at St. Mary High School in Rutherford and second-year candidate from St. Anthony Parish in Passaic, said, “I think this was a great idea because a lot of people my age had never met the Bishop before and it also gave us a way to interact with other Confirmation candidates in the diocese.”
For Ariana Flores, a 10th grader, who is preparing for Confirmation at St. Gerard Majella Parish in Paterson, the experience was fruitful. “I enjoyed today. The Bishop told us about God and getting closer to him. I’m very excited for my Confirmation,” she said. “It was something I always thought about growing up because it was something that is a big part of my faith.”