‘Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive’

Mountain Lakes parish holds series on family inspired by Pope’s visit, Synod

MOUNTAIN LAKES  St. Catherine of Siena Parish here is capitalizing on the excitement that continues to reverberate from Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S. and to the World Meeting of Families (WMF) in Philadelphia — as well as intense interest about the Synod on the Family in Rome — by offering a six-part weekly adult faith-formation series that examines various aspects of family life and the Church’s role in the family.

In fact, St. Catherine’s series borrows its title from the theme of WMF, “Love is Our Mission: the Family Fully Alive,” and follows “The Catechesis on the Family,” which was published in preparation for the international gathering.

The sessions at the Morris County parish started Oct. 5 and will conclude Nov. 12 and are being held Mondays at 7:45 p.m. in its Father Glynn Center. Each night features a different speaker, who presents his own perspectives on the topic of that specific session, said Father Jared Brogan, St. Catherine’s administrator since July.

“We started the faith-formation series, because Pope Francis, the World Meeting of Families and the Synod on the Family [which the Holy Father convened Oct. 4] are hot topics. People are still on a high with the Pope’s visit and are interested in the synod,” said Father Brogan, who presented the first session Oct. 5, which offered an introduction and the theology behind the idea that we are “Created for Joy” by God. “Families are the heart of St. Catherine’s — parents and grandparents, doing the best that they can. Their efforts will bear fruit in their families, our parishes, the Diocese and vocations,” he said.

In addition, the synod has been focusing on “how the Church can meet the changing needs of families — not to change Church teaching, but how to adjust its approach to ministry to bring Christ to people,” Father Brogan said.

The series at St. Catherine’s continued this past Monday with Jesuit Father Rocco Danzi, director of campus ministry at St. Peter’s University, Jersey City, who explored “The Mission of Love.” The rest of the sessions will examine the following topics:

• “Human Sexuality/Two Become One” and “The Challenge of Authentic Love in a Technological World” on Oct. 19 by Vincentian Father Patrick Flanagan, assistant professor of moral theology at St. John’s University, Queens, N.Y.

• “Creating the Future/All Love Bears Fruit” on Oct. 26. by Allan Wright, academic dean of St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard, Madison.

• “Light in a Dark World/A Home for the Wounded Heart” on Nov. 9. by Father Felix Herrera of St. Joan of Arc Parish, Jackson Heights, N.Y.

• “Mother, Teacher, Family: the Nature and Role of the Church/Choosing Life” on Nov. 12, by a speaker to be announced.

St. Catherine’s parishioners also prayed for families and vocations together at Exposition and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the church during the Pope Francis’ Sept. 22-27 visit, because “good vocations come from good families,” Father Brogan said.

“People were excited by Pope Francis’ energy and the way he spoke during his visit. He is a simple and humble man, who was down to Earth and touched people’s hearts, which they liked,” said Father Brogan, also a co-director of the diocesan Vocations Office. “We as a Church have to communicate to others they way the Pope does.”

During the first session at St. Catherine’s, Father Brogan told the 25 audience members who attended that God made us in His image “to share His love and joy.”

“Our true joy and fulfillments lie in knowing, loving and serving one another as God does. The family is most fully alive when we embrace God’s invitation to be who we were created to be,” said Father Brogan during his PowerPoint slide presentation. “God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion. Love is therefore the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being,” said the priest, quoting “Familaris Consortio,” an apostolic exhortation by St. John Paul II.

Father Brogan used one of his recent weekly bulletin columns to promote the start of the adult faith-formation series on families by previewing some of the material from his first session. He added that, “the joy of family life can be easily forgotten too. There is always a deadline, an activity or tasks that need to be accomplished.” Yet, “love is the family mission,” the priest wrote.

“Parents are the first to teach their children in the faith. The family is the ‘first school of love’…[where] children learn that they are loved by their parents and family and that they are also loved by God. This message of love is offered primarily through the countless acts that support that life of the child. The ‘message’ is embodied in all their gestures of care and love, however small they may seem,” Father Brogan wrote. “Love of neighbor and love of God are seamlessly connected. Whatever their ages, children need to know that they are loved and that this love has no end…We all need to be loved and to love.”

After having attended the first session, Ana Salvatore of St. Catherine’s, a married mother of two, called the series “an excellent idea.”

“Faith is the foundation of forming our families. Father Jared reminded us that what strengthens our families is our relationship with God. He is there for us. We just need to talk to Him and reach out to Him,” said “This [series] is a great support to parents and other people.”

Information: St. Catherine of Siena at (973) 334-7131.