New parish shrine of saints a place of peace

St. Jude the Apostle Church in Hardy­ston now has its own smaller “communion of saints” of sorts — across from the church’s main altar.

Already, St. Jude’s parishioners, like Stephen Rozak, have been praying before the new Shrine of Saints — featuring statues of eight prominent saints and one of the Holy Family — calling it a “peaceful, sacred place.” There, they can focus on their devotions to those particular saints and pray to them to ask God to consider their heartfelt intentions. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney dedicated the shrine after celebrating a Mass at St. Jude’s on Oct. 30.

In an alcove across from the main altar, the shrine houses new wooden and stone statues — made in Italy and the United States — of eight saints of the Church. They are St. Peregrine, St. Anthony, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Padre Pio, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Philomena, St. Teresa of Calcutta, and St. Therese of Lisieux. In the center of the shrine stands a taller Holy Family statue, relocated from another space in the church.

“I feel peaceful at the shrine,” said Rozak, who contributed to the Shrine of the Saints project. His favorite saints in the shrine are St. Padre Pio, St. Joseph, and the Blessed Mother. “It’s a special place that can attract people to pray and commune with God,” he said.

On Oct. 30, Bishop Sweeney also blessed a renovated confessional. At the start of Mass, the bishop said that the saints, including those the shrine represents, “remind us that Jesus calls each one of us to become saints — to live lives of holiness.

“We know that that’s easier said than done. But the gift of faith that we receive at baptism, God’s word, and receiving Jesus in Holy Communion is the nourishment we need to follow him as he calls us … to love God and to love others,” Bishop Sweeney said.

The statues of the saints that flank either side of the taller Holy Family were selected by Father Michael Rodak, St. Jude’s pastor, for the following reasons:

• St. Peregrine: patron of the fight against cancer, affecting many people.

• St. Anthony: finder of lost things and model of living a moral life and preaching with eloquence.

• St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: patron of mothers, widows, and teachers. She established the first free Catholic school in the U.S. and a religious order that includes the Sisters of Charity in Convent Station, Morristown. She also had a “great love for the Eucharist, the Bible, and the Blessed Mother,” Father Rodak said.

• St. Philomena: A dedicated virgin, she was martyred at 13 years old after she refused the advances of the Roman emperor at the time.

• St. Padre Pio: for his work as a confessor and his ability to “reach souls” through the sacrament of penance, the pastor said.

• St. Michael the Archangel: to help ward off the lies of the Evil One in these challenging times.

• St. Thérèse of Lisieux: she is a model of humility and love for Jesus, despite her illnesses and early death in her 20s.

• St. “Mother” Teresa of Calcutta: she helped the poorest of the poor in India. She experienced dark times in her faith but persisted because she knew she was doing God’s will.

The Shrine of the Saints replaces a previous alcove with electric votive candles in disrepair. Father Rodak proposed the improvement project to the parish advisory council, which endorsed it, and asked parishioners to contribute, Father Rodak said.

“We pray to the saints of the Church because they unite us with God,” said Father Rodak, who led the building of a similar Shrine of the Saints at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in the Hewitt section of West Milford, where he previously served as pastor. “The saints are people like you and me — ordinary people who are called to the extraordinary work of God — God’s will, not our own. We are to give back and serve others — bringing what we have to God and bringing the love of God to others in little ways,” he said.