St. Joseph Parish of West Milford forms new Lux Mundi young adult group

St. Joseph Parish of West Milford, home to the oldest Catholic community in New Jersey, this spring formed a new young adult group.

Lux Mundi, which in translation means “Light of the World,” is faith and activity-based and meant for ages 20 to 35. Meetings are held at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursday of every month, and the first meeting was held on Thursday, April 13.

Daniel Goodsir, the organizer of the group, during the Lenten season, approached and had several meetings with St. Joseph’s administrator, Father Jakub Grzybowski, and discussed its possible formation.

Goodsir, who had attended group sessions at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison and other locations, noticed a lack of Catholic, young adult discussion groups and that many of the younger St. Joseph parishioners did not know each other.

Goodsir said, “I wanted to establish a connection.”

Interest in Lux Mundi has been slowly growing, meeting by meeting, and in addition to information found in the parish bulletin, the group, to raise awareness and interest, also passed out flyers when hosting hospitality Sunday in May.

That event bore fruit. Goodsir affirmed, “A lot of people were interested.”

Greg Marra, who is the director of the music ministry and business manager of the parish, is also partly involved in the group and, early on, aided with planning and strategizing.

Marra said regarding the group’s activities, “The first two meetings were introductory and strategizing meetings. Future meetings will be organized around some kind of activity, whether it is recreation or otherwise. Sometimes we might do a Bible study, we might play board games, watch a movie, or have a prayer meeting. We are going to change it up.”

Marra also mentioned that the group is trying to discern what the different attendees really feel they need. He said, “We want to focus on where people think they need to grow.”

Goodsir agreed, and one of the things he was hoping to prosper among the young adults was evangelization. He said, “The friends we know from school — ask them to come and see what it is like forming that connection and network of friends.”

According to Goodsir as well, recent college graduates would benefit from the Lux Mundi experience. He continued, “Even­tually, we will be getting older, are going to be needing people throughout our lives. Even right now, we do. Just figuring out, ‘How do I move out?’ Even with the simple things like that, I think people are very lost in this day and age, and I think if you have a tight network of friends that you can form with a group like this — a group of believers, especially — you can really help people on their journey through life. And what better way is there to do that than through the ministry of our Lord?”

Contact the parish for more information.