St. Patrick Parish

Monday- Friday 8 am

Except First Fridays, No 8 am Mass
Mass is at 12:30 pm every First Friday

* * *

Saturday 5 p.m.

Sunday 7:30 am, 9:30 am, 11:30 am & 5 pm

The 9:30 am Mass will be livestreamed.
 

                   ✞    CONFESSIONS    ✞ 

offered on Saturday afternoons from 4:00-4:30 pm
in the church
or
by Appointment: 973-635-0625 
phone extensions:

152 Fr. Bob                     156 Fr. Artur
fr.bob@st-pats.org        fr.artur@st-pats.org

To make a one time offertory donation, click here to access our GIVING page on our website.

     The Saint Patrick Parish office is open for walk-ins Monday through Thursday, 9 am- 3 pm and 
Fridays 9 am - 12 pm or by appointment.
Please contact the Parish Office to make an appointment after walk-in hours.

Carol Lynn DeVito     Saturday, January 22, 2022 at 10:00 am in the Church


 

ParishSoft, the Online Giving vendor that St. Patrick Parish uses to process our Online Giving donations, has updated their Online Giving software. As part of the migration, usernames have been changed to user email addresses associated with your online giving accounts. Please note, if you donate automatically with recurring donations (gifts scheduled to be donated automatically on a specific date for a specific amount), you do NOT need to do anything. Simply list your email in the username section when visiting the Online Giving site. Those parishioners that donate through Online Giving that do NOT have automated recurring gifts (you log into your Online Giving account and make a donation at your convenience), need to create a NEW Online Giving account using an email as your username.  Please click HERE to be directed to Online Giving to create a new account. You will not be able to see your history; however, your history can be found in the Family Suite in ParishSoft. Please contact the Parish Office with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your patience as we transition to the new software!

Year of the Eucharist

            During the height of the pandemic the parish made it a point to provide communion in the parking lot for those who participated in mass through the livestream, and took part in the spiritual communion prayer. Since this was not reception of Christ in the form of a consecrated host, on particular Sundays as many as sixty cars lined up after liturgy to receive Eucharist as believers maintained a great hunger for communion. This year the church celebrates the Year of the Eucharist which renders an opportunity to ponder the meaning of Eucharist; for most of us our initial reception of Eucharist began as children on that special day called “First Holy Communion.” I believe Eucharist has taken on a different slant in life since that special day. One major difference with the Catholic faith from most other traditions is belief in real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In celebrating the “Year of the Eucharist” it is valuable to ponder the meaning of the Eucharist aware that it is more than a private act of faith or devotion, but Jesus’ gift to the church that warrants the opportunity to not only receive the Body of Christ, but in the words of Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, become the Body of Christ.

            In understanding the Eucharist, I believe it is necessary to see the way that reception of Eucharist renders food for the journey. Our “Amen” in response to the words, “The Body of Christ” ratifies our belief in the real presence of Christ, yet not to be overlooked are the words of the Eucharistic Prayer that bring us to the heart of our faith aware that Jesus left us this memorial on the night prior to his death. The Eucharistic Prayer recalls the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It also brings to us the saving acts of God provided in our past as we petition God through the presence of Christ. One of the high points of the Vatican Council II was to revisit the early Church’s connection with the Eucharist, which was a celebration of an assembly of God’s people coming to praise God, listen to his word, and “break bread’ with the firm belief that Jesus was present to them.

            In addressing the Eucharist, Pope Francis declared, “The words and gestures of the Lord touch our hearts. He takes the bread in his hands, pronounces the blessing, breaks it, and offers it to the disciples saying, take; this is my body.” The Pope went on to say, “Jesus does not distribute an abundance of bread to feed the crowds, but he breaks himself at the Passover supper with the disciples, and he shows us that the aim of life lies in self-giving, that the greatest thing is to serve.” The communion ministers at our parish take it upon themselves to distribute the Body of Christ, and that when they say those words, “The Body of Christ” they become the Body of Christ who not only serve as ministers at liturgy, but also bring the Eucharist to the sick and the elderly as they become more like Christ in the sharing of their lives.

            Many in our parish also take part in Eucharistic Devotion which is a focal point in many spiritual lives. At St. Patrick we highlight Eucharistic devotion on the First Friday of every month with liturgy at 12:30 p.m. followed by adoration of the Blessed Sacrament through 3:00 p.m. This is a splendid way to take a step away from a hectic pace of life, and experience silence and peace in Christ’s presence whether it be for a few minutes or an hour. Adoration is a stepping stone that thrusts a believer into Christ’s presence in the adored host to discover Christ in the homeless, hungry and imprisoned so that we aren’t caught up only in “private worship” but those moments should become a motivating force for good works. As our church teaches that the Eucharist is the “Source and Summit of Christian life,” let this Year of the Eucharist invigorate us with courage to acknowledge words of Pope Francis, “Eucharist is not the reward of saints, but the bread for sinners.”

In Christ's Love,
Fr. Bob