St. Patrick Parish

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Monday- Friday 8 am

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

* * *
MASS SCHEDULE
Saturday 5 p.m.
Sunday 7:30 am, 9:30 am, 11:30 am, 5:00 pm
 

                   ✞    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

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     The Saint Patrick Parish Office:
Monday - Thursday, 9 am- 3 pm  
Fridays 9 am - 12 pm or by appointment.

Church: 85 Washington Avenue, Chatham NJ 07928
Saint Patrick School:  45 Chatham Street, Chatham, NJ  07928  (973) 635-4623

Fr. Robert J. Mitchell, Pastor
Fr. Artur Prazak, Parochial Vicar.

Celebrants the weekend of October 1 & 2, 2022

For important and the most up-to-date Capital Campaign news including our brochure, videos, newsletters and more...   
CLICK HERE TO BE DIRECTED TO THE ST. PATRICK PARISH CAPITAL CAMPAIGN WEBPAGE!





 

The Human Family (Part I of III)
 
There is a story about two stubborn mules. Their owner tied a different end of a rope around each of their necks so that where one went the other had to follow. At the same time each mule saw two delicious looking piles of corn (one in one direction; one in the opposite direction). One mule ran toward one corn pile, and the other ran toward the other. As you may imagine, neither one got to the pile of corn. Finally, out of breath, the mules sat down to dialogue about the problem and came up with a brilliant idea. They decided to make peace and quit fighting against each other by forgetting their selfish dreams, and walk together, which led them to one pile of corn and then to the second pile. When they started pulling together they both won.

The church throughout the month of October highlights “respect for life” and like the two mules there is a tendency in people to want their “pile of corn” in a specific area of morality that promotes respect for life causes, hence they fall into a trap that puts all their energy into one specific cause oblivious to a well-rounded assessment of issues that warrant time, attention, and honest dialogue. Throughout this month it is necessary to see that each of our lives are gifts whether it is for a brief moment or decades of years, and that we are all part of one family, the human family that must walk together so that hearts are open to foster a good quality of life for all.

“Respect for Life” must be grounded in the formative years of life. It is in these years that the character of an individual is shaped and formed; therefore, it must be impressed upon children that all human life is sacred since it is created in the image of God. No life is meant to be used for personal gain, pleasure or bullied. The child who shows respect for parents, teachers, authority figures, classmates, and friends develops a lifestyle that promotes respect for life, which continues into adulthood. This child embraces a healthy vision of life aware of God’s presence in both the born and unborn. “To defend and promote life, to show reverence and love for it, is a task which God entrusts to all” (The Gospel of Life, no. 42). This perspective nurtures the dignity of every living person, and comprehends the entirety of ethics that pertain to “Respect for Life” concerns rather than a partial view of this moral teaching. It is common for many to stumble into a pitfall that supports one particular life issue unaware of God’s presence in all lives.  

 The promotion of human life is the backbone of Catholic ethics; therefore, enormous responsibility is attached to points of debate that engender an honorable quality of life for the born and unborn. The church instills countless reminders of lifestyles, which respect human life that includes lives conceived under unusual circumstances in that every life deserves a chance to exist since all lives are unique and special. I recall a scene from the Disney production of Lion King when the spirit of Mufasa tells Simba that as a deceased king’s son, he is the rightful king. This motivates Simba to give up his life of leisure and, like the king, he is to walk the more challenging road to which he is called. The Gospels put forward the message that the most significant teaching of Jesus is the sacredness of human life in that Jesus never hands down the death penalty, or speaks harshly to a sinner; but, leads people to believe that violence begets more violence, and love begets love. Jesus uplifts and frequently defends unmarried women aware of complexities that may exist in raising a child under peculiar situations that may have existed before or after a birth.   

In an encyclical from Pope St. John Paul II published on April 17, 2003 titled Ecclesia de Eucharistia, the former Pontiff writes, “Many problems darken the horizon of our time. We need but think of the urgent need to work for peace, to base relationships between people on solid premises of justice and solidarity, and to defend human life from conception to its natural end. And what should we say of the thousand inconsistencies of a globalized world where the weakest, the most powerless and the poorest appear to have little hope! It is in this world that that Christian hope must shine forth!”

 In Christ's Love,
Fr. Bob