Kids/Families

“Being co-creators with God is the crowning gift of marriage.”

So says Peg Hensler, diocesan associate director of Marriage Ministry and NFP, reflecting on this year’s Natural Planning Awareness Week, July 21-27.

“NFP enables couples to live a moral life,” Hensler said. “It gives couples every opportunity to make the right choice and live by Church teaching.”

“An Army of Moms.”

Those are the words three women of Pennington’s St. James Parish use to affectionately describe the Moms of Teens Ministry in the Catholic Community of Hopewell Valley. After all, it takes a village to raise a family – a faith-based village.

St. Gregory the Great Parish, Hamilton Square, is putting marriage front and center with its “Happily Married Flash Mob” promoted on the parish’s website and social media.

An activity begun by the newly formed marriage ministry in St. Gregory the Great, “Marriage Matters,” the YouTube video features a running series of couples holding a “Happily Married For [blank] Years” sign, with the number of years filled in by each couple.

The statistics are staggering: Roughly one-third of young Catholics in the United States leave the Church before their 18th birthday.

Understandably, those who work with them are very concerned by the numbers and are engaged in conversations about what can be done to stem the tide of those departing, and to bring back those who have left. These two books are a welcome contribution to that conversation.

“But what about Peter?” my son DeForeest asked as we returned from Easter Vigil Mass many years ago.

I’d started telling him about Jesus from the time he began to talk. By the age of three, he was familiar with the Gospel and showed interest in its supporting cast. I sometimes aided his imagination with occasional vocal characterizations for the various apostles, Pharisees, centurions and townsfolk who wander in and out of Scripture.

Talking and laughing, faithful of all ages flocked together March 23 for a family night and lock-in retreat geared toward forming stronger bonds in faith and friendship.

“I hope the teens walk out with what our Ignite Youth Group is all about: fun, faith and fellowship. Our theme is to be ignited with the Holy Spirit in our daily lives,” Joan Kret, youth ministry coordinator in St. Leo the Great Parish, Lincroft, said of the night.

What started as a simple idea grew to a larger donation effort by two brothers in St. Paul School.

Santino Travia, a fourth-grader in the Burlington school, thought it would be good to add new books to the school library. 

WASHINGTON – Man does not live on bread alone. But on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent, he'd better not add meat to the menu.

To help Catholics and their families observe Lenten abstinence rules, any fast-food restaurant worth its salt – and sodium is in abundance at those places – offers a fish sandwich on its menu, and starts airing TV commercials for them.

When a parish sees a nearly seven-fold increase in couples preparing for marriage in the span of 12 months, something unique is happening.

That something was a Year of Marriage initiative, instituted in Nativity Parish, Fair Haven, by its pastor, Father James Grogan, in December 2017. For the next 12 months, he dedicated homilies, essays and recognition to the vocation of marriage, hoping to support and strengthen the “remote preparation” for marriage.

As World Marriage Day was celebrated around the world Feb. 10, parishes of the Diocese of Trenton bestowed special blessings on married couples, and invited them to share the comradery of others recognizing their faith-strengthened union.

In celebration of National Marriage Week USA and World Marriage Day, a daily virtual marriage retreat along with multiple learning materials are being offered.

Feb. 7-14 marks the annual celebration of National Marriage Week, with World Marriage Day falling on Feb. 10.

In the secular world, Valentine’s Day has long been symbolic of romantic love – a time for thoughtful gifts, elegant dinners and cuddling by a warm fire.

In the Catholic Church today, thanks to the annual celebration of World Marriage Day (second Sunday of February) and National Marriage Week (Feb. 7-14), St. Valentine’s Day now signifies the ultimate expression of romantic love – Holy Matrimony.

Jessica Donohue, parish catechetical leader in Sacred Heart Parish, Mount Holly, believes that thriving during Advent and Christmas begins with family relationships.

“With the hectic nature of the holiday season, it is unfortunately sometimes too easy to neglect that,” she noted. “But caring for our ‘domestic Church’ is so important and really affects our other relationships as well.”