By Lois Rogers | Features Editor

In Church terms, the word for what’s about to happen in Asbury Park’s Catholic community, is merger.

But around the campuses of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Pine Street and First Avenue, and Holy Spirit in the heart of the city, unification is the word of choice.

In fact, the sense of unity was already palpable on the morning of June 13 – the memorial of St. Anthony of Padua – as members of the diverse Catholic landscape gathered in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church to celebrate the beloved saint at Mass and break St. Anthony bread together.

The administrative office – common ground for the past two years for all who once worshiped separately in Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Holy Spirit, St. Peter Claver and Our Lady of Providence Churches – hummed with activity as the unified pastoral council met to discuss needs and services.

On June 29, at 11:45 a.m. in Holy Spirit Church, they will gather again along with throngs of their brothers and sisters in faith as Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., presides over the official creation of what is already known as Mother of Mercy Parish.

The name was selected by consensus among the members of the transition committee, said Father Miquel Virella who has pastored the two parishes – Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Holy Spirit – since they were twinned out of the original four and a bustling Haitian Apostolate in 2012.

The new name is a reflection of the devotion to the Blessed Mother that permeates the legacy of all the communities involved, Father Virella said. “And, it’s a reflection of the process that brought us here. The bishop was sent three suggestions for names – Parish of the Good Shepherd; Our Lady of the Divine Word, and Mother of Mercy.

“Mother of Mercy was chosen,” he said.

Giving the people a strong role in the formation of the new parish was very important and selecting the name by which it would be known was part of that, he said. “And the name is so appropriate. We pray it all the time, ‘Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,’” he said with a broad smile.

Pathway to Unity

Explaining that process during an interview in his parish office, Father Virella said that the twinned parishes of Holy Spirit and Our Lady of Mount Carmel followed the guidance of the diocesan Office of Pastoral Life and Mission as the final steps toward uniting the two parishes as one were taken.

With representation from the original four parishes, the transition team – a grassroots committee – was tasked with implementing the plan geared toward revitalizing Catholic life, rich in Hispanic, African American, Haitian, Irish and Italian culture – in Asbury Park.

Consideration was given to the very diverse nature of the languages, cultures and customs of those who would be enfolded into the new, single faith community. The emphasis, Father Virella said, would be the one common element everyone shared: “We are all Catholic.”

As members of the new parish joined Father Virella throughout the morning, they focused on that concept and the role it played throughout the consultation, collaboration and prayer leading up to the unification.

Joining him were Marie Vee Andre, Rosemary Paduano, Jorge Rodriguez and Jane Strada. Voluntas Dei Father Paul Janvier, who has served the faithful of Asbury Park and its Haitian community for a number of years, also shared his insights about the unification.

Speaking personally, Andre shared her own experience of the coming together. “I used to be with the Haitian community,” she said. “Now, I’m with everybody. If you need a volunteer or help with food, if you are sick and need to go to the doctor, I’m there.”

She recalled her long affection and involvement with the parish. “I got married in Mount Carmel Church on July 31, 1971.” She and her husband, Deacon Edner Andre, had four children, “all baptized in Mount Carmel. They went to school there, received their sacraments there. My husband was ordained a deacon in 1992.”

Forging a new parish that would help to strengthen and secure the Catholic community in Asbury Park wasn’t an easy process, she and Father Virella agreed. But it was vital, they said, to take the steps needed to ensure its success.

During the initial phases of the merger, those steps included creating one Mass schedule, one bulletin and a merged website which is up and running. There would be one pastoral team and one residence for them to share. A restructuring of the staff had to be considered and a multilingual parish office was opened.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel School prepared for increased enrollment as the combined religious education programs prepared to celebrate one Confirmation. A parish council composed of members from each community, replacing the transition team would be created and there would be a unified finance council.

The initial changes improved the administration of the parishes and the pastoral care of its people, said Father Virella, who noted that they freed up financial resources for ministry and “set us on a path in which there are no ‘second class’ parishioners. All are welcome and have opportunities to share their gifts.”

Ministries were merged and programs were added including a youth group, children’s choir and Bible study in English, Spanish and Creole. Formation was begun for a liturgy committee. Retreats were held and a nurses’ committee and Spanish classes were added.

The histories of Our Lady of Providence Parish, the Neptune home to an emerging Hispanic population, and St. Peter Claver Parish, the lynchpin of the African-American community in Asbury Park, were visibly enshrined in the matrix of Mother of Mercy Parish.

The office chapel was blessed and renamed for “Nuestra Senora de la Providencia” and the promised St. Peter Claver Outreach Center with its busy food pantry, an office for the parish’s St. Vincent de Paul conference, conference rooms and large common area with a stage, is the parish anchor on the west side of town.

While Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the parish hub, with the church, school, hall and administrative offices based there, Holy Trinity Church will continue as a worship site. Reassuring parishioners that these places of prayer would remain was one key to the success of the unification, Father Virella said.

Andre remembered, immediately: “There were many people involved, many, many meetings.”

“The Diocese was a great help,” Father Virella said. “But the main thing was that the people were willing to compromise. I think it was God’s work. You could sense the presence of the Holy Spirit. Everyone wanted to make this happen.”

Jorge Rodriguez, who joined Father Virella and Andre at the table, hopes to become a deacon for the parish. He said that there is a sense that it is “time for us all to be brothers and sisters in Asbury Park and ‘get the show on the road’. Let’s pick up our shovels and continue the work,” he said. “We’ve worked hard enough and long enough for unity to happen.”

Long time member Jane Strada and Rosemary Paduano, a lifelong member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish which was the spiritual home of generations of Italian Americans, spoke about the universal nature of Catholicism which, they believe, played a key role in bringing the unification about.

“St. John Paul II urged us to keep our cultures alive and to share them,” said Strada. “The Catholic faith can thrive in any culture.”

While initially, there were doubts that this broad exchange of cultures could work, Paduano said that over time, “for those who were set in their ways, the shock subsided. I think that people have been able to look and say, it’s ok.”

When it comes to this new parish, Father Janvier said, the important thing is to be respectful of the glue that holds it all together.

“Jesus is the bond,” Father Janvier said. “And he will help us walk together.”