Golf outing raises funds for retired priests
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
The skies threatened and there were deluges all around, but miraculously enough, all but the first two holes at the Spring Lake Golf Club were relatively free of rain June 15.
Some speculate a heavenly hand was at work thanks to the prayers for good weather from six religious sisters who helped to stave back the ominous forecast and allow the Fourth Annual Bishop John C. Reiss Memorial Golf Outing to go ahead as planned.
And a good time was had by all 84 golfers, said Mariann Gilbride, associate director of the diocesan Department of Development.
“The sisters were praying for (good) weather,” Gilbride said of the nuns, all of whom work or volunteer in the Diocesan Pastoral Center. “The weather did cooperate. All of the golfers got out on the course. Ten minutes later, the skies opened up at the club house. Only two holes reported significant rain and they were the two holes close to the club house.”
The benefactors of the fund raising event may have had some impact on the sunny outcome as well. The golf outing, in memory of Bishop John C. Reiss who was the eighth bishop of Trenton, benefits the Charitable Trust for the Aged, Infirm and Disabled Priests of the Diocese who, as of this writing, number 44. The majority of the retired priests, including Bishop John M. Smith, reside in Villa Vianney in Lawrenceville.
In his message to those taking part in the outing, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., noted that the challenge of a decreasing number of active priests means an increasing number who are retiring.
In the event program he wrote: “In the next 10 years alone, 44 percent of our active priests will be eligible for retirement, adding $800,000 per year for health care costs. Your efforts today are critical in continuing the support of our aging priests and on their behalf I gratefully acknowledge what you are doing for them.”
Bishop O’Connell conveyed his appreciation to Scozzari Builders Incorporated, Trenton, who sponsored the event. He thanked Len Scozzari, who has chaired the event for several years, and his brother Nick for their ongoing support.
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The skies threatened and there were deluges all around, but miraculously enough, all but the first two holes at the Spring Lake Golf Club were relatively free of rain June 15.
Some speculate a heavenly hand was at work thanks to the prayers for good weather from six religious sisters who helped to stave back the ominous forecast and allow the Fourth Annual Bishop John C. Reiss Memorial Golf Outing to go ahead as planned.
And a good time was had by all 84 golfers, said Mariann Gilbride, associate director of the diocesan Department of Development.
“The sisters were praying for (good) weather,” Gilbride said of the nuns, all of whom work or volunteer in the Diocesan Pastoral Center. “The weather did cooperate. All of the golfers got out on the course. Ten minutes later, the skies opened up at the club house. Only two holes reported significant rain and they were the two holes close to the club house.”
The benefactors of the fund raising event may have had some impact on the sunny outcome as well. The golf outing, in memory of Bishop John C. Reiss who was the eighth bishop of Trenton, benefits the Charitable Trust for the Aged, Infirm and Disabled Priests of the Diocese who, as of this writing, number 44. The majority of the retired priests, including Bishop John M. Smith, reside in Villa Vianney in Lawrenceville.
In his message to those taking part in the outing, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., noted that the challenge of a decreasing number of active priests means an increasing number who are retiring.
In the event program he wrote: “In the next 10 years alone, 44 percent of our active priests will be eligible for retirement, adding $800,000 per year for health care costs. Your efforts today are critical in continuing the support of our aging priests and on their behalf I gratefully acknowledge what you are doing for them.”
Bishop O’Connell conveyed his appreciation to Scozzari Builders Incorporated, Trenton, who sponsored the event. He thanked Len Scozzari, who has chaired the event for several years, and his brother Nick for their ongoing support.
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