By Lois Rogers | Correspondent

(First of Two Parts)

Since the late 1800s, the light of faith has shone brightly on Catholics in the picturesque Bayshore area known fondly among locals as “The Highlands.”

In what would become Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish 130 years ago, Mass was first celebrated in the borough of Highlands in 1863 with the first church arriving in 1883.

In Atlantic Highlands, 3.8 miles to the north, the first Masses were celebrated – aptly enough for the predominantly Protestant landscape of the day – in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union Building in 1885. The first incarnation of St. Agnes Church would arrive in in 1891.

And throughout the years that followed, the Twin Lights stood sentinel over all – its towers likened by some to soaring chess pieces – on a hill 246 feet above sea level.

For 152 years, the lighthouse stood steady and sure, attaining iconic stature among mariners and lighthouse enthusiasts as it guided ships to safe harbor through stormy seas.

It seemed only natural then, that Father William Lago and the team of faithful leading Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Agnes Parishes to the safe harbor of unification, chose the Twin Lights as the symbol for the endeavor.

On May 16, as blustery winds swept the landscape where the Twin Lights stand, Father Lago and a number of the team members gathered so that Monitor photographer John Batkowski could capture their images for posterity.

For, it was history in the making – a combined total of 409 years of it – if the ages of the three institutions are added up.

As the July 1 formal unification of the two parishes began to draw nearer, a slogan was coined: “Called to Be Beacons of Light” to accompany images of the twin towers, joined in the middle by the castle like structure which once housed operations at the lighthouse and is now a museum.

Father Lago and team members see the towers as representing the two parishes joined in the middle not by a museum or an operations center, but by Christ.

Keys to Unification

Choosing the Twin Lights as the symbol of the unification was but one step in a process that has been unfolding since 2009 when the two parishes were twinned.  The move was called for in the Monmouth Bayshore Cluster Study, which concluded that a number of factors, including shifting demographics and a declining number of priests, made restructuring necessary.

Over the five years that followed, the twinned parishes – with help – and advice from the Trenton Diocese led “increasingly shared lives,” Father Lago said. “It’s been a quasi-unification with one pastor, one parochial vicar and the same retired priests pitching in for both parishes,” so the process was already underway.

“Parishioners were availing themselves more and more to both locations and the administration and programs have been functioning as one,” he said, “with one religious education coordinator and program, one youth minister, one RCIA program and one adult faith formation program.”

Since he arrived as pastor of the twinned parishes last July 1, Father Lago has been helping to complete the process – assembling members of both parishes to form a team that would coordinate a successful “unification” – the word of choice around the Highlands to describe what will soon take place.

Team members said there’s consensus that while the transition to the unified Our Lady of Perpetual Help – St. Agnes Parish might not be 100 percent perfect – some for instance felt that the designated parish location should have been “The Highlands” rather than Atlantic Highlands – the dynamic has been established for a full union.

Faith Matters

That “dynamic” evolved during the extreme winter that just passed. Despite the harsh weather, the team persevered, Father Lago said, producing a series of approaches they prayed would open doors to unification throughout Lent and the Easter season, culminating at Pentecost.

A special Holy Card would be created with the carefully chosen icon on the front and a specially created prayer for unification on the back. There would be a chance for parishioners of OLPH and St. Agnes to make pilgrimages to each other’s churches. Father Lago would give inspirational talks, there would be special books to share and exchange of images of the patronesses of the parishes.

Dominican Sister of Hope Monica Socinski, who along with Sister Teresa Paul Heinke, (also a Dominican) is one of two sisters in residence in the twinned parishes.

She spoke movingly of working with Father Lago to create a special prayer for unification that would go on the back of a holy card imprinted with an icon entitled “Follow Me.”

Sister Monica, who described herself and 90-year-old Sister Teresa Paul as a “powerhouse of prayer for the unification of the parishes and the well being of the pastor,” shared how she and Father Lago “sat together at the computer and composed the prayer which would be prayed during weekend Masses throughout Lent and Easter.”

She also composed an ongoing retreat-like description each week in the bulletin to guide parishioners in the period of preparation “for a future full of hope,” she said.

The activities sprinkled through the seasons of faith, especially the pilgrimages, enhanced the experience, she and Father Lago said.

“It’s not just visiting, it actually is a pilgrimage,” he said, as he stood in the nave of OLPH and pointed out the “pilgrim packs” assembled for the journey in zip lock bags. “There’s a teaching slip of charisms and gifts and they are encouraged to write their intentions about the journey” on a craft flower included in the pack and assembled at home, then “plant it in a peg board garden” during their pilgrimage.

Lois Bajor, a member of the unification team representing OLPH is an artist who created the craft boards and the flowers that symbolize the garden of faith. Every week throughout Lent and Easter, she was happy to “see a few more flowers in the boards. They were starting to bloom into flower gardens.”

Reflecting, she said: “I’m 68 and this is the first time I’ve ever seen an effort like this. My life has been spent as a Catholic and you have to have some trust … when I go to the churches and see the flowers, I see trust.”

Coming in the June 5 issue of The Monitor: As July 1 approaches, plans are underway to celebrate the “stronger witness to faith” the unification of the two parishes will bring.