By Lois Rogers | Correspondent

When a seminarian attended the diocesan Holy Week Tenebrae service in Spring Lake’s St. Catharine Church this past spring, Father Harold Cullen seized the opportunity to ask how parishes might enhance the priestly formation experience.

Photo Gallery: Seminarians Barbecue in Spring Lake

The immediate response was a request for more opportunities for seminarians to connect with each other throughout the year, recalled Father Cullen, pastor of St. Catharine-St. Margaret Parish. Considering the men study in three different seminaries and spend their summers helping in different parishes around the four counties of the Diocese, chances to get together as a group don’t regularly present themselves, he said.

Aside from a recent workshop on marriage at the Chancery in Lawrenceville and weeklong retreat in July hosted by the diocesan Office of Clergy and Consecrated Life and held in Morristown, the next time the seminarians would have been likely to gather was the Christmas Mass and dinner with Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., in December.

That being the case, it was decided to host a quintessential summer backyard barbecue Aug. 2 for seminarians and numerous diocesan priests to share fellowship, food and relaxed conversation on the St. Catharine campus overlooking the body of water that gave Spring Lake its name.

Howling winds and slashing rains may have stopped the event from being held outside, but it did not deter Father Cullen from instead welcoming one and all to an indoor barbecue in the rectory.

Among those in attendance were the Rev. Messrs. Christopher Dayton, a transitional deacon in St. Aloysius Parish, Jackson, and Michael G. DeSaye, a transitional deacon in Visitation Parish, Brick, as well as seminarians James Harmon, Kevin Hrycenko and William Clingerman, among others.

Sharing their appreciation of the event over hearty plates of food, Harmon, who grew up in St. Justin the Martyr Parish, Toms River, called the barbecue a “way of showing fraternity” with his fellow students, and Hrycenko, whose home parish is St. Joseph, Toms River, called it “a great way to meet other priests.”

Clingerman, whose home parish is Allentown’s St. John the Baptist, said he definitely appreciated the camaraderie.

“Everyone is very supportive and trying to help you,” said Clingerman, who added that the seminarians felt welcome among each other from the first meeting. “We have a very [supportive] group and found that to be true from the very beginning.”

In theorizing about what could be the “first annual summer barbecue” at the Shore, Father Cullen talked of the possibility of having the event being sponsored by the Cohort of five parishes along the “Irish Riviera,” which include his own, St. Catharine-St. Margaret; St. Rose, Belmar; St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Avon; St. Mark, Sea Girt, and Ascension, Bradley Beach.

“We would like to do things as a Cohort with several parishes involved,” he said. “We are just beginning to act as a Cohort, and people seem to appreciate it,” he said.

And on this evening, that meant making the seminarians comfortable and at home as they chowed down on summer fare – hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, cold cut platters and the like. The atmosphere was relaxed as the seminarians enjoyed the camaraderie of being with their fellows and many of the priests whose ranks they hope to join.

Clingerman, Harmon and Hrycenko said they thought it was great that so many priests, including Msgr. Thomas J. Mullelly, diocesan vicar for clergy and consecrated life, as well as Father Daniel Swift and Father Garry R. Koch, assistant vocations directors, made it a point to attend. Father Swift is the pastor of St. Mary of the Lakes, Medford, while Father Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.

Also present was Msgr. Edward J. Arnister, pastor of St. Rose Parish, who praised Father Cullen for inviting clergy from the Cohort to the event. He said it reflected the fact that we are “all about collaboration as we implement Faith in Our Future.”

“First of all,” he said, the barbecue “allowed the seminarians to meet priests and hear about their formation and training” and provided an atmosphere in which they could “exchange thoughts about our common priesthood.”

“It was a way to reassure them that we are there for them and ready to help them in any way we can. You don’t have the opportunity to do that throughout the year,” he said. “The summer is the perfect time.”