Fr. JC Maximilian

Life really can be filled with ups and downs.  Today was one such example, and in this case it had to do with two people who have dedicated their lives to the service of the Church.

First the sad note.  Last night we received a call that one of our permanent deacons here at the parish, Deacon Joseph Malloy, died suddenly.  To be honest, I do not know how many years Joe was a deacon, but I think it was over 25.  His sister-in-law is one of my mother’s best friends and lives just up the block from where I grew up, so I got to see Deacon Joe even when I was a kid, and before he was a deacon, when we went to the Kadelaks for birthdays and other parties.  He was an architect by trade, and often offered his talents to the Church — designing a chapel and columbarium at  one parish, and he was working on the designs for the elevator we are putting in at St. Anthony’s.  Deacon Joe was also very involved with Martin House, a diocesan charity that builds homes for the poor in Trenton, provides transitional housing, a thrift shop, and an educational center.  Each year, here at the parish, Deacon Joe ran the two clothing drives for Martin House, Giving Tree at Christmas, and a food collection at Thanksgiving for the Mount Carmel Guild, a diocesan charity I am involved with.

A few years ago Deacon Joe got very sick with cancer, and more than once people thought that he was a goner.  However, he pulled through, and the event had a profound effect on his life.  It helped him recognize that life, each day, is a gift from God so one should live each day in joyful gratitude.  He lived his last day that way.  He spent the day playing golf, and he called his wife, Judy, around 4 p.m. to say that he had a good day, and he was going to their one daughter’s house for something.  When his daughter came home around 5 p.m. she found him collapsed; apparently from a sudden heart attack.  He will be missed — for his gentleness, his kindness, the way he murdered names (he had dyslexia, so reading out loud was a challenge, but he practiced hard at it).

The joyful note today was the Jubilee celebration for Sr. Marie Olivette Weiss, OFM.  Sr. Marie celebrates her 75th anniversary of taking first vows with the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia.  She has actually been with the Order for 78 years, counting her postulancy and  novitiate.  I first met Sr. Marie Olivette nearly 30 years ago when she was my teacher my freshman year in HS.  I had her for drafting, so I always give her the credit when people say that I have very good printing, and for teaching me how to draw a straight line, with a ruler.  She still walks over to the church for Mass, and is always so cheerful.  One of my favorite memories of her happened just about a year ago.  I had the 8 a.m. Mass one Friday, and then I had a 9:30 a.m. funeral, an 11 a.m. funeral, and then I had to run over to the school for stations of the cross.  I ran into Sr. Marie as I was leaving after the 8 a.m. Mass.  She was talking with one of our daily communicants, so I said a few words of greeting to them, and then I excused myself telling them about my busy day and needing a cup of coffee to get through it.  I ran to Wawa for the coffee (I was at our St. Anthony campus and the rectory is at the Our Lady of Sorrows campus, a few miles away).  I went through my busy day, and around 3:30 p.m. went upstairs to my sitting room to put my feet up.  I was only there a few minutes when the secretary buzzed me and said that Sr. Marie was on the phone for me.  I picked up the phone and said hello to Sr. and asked her how I could help her.  She started by apologizing for not inviting me into the convent for coffee, but since it is for retired nuns, she was worried that some might be in the kitchen in their bathrobes.  She said that she was bothered by that all day, feeling that she should have invited me in.  I told her not to fret one instant more about it; that I was not fishing for an invite.  It was just one example of her simple generosity.

The Diocese of Trenton experienced a sudden shock today. We have a House of Formation for men who are actively discerning a vocation to the priesthood. The men who stay there are usually either preparing to enter the seminary in the near future, or may be taking a break from the seminary. I spent a year there as a deacon. It is located at the first Catholic parish in the state of New Jersey, Sacred Heart.

This afternoon I got a message that one of the seminarians at the House of Formation died. That’s was it; no name or circumstances. I was able to get a hold of the administrative assistant for the Vocations Office and got more details.

The seminarian’s name was Edward Bulger. I am not sure how old he was, but I would say in his 30s or 40s. I only met him a couple of times, so did not know him well, but he was planning on entering the seminary in the Fall. Apparently he had an asthma attack while sleeping, and died from it. Needless to say the folks at the House of Formation are in shock. Someone so young, who was looking to do God’s work.

My mother is very involved with Serra International, the wonderful folks who support vocations with tons of prayers, was so shocked. All she could say was, “The devil is really attacking the Church.” Of course she does not mean that in a movie “Damien” way. She is just recognizing that there are spiritual forces that are actively trying to stop the spread of the Gospel. Tune in tomorrow for my Epiphany homily which addresses this somewhat.

Please pray for the repose of Ed’s soul. Also pray for his family and many friends. In the shock and grief the devil often tries to sow the seeds of despair and hopelessness. Our Faith assures us that Jesus is in our midst, particularly in a time like this. Like when He went to Martha and Mary after the death of Lazarus, Jesus weeps with us in our grief while all the time promising us that He is the Resurrection and the Life, and if we believe in Him we will live with Him in paradise.

Pray for vocations! Christ Jesus Victor!

I would ask the readers of this blog to keep in your prayers two priests of the Diocese of Trenton who died this week.

Fr. Thomas Rittenhouse was the pastor of St. Peter’s Church in Riverside, NJ. I did not know him much at all, just to say hello to at priest gatherings. Fr. Tom was 56 years old. I do know that he had been ill for quite sometime, but as Bishop Smith noted in his homily this morning, Fr. Tom always gave all that he could to serve the People of God.

I also did not know very well Fr. David Adams, parochial vicar at St. Leo the Great Parish in Lincroft, NJ. His death was a bit more shocking because he had not been ill at all before hand, and he was only 47 years old when he died. His funeral will be tomorrow.

In a wierd way, the funeral of a priest highlights the common fraternity of the Ministerial Priesthood. The last several priest funerals that I have attended I did not know the priest well, in the one case I had never met him. However, they are brother priests; all of us certainly have our shortcomings, but each of us have responded to a call from God to serve the Church, to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, and to reconcile repentant sinners. We are “earthen vessels” to whom Almighty God has entrusted a most precious gift. I honor the service of Frs. Tom and Dave, and pray for their immortal souls, and the consolation of their family, friends and parishioners.

Today, Bishop John M. Smith ordained three men priests for the diocese of Trenton. I have been close to all three of the guys, so it was an exciting day to see friends ordained priests.

The youngest guy is Fr. Brian Woodrow. He and I started the formation program the same year, 1998, but he was right out of high school so he had college to complete; first two years at Franciscan University at Steubenville, and the last two years at Seton Hall University, where he stayed for Theology as well (Immaculate Conception). Brian was always a fun-loving, well, goof-ball. I don’t think I have ever seen him without a smile on his face and joy in his heart. Always ready to be a friend to someone in need, Fr. Brian is also a very skilled kick boxer (if he didn’t study to be a priest, he had a promising career as an Ultimate Fighter). The only way that he has ever disappointed me is that he promised to take me for a ride on his JetSki, but then he sold it (LOL). Fr. Brian will be assigned to St. Rose Church in Belmar; that’s like a mile from the ocean.

Next is the new priest that I have spent the least amount of time with, but I feel as if we have become friends. Fr. Michael McClane is a Renaissance man. He is from North Jersey, actually the Archdiocese of Newark. He was a start QB on his HS football team, leading them to the State championship, and, something I just learnt today, he is an accomplished musician and singer. Where I think we have much in common is that he is a scholar. He attended Princeton University, a history major, and was an A student. A generous, kind man, I first met him when we were both at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, in Philadelphia. I did all my studies there, but Mike was only there for a year. Then he was sent to the Pontifical North American College in Rome (OK, I was a little jealous, but it was undoubtedly for the best since I am not very good at learning languages so the Italian would have been hard). I always thought it would be hard to be the only seminarian from our diocese in Rome, and not able to come home much, so I tried to keep him informed about the diocese via email. I don’t know if he ever thought it was strange, but he is too good a man to ever be anything but appreciative, and it was through email that we became friends. I had the honor of going to Rome last October to concelebrate the Mass at which he was ordained a deacon. Fr. Michael will be serving at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Moorestown, NJ which is not very far from me, so I hope we stay in touch.

Finally I get to Fr. Joseph Jakub. I must admit that I am closest to him. We were several years in the seminary together at St. Charles. We seemed to develop good “timing,” when one of us was getting a bit too stressed out at the seminary, the other would be on a good streak and help the other out. An intelligent, articulate man, Joe has a good sense of humor and a deep faith in Jesus. He must get it from his family (as I am sure both Frs. Brian and Michael do); his one brother is a priest of the diocese, his mother runs the Catholic Center at Monmouth University, and his father went back to get his masters in Theology and now teaches, as a second career, at a Catholic HS. Fr. Joe will be assigned to St. Aloysius in Jackson (think Six Flags’ Great Adventure), also close.

Thank you Heavenly Father for these fine men. Bless them and give them the Gifts of the Holy Spirit so that they can through word and deed bring people to Jesus, Your Son and our Savior.

I actually wanted to wait to write this post until I could find a picture I have of Fr. Garrett Fitzgerald and myself, but alas, my stuff is still in boxes. Hopefully soon, I will be in my new office.

I kind of replaced Fr. Garrett Fitzgerald hear at Our Lady of Sorrows-St. Anthony parish. He left here in early November 2005 to be the administrator (and probably pastor) of Holy Trinity parish in Long Branch. I was not a direct replace for him here, since I arrived about a month later. There was at first some minor confusion because of the similarity of our names; his first name was Garrett, which is my last name. We had joked about that over the past few years. When I was a deacon at Sacred Heart in Trenton, Fr. Garrett Fitzgerald came once to say Mass and someone (a non-Catholic employee) said, “Isn’t it nice that you are going into the same line of work as your father.” I had to explain that he was not my father. We would joke that he was Fr. Garrett “the First” and I was Fr. Garrett “the Last.”

Fr. Garrett “the First” was raised in the Bronx, NY, but studied for the priesthood for the Diocese of Trenton, being ordained in 1975. He served in several parishes in the Diocese of Trenton (the first being St. Jochiam in Trenton) prior to being “caught” in the split of the Diocese in 1981. He served the Diocese of Metuchen for 19 years, but then asked to return to his original diocese. A few days before I was ordained a priest I ran into Fr. Garrett Fitzgerald outside the Pastoral Center, and we had such a wonderful conversation. He was so joyful about my ordination, and joyful about being back in Trenton.

Fr. Garrett Fitzgerald became suddenly ill in the beginning of March, and they discovered a large, inoperable tumor in his liver. The doctors gave him only days to live, and much of it in pain. I, and many priests, visited him while in the hospital — he just loved being with his brother priests. In his suffering he was filled with grace. The final step for his being incardinated again into the Diocese of Trenton was finalized a few days before he died. He died a week ago at the age of 57; survived by his mother, a brother, many friends, and of course his brother priests.

Eternal Rest grant unto him O Lord, and may the perpetual Light shine on him. Rest in peace Fr. Garrett “the First” Fitzgerald.