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January
5, 2005 As a grandchild of immigrants, I am offended that the churches they built are referred to in this manner. The immigrants who came to this country and built our churches may not have understood the word “stewardship,” but they practiced it. They gave of their time, talent and treasure to built the “huge, beautiful churches” that Msgr. Gilchrist seems to dismiss. The now-outdated Archdiocesan Statutes from 1941, which Msgr. Gilchrist quotes, simply state that subsequent generations are not obliged to go to the language parish that their parents and grandparents went to, but that they may instead attend the territorial parish. Nowhere in the statutes does it say that the next generations must go to the territorial parish, nor that they are prohibited from attending the language parish. Although “Catholic immigration from Europe has all but ceased” for some groups, many immigrants from Poland continue to come to this country every year, and our Polish parishes and priests are diligently serving their needs. The Polish parishes and indeed all ethnic parishes also help to preserve the heritage and traditions of the people and pass them on to future generations. The Catholic Church in the United States has flourished in large part because of the rich diversity of its people. In no other country is the catholicity of the Church better expressed, and it is as a result of our ethnic parishes. It would be a devastating loss to our Archdiocese of Newark and to the Catholic Church in the U.S., if these parishes no longer existed. Carol Luparella 'Grace in action' Their goal was to deliver home cooked turkey dinners to the good people of the Baptist Community Church in Englewood. Since November 2000, the social concern’s group of Our Lady of Victories Parish, Harrington Park, in northeast Bergen County, has organized this special food drive. The president of the group told me that she first heard about donating cooked food, rather than frozen turkeys, from her sister-in-law who was a parishioner at Presentation Church in the Upper Saddle River (northwest Bergen County). Although Our Lady of Victories is a small parish of approximately 600 families, this small group of dedicated people decided to take on the challenge. This year for example, people brought containers of brown gravy, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, squash, carrots, casseroles, corn bread, candied yams, corn bread, collard greens with ham bits, 18 pies, assorted desserts and even a tray of Irish Stew! The need is great. The food delivered to the Baptist Church is then given to their neediest people. This year they were going to cut the turkeys in half in order to reach as many as possible. So, the spirit of the Lord continues to flourish through ordinary people doing extraordinary things. I was able to accompany this group on their drive to Englewood and see grace in action. What a blessed experience! Paul Criqui
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