Saint Patrick Summer Camp & Youth Ministry

Thank You for Wonderful Summer!

As camp comes to an end we would like to thank the families who filled our summer with good memories and fun.  For the past eight weeks we have worked together to learn the importance of teamwork, the excitement of competition, and the love of God.  Each year we are sad to say goodbye but look forward to the beginning of new programs and to welcome new and old friends to join our family.

A special thank you to our adult staff as well as the office staff for the countless hours of preparation and dedication to making our program a success.

The Youth Community at St. Patrick has a long past and a bright future.  We are preparing for the kick-off of the 2010 – 2011 program (details on the following page).  We are excited to begin our new program with previous and new “family” members.

Each day we look forward to the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of “our kids” through the variety of programs we offer including Youth Ministry, Folk (Music Ministry) Group, Enrichment Center, and sports programs.  Thank you for your support of our programs and St. Patrick Youth.

May God bless you and your families and bring you closer to Him in all you do.

Morgan Woods & Susan Murphy Youth Ministry & Summer Camp Directors

This week Catholic Charities held its annual review meeting which gives the leadership and Board of Directors the opportunity to report to the Bishop on the many extraordinary projects that our Diocesan Catholic Charities carries on in behalf of the vulnerable and needy in our midst.  The largest social service network outside of the government in all of Long island, this is the face of the Catholic Church to pregnant teens, elderly couples, special needs children and their families and a host of other persons and groups who depend on the Church to help them cope with life and become self-reliant with dignity and meaning in their lives.

In the past three weeks, there were graduations from our three diocesan high schools, McGann Mercy in Riverhead, Holy Trinity in Hicksville and St, John the Baptist in West Islip.  Almost 1,000 seniors received diplomas and are going on to some of the best colleges in the area and in our country, thanks to the dedicated faculty and administration at these three Catholic schools.

In May it was my privilege to ordain ten men to the permanent diaconate and assign them to serve in parishes around our diocese.  On June 12, the cathedral was filled with family and loved ones and parishioners of the three men ordained to the priesthood after completing their years of formation at our seminary in Huntington.  A fourth, whom I ordained last year, has completed his studies in theology at the Gregorian University in Rome last week will join them in parish assignments to St James. Seaford, St Brigid, Westbury, St Joseph Ronkonkoma and St. Patrick, Smithtown.

A month ago, 65 men and women received graduate degrees in theology, divinity and pastoral studies after completing their work at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington.  With great joy many will gather in the Cathedral of St. Agnes this week for graduations from the Pastoral Formation Institute for all those who will receive their certificates from the PFI in various areas of religious studies.

In the meantime throughout the year, almost every weekend has seen a charismatic retreat which gathered Spanish speaking members of our parishes for prayer, and deepening of their spiritual lives.  On our campuses, adult and peer ministers attuned to the spiritual and special needs of Catholics in the colleges and universities that make Long Island so attractive to the young collegians of our parishes and those from other parts of the country.  I pray we may find vocations to priesthood and religious life among some of them which is why Fr. Brian Barr and his cohort of priests have made themselves available to offer Mass on these campuses and to conduct retreats for college age students throughout the school year.

In the meantime, my colleagues who oversee the needs of the clergy, the coordination of social outreach in our parishes, the efforts at communications in all the media from this newspaper to Telecare to our website, the various organs of diocesan life like the Presbyteral Council and the Diocesan Pastoral Council, in short, all those who assist me in the many activities that help the fifth largest Catholic Church in the United States function, will gather with me next week to review the year’s efforts and to begin preparations for what we will undertake as a diocese when the summer holidays are over.

What do all these have in common?  Many things not the least of which is that they are all aspects of a healthy and vibrant expression of the Spirit who animates this Diocese of Rockville Centre.  They also are the many ways that the office of bishop is carried on in service to the People of God, a service offered in strict union and collaboration with my brother priests, your pastors and their staffs. But, what all these, including the parishes, all have in common is that they all are assisted by the annual Catholic Ministries Appeal.

None of these could continue to function without your support of the Catholic Ministries Appeal (CMA). The Diocese has only two real sources of income. One is the annual assessment, called the Cathedraticum, to which every parish contributes a small percentage of its income so that the Bishop and the Diocese can carry on essential work of the Church, only a portion of which I have mentioned above.  The second source is your generosity to the CMA.

Unfortunately the number giving has decreased and, while the average gift is somewhat greater every year, the overall donations through the CMA have grown little and seem to be flat or a little behind last year.  Our pastors are working hard to make their goals.  Many lay people continue to offer their efforts to encourage parishioners and others to give to the CMA which literally touches the lives of all the Catholics on Long Island and many thousands who are not Catholic.

So as we start to look ahead in anticipation of some summer days on this most beautiful part of God’s earth, I would like to ask each and everyone of you to help me.  This week or next or any day before you go on vacation, stop and ask yourself if you can give a little more to the CMA before you and your family go off on your holidays.  If you have stopped giving, for whatever reason, think about this fact: no money from the CMA enriches anyone or adds to anyone’s salaries or benefits who work in this Diocese beginning with your bishop on down to every other person who serves you.  The CMA contributions go exclusively to the five areas of the Diocese that are so much more in need because today’s needs are greater than yesterdays.  So, even if it is only a small amount, that doesn’t matter.  What matters is the generous heart that makes a sacrifice to help others.  And that sacrifice, however large or small, will multiply itself because of your goodness and your care.

So please let’s make an end of the year, beginning of summer effort to give a little more, give a little extra, give something from your heart to the CMA before you go off on vacation.  And may the God who watches over us watch over, protect you and your family during these summer months wherever you may be relaxing and being refreshed by the beauty of God’s creation and the joyful fun of family and friends together.

If you can help, please do so.  Contributions can be made using this form and sending it to:

Catholic Ministries Appeal
Diocese of Rockville Centre
P.O. Box 4000
Rockville Centre, NY 11571-4000

Gifts to the Catholic Ministries Appeal may also be made via your credit card.  Make your donation online by visiting www.drvc.org/make-a-donation.html .

St. Patrick’s currently has received $85,339.09.00
in pledges from 388 families toward our goal of $130,000.00.

Bishop William Murphy  

Once when I was talking with a priest who was a hospital chaplain he told me about an experience of a dying man who wanted nothing to do with him or the Church.  Apparently someone indicated he was Catholic so the priest went in to see him.  The patient made it clear he wanted nothing to do with the priest, the church or any prayers.  The next day the priest went into his room and sat down on a chair.  The man again told the priest he wanted nothing to do with him.  The priest said he knew that and he was just going to sit there.  The patient asked why and the priest said he had never seen anyone going to hell before so he wanted to watch.  The man thought for moment and then opened his heart to receive the sacraments of Penance, Eucharist and the Anointing of the Sick.  That patient died at peace with God and himself.

Hell is not something we talk about much anymore.  When I was growing up part of our religious instruction sought to put the fear of God in us by telling us of the horrors and real possibility of hell.  Today we hardly hear any reference to it.  But we must not delude ourselves into thinking hell does not exist.  The devil is hard at work and prospering in our world.  The media report countless evils that we commit against one another.  Those are the obvious and blatant instances of evil at work.  Then there are the more subtle ways evil makes its way into our world.  Last week I spoke about our current Congressman and a candidate who is seeking to run against him in November.  While both men surely have done good things in their lives, our current Congressman, who claims he is a Catholic, supports and votes for abortion and abortion rights in Congress.  Abortion is one issue among many we must look at when we choose who we are going to vote for.  There is concern for illegal immigration, the economy and health care reform.  These and countless other issues affect us individually and as a nation.  What is important in all areas is the attitude we have toward human life.  Anyone who supports the taking of human life through abortion is clearly breaking the fifth commandment: You shall not kill.  The devil seeks to soften this horror by calling it a choice and a right. How can we be so foolish as to not recognize we are taking a human life in the womb brutally and efficiently.  People who claim they are Catholic and support abortion, whether legislators or everyday citizens are in direct conflict with what God has commanded us not to do.  Make no mistake about it - they are on the road to damnation.  When noted legislators die their records are usually extolled.  How sad when those who had done much good tarnish their record and lose their integrity and respect for human life and God’s will by supporting and voting for abortion.  Is it cruel to think and say that they have begun to experience eternity in the pits of hell?  God is forgiving, but we must repent of the evil we have done, not defend it or support those who do evil.

One of the prayers I pray in the breviary on the feast of some saints says: “On your walls Jerusalem I have set my watchmen to guard you.”  God calls certain people to warn us about the power and presence of evil and to repent and change what is not good.  The Old Testament gives us the example of many prophets.  Elijah challenged King Ahab and his wife Jezebel for bringing false gods to the people.  They tried to silence Elijah by pursuing him to kill him.  They did not succeed.  Of those three, who is at peace in God’s kingdom now?  John the Baptist told Herod he was living in an adulterous relationship with his brother’s wife. The wife contrived and succeeded in having John beheaded.  Who of those three is at peace now?  Who are the prophets and watchman today who call our attention to the presence of evil and destruction in our midst?  Jesus speaks to us through the words of scripture and the teachings of the Church.  These words and teachings do not confine or limit us but bring us the freedom God created us to know and the peace we so seek but will only find in God.  Do not be blind to those who are on the road to damnation.

Do not follow them to the horror of hell.  Supporting those who do evil and defend evil gives us a share in their guilt and evil.  The road to hell can seem pleasant and easy.   But in our hearts we know we are lost and going the wrong way. The prophet Ezekiel in 33:18-20 says pointedly: ”When a virtuous man turns away from what is right and does wrong, he shall die for it.  But when a wicked man turns away from wickedness and does what is right and just, because of this he shall live. ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!?’  I will judge everyone of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.”  Some people took these words to heart and some did not.  Death is eternal life in hell.  Life is eternal life in heaven.

Father Walden