For four days, ‘heaven touched earth’ at church, hospital, cathedral

MILLTOWN — The demographics at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish have changed since it was founded in 1921 to serve the spiritual and pastoral needs of French families who came to work at the borough’s new Michelin plant in 1907.

In the decades that followed, it became the spiritual home to generations of Catholics of different ethnicities and races. From 1985 until 2016, it was shepherded by Father Thomas V. Perunilam, a native of India and beloved pastor who died in July 2018.

However, in 2021, when the parish planned to celebrate its 100th anniversary, COVID-19 postponed it until 2022. The 2021 celebration would have included a pilgrimage to the Marian shrine in Lourdes, France, where the Blessed Mother appeared to the future saint, Bernadette Soubirous, patroness of the sick and shepherds.

On May 16, Lourdes came to the parish when a small van that carried first-class relics of St. Bernadette (1844-1879) entered the parking lot at Our Lady of Lourdes Church.

Among those who welcomed the sacred cargo and helped put it on display in the church under a statue of Mary were Father Michael E. Crummy, in residence at the parish; Deacon Steven J. Holzinger II, who exercises his ministry there, and members of the Altar Rosary Society and Knights of Columbus Council 7250.

The reliquary and statue stayed at the church until after the 7 a.m. Mass May 18, when they were brought to the chapel at the diocese-sponsored Saint Peter’s University Hospital, New Brunswick, for Mass and veneration.

The visit to the Diocese of Metuchen, concluded at the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, Metuchen, May 19,  with veneration of the relics and Mass. The stops in the diocese were the only ones the tour made in New Jersey.

Some pilgrims came to venerate the relics from as far away as the Catskill Mountains in New York. On May 16, a couple hours before the regular Monday 7 p.m. novena Mass, about 30 members of the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Our Savior, including novices and postulants, arrived at Our Lady of Lourdes Church after a three-hour trip by van from their motherhouse in Round Top, N.Y. During their visit, the sisters venerated the relics, prayed and sang hymns.

In a phone call to the motherhouse a couple days later, Sister Marie Collette, who was among the pilgrims, said the sisters learned of the St. Bernadette relics because one of its members monitors tours of relics to the United States.

“Besides being one of the patron saints of our congregation, St. Bernadette is a favorite among the sisters. Her simplicity, obedience, and especially her love for the Blessed Mother present a powerful example and motivation to us who strive to follow in her footsteps,” Sister Marie Collette said.

“As for the veneration of relics in general, not only does it give glory to God, but it also puts before our minds the particular saint’s virtues for imitation. It, thus, helps us draw closer to those who are the special friends of God,” she added.

On May 17, Father Michael J. Krull, pastor, Our Lady of Peace Parish, North Brunswick, presided at a vigil Mass in honor of the visit of the relics and gave the homily.

For Father Krull, being able to preside at Mass for the relics had special significance — he grew up in Milltown, Our Lady of Lourdes was his family’s parish and he served as a parochial vicar there in 1994-95.

In his homily, Father Krull noted how Lourdes and Milltown are small towns and that Mary appeared to Bernadette in Lourdes and Bernadette “comes to each of us” in Milltown.

“Yet, in an even more profound way, heaven touches earth, here, there and everywhere,” he continued. “And we are given a share of that. As we celebrate this Mass heaven touches earth as simple bread and wine become the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ himself that we receive here.”

He also hoped the relics, which are “ex-carne” or of the flesh, would have a transformative effect on those who came to venerate them and worship at Mass.

He described Mary’s 18 apparitions to Bernadette from Feb. 11 to Ju1y 16, 1858, in a “backwater town” as a “wake-up call to the people of that time,” and that after initial skepticism, ridicule and harassment, “hearts were 

converted and lives changed.’

“I truly believe and hope,” he continued, “that this pilgrimage of St. Bernadette’s relics through our country will have the same effect…

“By our coming here tonight, each of us will be touched in some way. Maybe not like St. Paul getting knocked off his horse on the road to Damascus, but in some small way perhaps…We will begin to live our lives differently – how we treat our families and friends, how we get along with the people who rub us the wrong way, how we speak to those who may disagree with us.”

After Mass, Father Crummy and Father Krull administered the sacrament of reconciliation for about 45 minutes, while Father Michael Fragoso, pastor, Parish of the Visitation, New Brunswick, and Father Edmund A. Luciano III, parochial vicar that parish, administered the sacrament of anointing of the sick.

 

Peaceful Pilgrims

Bernadette Olson, a member of the parish and Altar Rosary Society, said the spiritual impact the relics had on her and fellow parishioners exceeded her expectations.

She believes the relics helped bring parishioners closer not only because of the five Masses celebrated during the visit and veneration, but many volunteers were needed to welcome, display and watch over the reliquary.

Among the worshipers at the Mass was Edward Zukowski, a member of St. Mary of Ostrabrama Parish, South River, who recently retired as a theology professor at the College of Mount St. Vincent, Bronx, N.Y.

“I have been fascinated by Lourdes since high school when I read ‘Voyage to Lourdes’ by the scientist Alexis Carrel, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1912,” Zukowski said. “Although he went to Lourdes as an agnostic in 1902, he describes witnessing a rather astounding healing which, however, he wasn’t then prepared to call a miracle. It would not be until 1942 that he did accept it as a miracle as part of his confessed return to the Catholic faith.

“I went to Lourdes in 1981 and lugged back a large soda bottle of water from the spring there and have kept track of any new miracles pronounced by the Church as ‘worthy of belief” of which there are only 70. So, when a colleague invited me to Our Lady of Lourdes for Mass and veneration of the relics of St. Bernadette, I knew I had to come.

“The evening was wonderful in every respect. Some of the special music sung by the choir lent majesty to the atmosphere. The congregational singing was resounding and expressive of a strong, shared faith, especially the ‘Oldies but Goodies’ like ‘Immaculate Mary.’

“The homily by Father Mike [Krull], a son of the parish, was brilliant and inspirational, combining some historical background of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Milltown and its mystical connection with the Lourdes of France, both places where ‘heaven touched earth’ in a special way.

“At the end of Mass, it was heart-warming to see both the young and the old venerate the relics of St. Bernadette. Some had rosaries, which the ushers touched to the reliquary. At the same time, many were going to confession and/or receiving the anointing of the sick. Taking all of this in, I thought to myself, ‘Boy, am I glad to be a Catholic!’

“I also experienced something I had previously felt during my trip to Lourdes. The vast majority of people who go to Lourdes in hopes of a miraculous cure do not receive one, but, as many others have observed, the biggest miracle is the feeling of peace that so many of the pilgrims appear to find. It was in the air. I felt that again at Our Lady of Lourdes that evening where, as Father Mike said, ‘Heaven was touching earth’ in a special way.”