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NEW BRUNSWICK — “Thanks for giving the witness some of you have done for decades,” said Msgr. Joseph J. Kerrigan to the medical personnel and supporters of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen, seated before him. “Let’s use this gathering … as a catapult for the next chapter.”
Msgr. Kerrigan, pastor, Holy Family Parish, New Brunswick, was one of the keynote speakers at the Harvest of Hope dinner hosted by the Diocese of Metuchen’s Catholic Charities Solidarity Team, Oct. 10. Held at the Sister Marie de Pazzi Conference Center, Saint Peter’s University Hospital, the event aims to broaden awareness of the group’s works locally and internationally, and show appreciation to the annual Operation Rice Bowl donors.
Msgr. Kerrigan, former director of the Catholic Charities Solidarity Team and visitor to Guatemala on numerous mercy missions, expressed gratitude for all the work performed in the Central American country’s diocese of Santa Rosa by medical personnel and others.
“We believe, through faith, that our world is going somewhere great,” Msgr. Kerrigan said. “I am here tonight because I believe the way I express Jesus’ salvation is by extending that overflowing love and mercy to the one in need. That gives hope to all of us.”
Dr. Bipin Patel, chairman of pediatrics at Saint Peter’s University Hospital, and David R. Jaipersaud, administrative director of pediatrics at the diocesan-sponsored facility, presented testimony and photos to show the strides taken by Catholic Charities and hospital personnel during extended visits to the Guatemalan diocese to modernize its healthcare and environment.
Patel, noting the region’s high infant and mother mortality rates, determined to create access to medical care and improve healthcare infrastructure. “We were ambitious,” he admitted, but creating and educating an in-country medical team, including local midwives, helped save the lives of mothers and their babies.
Jaipersaud shared details about the success of the October 2018 Guatemala water project to restore water to a small village. The village’s well, which was originally drilled in 2005, had run dry.
Msgr. Kerrigan offered ways Catholics might fortify their ministry and give them a sense of direction with the ones they serve — renunciation of evil, repentance of passivity and radicality of faith.
“You can’t play nice,” he warned. “You must make a decisive break with things that are bad or broken, that prevent us from living in oneness with God. Repentance of silence and going along is powerful in combination with this renunciation. Stop trying to fit in and be what we originally were: people of The Way.”
Quoting Trappist monk and theologian Thomas Merton, Msgr. Kerrigan continued, “‘A monk is a person who keeps himself alive by daily contact with God.’
“Be a believer who keeps yourself alive with a continued contact with the poor.”
The results of the 2019 diocesan Operation Rice Bowl were announced at the dinner. Operation Rice Bowl is a program conducted throughout the United States each Lent. Twenty-five percent of the funds collected stay in the diocese, while the remainder supports Catholic Relief Services development projects overseas. Deacon Michael Martini of Immaculate Conception Parish, Annandale, noted more than $145,000 was collected during the campaign this year.
Catholic Charities personnel presented certificates to the top 10 Operation Rice Bowl contributors: Queenship of Mary Parish, Plainsboro; St. Augustine of Canterbury Parish, Kendall Park; Nativity of Our Lord Parish, Monroe Township; St. Helena Parish, Edison; Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen; St. James Parish, Woodbridge; St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Three Bridges; Immaculate Conception Parish, Annandale; St. Joseph Parish, North Plainfield, and St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish, Bridgewater.
For more information about the Catholic Charities Solidarity Team, visit the website http://ccsolidarity.org
2019 Operation Rice Bowl grant recipients:
• Our Lady of Victories Parish, Sayreville, St. Vincent de Paul Society: $2,000
• Somerville Area FISH: $1,000
• Interfaith Hospitality Network of
Somerset County: $3,000
• Queenship of Mary Parish, Plainsboro, St. Vincent de Paul Society: $1,000
• Queenship of Mary Parish, Plainsboro, Social Outreach: $1,000
• St. James Parish, Woodbridge: $2,500
• St. Joseph Parish, North Plainfield,
St. Vincent de Paul Society: $2,000
• Feeding Hands Food Pantry,
Somerville: $2,500
• St. Anthony of Padua, Port Reading:
$500
• St. Patrick / St. Rose of Lima,
Belvidere: $1,500
• St. Augustine of Canterbury,
Kendall Park: $2,500
• Community House of St. Thomas,
Old Bridge: $1,000
• Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, Hackettstown: $2,000
• Catholic Charities, Diocese of
Metuchen, Phillipsburg: $7,000
• Second Reformed Church,
New Brunswick, Five Loaves
Food Pantry: $4,500
• Aldersgate United Methodist Church,
East Brunswick: $1,000
