Through catechetical programs, Year of Revival brings children to Jesus

During the National Eucharistic Year of Parish Revival, which ran from June, 2023, until June, 2024, more than 15,000 children were enrolled in a variety of parish religious education programs in some 85 parishes in the Diocese and many of them were focusing their programs on the Eucharist, bringing children to Christ in ways most appropriate for their ages.
 
In the spirit of the Revival and the recent National Eucharistic Congress, and to strengthen their faith in the True Presence, religious education students in Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Piscataway, have completed a year-long program which partnered them with the Blessed Mother to honor her Son.
 
Beginning last October and concluding in June, all students were given a “Pilgrimage Passport” listing nine sites in New Jersey which featured the opportunity for prayer to the Blessed Mother, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and information to enrich and deepen their spiritual knowledge. Children were urged to pray to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament for 15 minutes at each site, then collect a stamp for their passport to commemorate the visit.
 
Parish Catechetical Leader Jodie D’Angiolillo discovered the passport concept while traveling in the Archdiocese of Denver and thought it a great way to teach the children under her care about their faith. Adapted for use in the central New Jersey dioceses, the chosen sites were designed to focus upon local examples of faith. They include the adoration chapel of the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, Metuchen; the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament, Raritan; the National Blue Army Shrine, Asbury; Resurrection Cemetery’s Chapel of the 12 Apostles, Piscataway; the Shrine of St. Joseph, Stirling; the adoration chapel inside the Diocese of Metuchen’s Pastoral Center, Piscataway, and the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary, Summit.
 
Two sites on the campus of Our Lady of Fatima Parish were also on the list: the parish’s 24-hour adoration chapel, and the Corpus Christi Procession which took place June 2, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
 
All students preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation were required to visit at least five of the sites; the seventh and eighth graders participated in a class trip to the Blue Army Shrine, and other students were encouraged to visit as many of the sites they could on their own time with their families. D’Angiolillo reported the Pilgrimage Passport project was even more successful than she had hoped.
 
“A good number of the children visited numerous sites, and 10 of them visited all nine,” she reported. Since national statistics indicate the vast majority of young Catholics do not practice their faith, D’Angiolillo continued that the project “is good for them to see how the Eucharist is honored at each location.”
 
The value of the children’s physical presence at the sites far surpassed learning about the sites using the internet, the catechetical leader stressed; she reported that “the kids were blown away at the Blue Army Shrine and experienced His peace during adoration.”
 
D’Angiolillo continued, “Their takeaway is that God is real, Jesus is God, and he is present in all these churches. [Through the Blessed Sacrament] they have access to him during Mass and outside of Mass.”
 
This summer, Our Lady of Fatima began a Marian-focused pilot program for children ages six to 14 entitled “The Little Shepherd’s Group.” Gathering at the parish center for an hour on nine Saturday mornings, the group will examine three Marian apparitions – Our Lady of Guadalupe, of Fatima and of Lourdes – through activities and prayer. The program will conclude with consecration to Mary on the feast of her birthday, Sept. 8.
 
At St. Matthias Parish, Somerset, the last year of their GIFT inter-generational program focused on “Living and Celebrating the Eucharist.” In addition, the Children’s Liturgy of the Word was reinstated monthly for their GIFT and Family Eucharist Preparation Program for both the school and parish program.
 
Parish catechetical leader, Dee Naan, recounted that the year began at the parish’s noon Mass, which was a teaching Mass and very well received. Parishioner and GIFT volunteer for adults, Cele Regan, facilitated the effort. The program continued throughout the liturgical year focused totally on the Mass. “All seemed to benefit immensely,” said Naan.
 
Some 90 parish religious education program students from Immaculate Conception Parish, Annandale, recently participated in the parish’s Summer Religious Education Program for children in grades three to seven, a program which, for the past few summers, has focused on the Eucharistic Revival.
 
Parish catechetical leader, Coleen D’Amato, bases the foundation of the program on a Vacation Bible School style model by not only adhering to the USCCB’s doctrinal requirements for parish religious education program student texts, but also creating a strong mix of learning through play, supporting interactive activities such as games, crafts, contemporary worship music, and an art project.

Students have participated in assemblies created to help them understand and experience God’s great love for them through the sacraments and Liturgy. To support these teachings, the students have spent quiet time in front of the Blessed Sacrament each day, made unleavened bread, made many crafts, created a Monstrance art project, learned about Blessed Carlo Acutis and made posters of Eucharistic Miracles from Blessed Carlo’s own website. The posters were hung throughout the school hallways for each of the classes to visit in a “Morning at the Museum.”
 
Continuing the Eucharistic revival theme, this year’s art project focused on the heart of the matter; the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Students each created a tie-dyed Sacred Heart t-shirt. “Understanding who Jesus was and is and experiencing the Lord’s great love and mercy for his children through the participation of the sacraments, is the best gift our children can receive,” shared D’Amato.
 
SonShine Summer Vacation Bible School in St. James Parish, Woodbridge, was built this year around Noah and his Ark, said Dorothy Zmigrodski, parish catechetical leader. With more than 90 participants, including campers, Good News Players (eighth graders) and volunteers, the program was the largest since the pandemic, serving Pre-K3 to fifth grade students. With a wide assortment of age-appropriate activities, the children had many different learning experiences focused on the lessons of Noah’s Ark during the week-long program.
 
Parents, who are integral to the religious education of their children, were invited at the end of each day to a gathering for song so the children may share what they have learned.
 
While the Old Testament story of Noah’s Ark is well-loved and well known for the animals going two-by-two into the ark under Noah’s watchful eye, the Catechism of the Catholic Church goes deeper: “The Church has seen in Noah’s ark a prefiguring of salvation by Baptism, for by it ‘a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water’: The waters of the great flood you made a sign of the waters of Baptism, that make an end of sin and a new beginning of goodness” (CCC 1219).
 
Children who learn about Noah’s Ark will come to learn about the importance of following God’s will, about God’s grace and salvation. The program ended appropriately with Mass, where children shared with their pastor, Vocationist Father Thomas Naduviledathu, both the animal puppets they each made and, with joyful song, the many lessons they learned about their faith and their Church.
 
For some 45 campers, 50 junior counselors and 16 adult counselors, Camp St. Cecilia at St. Cecilia Parish, Monmouth Junction, a week in June was a time learning that “Mary Leads Me closer to Jesus,” an experience of coming to know the Lord within a fun-filled catechetical experience.
 
The theme is an important teaching of faith, particularly during the Year of Parish Revival which came to a close in June. Father Matthew Marinelli, parochial vicar, St. Magdalene de Pazzi Parish, Flemington, wrote his Real Presence column, “Devotion to Mary nurtures devotion to Holy Eucharist,” on that teaching, sharing that “Mary was the first disciple to have Christ dwell within her … she is a trusting guide for us, to lead us to understand more deeply how truly blessed we are to have the gift of receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion.”
 
The camp wrapped up the week with a prayer service for children and parents led by pastor Father Charles T. O’Connor.