In a new decree issued June 12,
Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., has declared a Year of Youth in the Diocese of Trenton, beginning July 1, 2018 and closing on the Feast of St. Aloysius, patron saint for Catholic Youth, June 21, 2019. The Year of Youth encompasses multiple events over the next year aimed at inspiring young Catholics in Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties to own their faith and act upon it.
“I’m inviting us all to celebrate the young people of our Diocese in a special way,” Bishop O’Connell says in announcing the Year of Youth in a new video which will be distributed throughout parishes and schools.
The official decree determines the goals for the Year of Youth to be: increasing active engagement of young Catholics and helping them grow as missionary disciples; celebrating their gifts and encouraging their participation in parish life; cultivating a positive attitude among young Catholics about serving and witnessing their faith to others; and inspiring parishes throughout the Diocese to welcome young people and help them feel at home in their parishes.
“It will be a time for entire parish families to come together to pray with and embrace our young Church,” Bishop O’Connell says in the video, which features eight students from Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville, speaking alongside the Bishop as well as footage from parish and diocesan events. “What can happen when we hold up our young people as the great gift they are to our Church?”
To watch a video about the Year of Youth, click here. In the matter of immigration concerns at the southern U.S. border, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., has added his voice to those of his brother bishops meeting in Fort Lauderdale this week for their Annual Spring Assembly. Bishop O’Connell stated, "The failure of government for decades to enact significant immigration reform is now being visited upon families, women and children, the most vulnerable among us. Sadly, in our own day, we are witnessing the slow but steady erosion of any sense of Gospel responsibility to 'welcome the stranger' whose very lives are at stake and who look to us for refuge and protection."