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Chancery closed, will reopen June 3; Grant recipients named; new installment in Young Saint Series
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May 30, 2019The Chancery will be closed on Thursday, May 30, for the Feast of the Ascension, and will reopen Monday, June 3 at 9 a.m.
Twelve parishes, organizations and agencies that serve the people of the Diocese of Trenton were awarded grants from the 2019 Bishop George W. Ahr Endowment Fund. Ranging from $500 to $2,500, the grants awarded to the selected recipients totaled $10,000 overall.
The fund, named for the seventh bishop of the Diocese, was established to present annual grants for special projects. Any entity, apostolate, individual, special ministry or organization that works to provide services for the vulnerable and/or poor population within their community is eligible to apply for this grant support.
Winners of this year’s Grant include: Bread from Heaven Café, Inc., Jackson; Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton; Collier Youth Services, Wickatunk; Mercer County CYO, Trenton; Mount Carmel Guild, Trenton; New Jersey State Prison, Trenton; St. Vincent de Paul Society, St. Katharine Drexel Conference, Burlington; St. Vincent de Paul Society, Holy Eucharist Conference, Tabernacle; St. Vincent de Paul Society, St. Joseph Conference, Keyport; St. Vincent de Paul Society, Christ the King Conference, Long Branch; St. Francis Center, Long Beach Island, and St. Crispin Society, St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Red Bank.
For more about the Bishop Ahr Grant recipients and the ways that the grants will be applied, read this article from The Monitor.
St. Maria Goretti is the next featured installment in Bishop David M. O’Connell’s #YoungSaints Series . In his latest essay, Bishop O’Connell focuses on the life and martyrdom of the young saint, writing:
In the intervening years following her death, Maria Goretti’s young life, well-known piety and her rejection of sexual impurity inspired her neighbors’ and townspeople’s devotion to her. Gradually, news of her story spread throughout the region and attracted the attention of Church officials who sought her canonization. Miracles were attributed to her intercession, and she was beatified in 1947 and then canonized a saint by Pope Pius XII on June 24, 1950. He called her “the sweet little martyr of purity.”
At age 11, Maria Goretti was the youngest person ever canonized. Over 500,000 people attended the ceremony, moving it outside the Basilica to St. Peter’s Square, the first canonization ever celebrated outdoors. Another amazing detail: Maria’s mother, Assunta, and her murderer, Alessandro, who had become a lay Franciscan brother, were both present for the celebration, the first time a saint’s mother ever attended the canonization of her child. St. Maria Goretti’s feast day is a July 6, the day of her death.
To learn more about the life of St. Maria Goretti, and to view the entire Young Saint Series, click here.
