Hurricane Sandy

Finally, after about 10 days of frustration and difficulties for many people, it looks like New Jersey is finally getting back in motion. Power seems to be back in the schools and offices and the gas stations are pumping gas again, so the lines are not too long anymore.  This past week was a good opportunity to count our blessings and to recognize how the little things in life are often taken for granted.

A couple of days without heat or power or the luxuries that we are used to is nothing in comparison to the suffering that many, especially at the Jersey Shore, are going through.  The pictures show so many cars and homes literally washed away and the destruction the Hurricane caused is tough to view.

Thank God life is getting back to normal, at least a little bit and I pray that God will bless those who are still recovering and will continue to recover in the aftermath of the storm.  And hopefully, today's Nor'Easter won't be too bad, either!

15 years of Priesthood

The old cliche is "Where did all the time go?"   I think nothing is truer than when a priest looks back on his years of service.  I do not complain about how fast it goes; I am always simply bewildered  at how quickly time passes and I don't always have a chance to reflect on what had happened.

Fr. Matthew Pawlikowski, one of my closest friends and a priest/soldier who has spent time in Gaza, Egypt, Afghanistan and Germany and I will often recount the pivotal moments in our priestly lives in amazement at how much has happened and we have been witnesses to these beautiful priestly moments.  Moments like visiting the sick in the hospital and giving them the sacraments and blessings and seeing them get well.

Or hearing confessions for a person who never thought that, because of their sins, could never be forgiven.  Or simply spending time with the youth group or altar servers or parish choir and let them know how much they are appreciated.  These moments, so often, are the ones that we do not keep foremost in our memories, but we realize that they are important moments in the life of the parishioners.  we also agreed that these were sometimes seemingly simple act of involvement that we later found out that they had great effects.

Bishop Arthur Serratelli, who was a professor of mine at the seminary used to say to the class about pastoral ministry, "Being a priest is easy.  Just be nice to the people."  I always reflect on that advice and try to live it out.  It is probably the most sound pastoral advice I have had: be nice to people, in the name of Jesus and as a respesentative of his Church.  For 15 years, that has been by goal. 

Fifteen years ago, I was ordained with Frs. Jim Brown; Matthew Pawlikowski: Michael Ward; Patrick Flannery; Ray Rodrigue; Carlos Flor; Paulo Frade; Jim Teti: John Wassell; Steve D'Andrea; Robert Hoatson; Will Lusik and Don Gleason.   Fourteen of us.  Some of us are still parochial vicars; some have become pastors, while others have had other diocesan responsibilities  Of course, some have taken other paths and have left the active ministy.  I sincerely pray for all of my classmates all the time.  God only knows their situation and what they need and only He can help them.  I think that it is important for us to pray for all of us that God will work His goodness through us wherever we might me in our lives.

Fifteen years is both a short jaunt as well as an eternity.  I prayerfully believe that through the intercession of the Blessed Mother, we can continue to be effective tools of redemption for those whom we serve.  Please continue to pray for the class of 1997!


Father Marc A. Vicari

What's Going on at Ohio State?

 I must admit, that I am not a huge fan of watching the Ohio State style of football because they often put together teams that play the "grind-it-out" style of ball that I don't find entertaining. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that that it has been a storied college powerhouse for many years and unquestionably are one of the greatest programs in college football history.

This past weekend there was something curious that happened at Ohio State University, though. 

The story is that a prized football recruit Alex Anzalone, has decided to "uncommit" to the University because there is a convicted sex offender, Charles Waugh, who has been attending spring games and has been in communication with both players and football recruits, some of which are still young high school students.  There are photos of this offender with these young men and one photo in particular has Waugh and Anzalone in the same photo.   For this reason, Anzalone opted to not play in Columbus. He does not want to associated with a program that has let this happen.

At the same time, one gets the impression by Sal Anzalone, Alex's father, that there might be more to the story.  He said,

"You don't want your son to go to a place where there's a potential issue [like this]." "You expect the staff to have some sort of control on how things are handled with recruits when they visit. This is ridiculous."

It sounds like Mr. Anzalone might be implying that there is not much restriction at the University when young and/or underage recruits visit Columbus and there might be a history of unsupervision over the recruits.  Mr. Waugh is a registered sex offender who, a few years ago, was convicted of possessing illicit underage photos.  Yet, Mr. Waugh had access to young men visiting the campus and the proof, among other things, is the photos he has with them.  Waugh is in a photo with Alex Anzalone and at least that one photo is the reason why recruit Anzalone will not be attending OSU.  Hopefully, the worst of it is over, OSU will keep tighter watch over who interacts with the young men and the only thing that remains are the creepy photos of Waugh with the recruits.

While the university immediately issued emails to its student body cautioning them of Waugh's attempts to be in contact with some of the players and recruits, it came just last week, a bit late. God only knows how much contact Waugh had with players and recruits and it makes one curious about how long they allowed anyone, including registered sex offenders, to be in contact with their young recruits while on campus unsupervised and what they are going to do to keep it from happening again.

Hopefully, both recently-former coach Jim Tressel and new coach Urban Meyer have been and will be very protective of their underage recruits so that this breach never happens again and, at the same time, I pray that this the end of the story.



Father Marc A. Vicari

Bruce Concert

Last night I attended the Bruce Springsteen concert at the Prudential Center in Newark.  As always, Bruce put on a great show and while I have been labeled a "medium" fan, as opposed to a fanatic, I do enjoy his music and his shows greatly.  It is the third time I have seen him and it is always fun.

In his latest album, "Wrecking Ball," there is a real sense of the spiritual in some of his songs; some sound like they have a clear gospel-music influence.  While the sound might be a little different from the past, the theme of God, redemption, grace and forgiveness are fairly common themes for Bruce.  Last night he performed one of his classics, "It's Hard to be a Saint in the City" and it got me thinking of how on target that song and its title are: "it IS hard to be a saint in the city".  How true that is!  As Catholics and Christians, we understand it: sainthood is difficult, but we keep striving for it.  And that is where the other themes that Springsteen often mention come into the picture: it is with God and His grace and our prayerfulness and our willingness to keep fighting for goodness.

Yes, it is hard to be a saint, but we keep trying and trying and, hopefully will achieve it with God's grace.  And thanks for reminding us again, Bruce!