Restoring a Parish, and Ourselves

“If you really discover God in the face of Christ, you will no longer think of the Church as an institution external to yourselves, but as your spiritual family.” Pope Benedict XVI

Within the past year, my husband and I switched from our hometown parish to the parish where both our sons were baptized. We discovered the parish, which sits beside a New Jersey Transit rail station  in downtown New Brunswick, NJ  is being revitalized: inside and out, spiritually and physically.

St. Peter the Apostle Church is now overseen by the wonderful men of the New Brunswick Oratory of St. Philip Neri. (led by Fr. Tom Odorizzo, C.O., pictured below) The church is alive with faith-sharing groups, social justice activities, a phenomenal music program, a long Confession line every Saturday morning (these guys are great and joyful confessors) and the sense of the Holy Spirit one finds in a monastical community. Ours is the oldest church in the Diocese of Metuchen. A few weekends ago, Bishop Paul G. Bootkowski celebrated a Mass at our parish. After, he blessed our renovated parish hall and offices, for which the diocese paid half the costs. I attended an earlier Mass that morning, but wanted to share a couple of photos I swiped from our parish's facebook page.