Dear Parishioners,

I have good news this week: the Bishop is sending us another priest to be our Parochial Vicar and Hospital Chaplain. His name is Fr. Cesar Rubiano, and his ministry here begins July 1st. Fr. Rubiano was ordained a priest 25 years ago in Bogota, Colombia. He has served as secretary to Bishop Smith, pastor of Our Lady of the Angels in Trenton, and has recently returned from higher studies in Rome, where he studied Bioethics. As you know, the Hospital Chaplaincy is a very challenging ministry and Fr. Rubiano could use our prayers as he begins this new phase of his priesthood.

As many of you know, I was very worried about whether or not we were going to get a new Hospital Chaplain since we have a limited number of priests in the Diocese of Trenton. I very much thank our Bishop David O’Connell for sending us a priest since over the last few months of being without a chaplain, I can attest to how important and necessary this position is. I would also like to thank all the priests in the area who have been so helpful in covering the hospital over the last month. These include: Fr. Bill Lago, Fr. Will Dunlap, Fr. Gregg Abadilla, Msgr. Ed Arnister, Fr. Chris Dayton, Fr. Miguel Virella and Fr. Dean Gaudio. All these men have their own ministries and parishes to attend to and still found time to answer emergencies at the hospital. Please say an extra prayer for them as well.

Lastly, please pray for and promote priestly vocations. Serving the Church is a rewarding and great life, and I think more men are called to it than we realize.

God bless!

Fr. Carter

P.S. Thank you for the generous donations toward the décor renovations. If we keep this up, we can really see this project come to fruition. This week, our 2nd Collection will be for the Holy Father.