Dear Parishioners,

I have two things I would like to talk to you about.

First, many of you have been very curious about the state of the charter school that was supposed to be renting our school building this Fall. As you may know, there is a disagreement between the Neptune Township Zoning Board and College Achieve Charter School about whether or not our property would need to be rezoned (which would be a long and arduous process) before the charter school could occupy the school. Since then, College Achieve Charter School has been waiting to be heard in court to make their case. I have been reluctant to say anything more since it seemed like every week when the hearing was about to happen, it was postponed. I did not want to publish any information that would be out of date by the time the bulletin was printed. Then on September 25th, the charter school finally had their hearing and the judge has set a trial date for November 12th. So, while we are making progress, it looks like we have quite a while to wait before this is resolved. In the meantime, the charter school has agreed to pay a portion of the rent that they owe us so that we do not rent the property to some other group. I know this is all stressful and strange and puts our plans to move the offices to the rectory on hold. So, please keep us all in prayer as we continue this journey.

Second, this past weekend, I mentioned at one Mass (and made reference to at my other Masses) a method of discerning God’s will by Fr. Michael Scanlan in his book “What does God want?” Some of you have asked for the five questions you should ask yourself if you want to make a God-centered decision. So here they are:

• Does it conform to what God has revealed in Divine revelation and Church teaching?
• Does it foster spiritual growth and holiness?
• Is it consistent with our past decisions? (God usually builds us up over time and uses our past experiences to point out where He wants us. For example: if we are living an active life without praying, maybe God would call us to take time to reflect and pray. But, it’s unlikely He would call us to drop everything and become a monk tomorrow.)
• After you make the decision, does God confirm it with a special grace?
• Are you at peace with the decision?

I hope that it helps someone. We can go through life bouncing from decision to decision without asking ourselves what God’s will is in those decisions. Yet, it is ultimately God’s will that matters more than anything else.

God bless!

Father Carter