Pentecost

Dear Parishioners,

Today in the Catholic Church we celebrate Pentecost Sunday.

Pentecost comes from a Greek word meaning “fiftieth day.” In the Jewish tradition, Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks celebrated the time between Passover and the giving of the Law (Torah) to Moses on Mt. Sinai, a period of 50 days. It was the Hellenistic (Greek) Jews who referred to this feast as Pentecost.

In the Christian tradition, however, the meaning is different. Fifty days after Easter, Christians celebrate Pentecost as the day when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles (See Acts 2: 1-41). Pentecost has been referred to as the birthday of the Church.

Knowing the history of the Apostles and their actions / reactions to the Passion and Death of Jesus is significant here. Judas betrayed Christ and then hanged himself (Mt. 27: 3-10). Out of fear, Peter denied Christ (Mt. 26: 69-75). Also out of fear, all of the other Apostles (Mt. 26:56), except for John, fled from the cross. Yet, after receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter, acting as the spokesperson for the other Apostles, addressed the crowds fearlessly:

You who are Israelites, hear these words. Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs, which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you killed, using lawless men to crucify him. But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it . . . . God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses . . . . Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2: 22-24, 32, 36)

Obviously, something significant changed Peter and the other Apostles. First, they experienced the Risen Lord Jesus. They saw that He was alive despite everything that was done to torture and kill Him. He is alive. Next, they were filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit. They received supernatural gifts to strengthen them with their mission of preaching, teaching and witnessing to Christ’s Resurrection.

I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit can be responsible for the growth of the Church against all odds from its seemingly impossible beginnings to become a Church of over a billion today worldwide, can we underestimate what that same Spirit can do to renew the face of the earth? Pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance and strength. Pray for the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit to be more fully present in your lives.

Don’t ever underestimate what the Holy Spirit can do if we invite Him into our lives (give Him permission) daily.

Fr. Ed Namiotka

Pastor

Preparing to Move

 

St. Thomas the Apostle Church

Dear Parishioners,

Yesterday, I started packing some of my stuff. This is not a task I look forward to doing. Sometimes I just sit and stare. Most objects that I own have a memory attached or a unique, personal significance. Everything in the rectory has to be packed and transported to Brigantine, NJ over the next seven weeks.

In case you were not present at this past weekend’s Masses when it was announced, I have been reassigned by the Bishop as the new pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Brigantine, effective July 1^st. I replace Fr. Edward Maher who is retiring. Fr. Michael Matveenko, the current pastor of St. Mary’s Church (on the other side of Springdale Road), will act as administrator of St. Thomas More Parish.

The sad reality we have to face as a parish and as a diocese is the rapidly declining number of diocesan priests. Projections over the next decade indicate that we will have about half of the number of diocesan priests needed to staff our current parishes. Remember the Bishop is only ordaining one priest this year on Saturday. There were two ordained last year. Other years there were none.

Regarding this parish, the number of parishioners and families has traditionally been small. This situation, unfortunately, cannot continue as the number of priests decline. We will need to combine programs and consolidate Masses with our neighboring parishes—particularly St. Mary’s.

Most people, including myself, dread or resist change. We like things to remain the same. However, change can also cause positive outcomes and lead to growth—both personal and communal. We can meet new people, find creative solutions, and help spread the faith to a wider group of people. Without change, we can sometimes become complacent or too comfortable in our lives—even with sin—if we don’t improve or try to grow. Change can be positive.

So as I prepare myself mentally, spiritually and emotionally for another assignment, I pray that I have contributed something positive to this parish and to your lives. No priest is perfect and I have made my mistakes. However, I have tried to do what I thought was best spiritually for my parish and its parishioners. The salvation of souls is and will continue to be my primary concern.

Have I been able to accomplish everything that I wanted to do? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Many plans were left undone. Any unfinished business will have to be left for someone else. Sorry for that. Priests are all too human. We struggle. We fail. We hurt. Unfortunately, we sin as well. I have realized both my fragile humanity and my mortality over these past six years.

On the positive side, I look forward to our Spring Fling parish picnic this weekend. I thank all who organized and helped prepare what was necessary to help strengthen our parish community.

Over the next weeks I will try to enjoy the time I have left as your pastor. The priest needs his people and the people need their priest to act as a spiritual father. Working together, may we continue to help build the Kingdom of God and work together for God’s greater glory.

Fr. Ed Namiotka

Pastor

The Ascension, Mother’s Day and Preparation for Pentecost

 

The Ascension

Dear Parishioners,

I am sure that the movement of the celebration of Ascension Thursday to Sunday (May 17th this year) in the state of New Jersey will continue to be confusing for most people, and rightly so. Personally, I did not agree with this move, then or now. People who live in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, right over the Delaware River and those across the Hudson River in the Archdiocese of New York) are still obliged to observe and attend Mass on the traditional day (Thursday, May 14th, 40 days after Easter). A bit of confusion for all, wouldn’t you agree?

That being said, when Jesus ascended into heaven after His time on earth, he never abandoned us. He left us His Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist. He remains in His words and teaching in the Sacred Scriptures. The ordained priest acts in His very person (in persona Christi) in the sacraments of the Church. He is present where two or three gather in His Name—community prayer, liturgy and worship, especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. And, as God-Man, He continues to intercede for us at the right hand of the Father.

Our humanity is now elevated in Jesus’ glorious Body and has entered Heaven. The fall and exile of Adam (original sin) is now reversed through the saving action of Christ, the new Adam. Heaven is open to us through Him. As He told us, no one comes to the Father except through Him (Jn. 14:6). This is what we celebrate.

I also wish all mothers today a happy Mother’s Day! For most people there is a special bond between mother and child. Our mothers carry us in their wombs for nine months. They endure the pangs of birth. They feed us, bathe us, clean up after us, teach us, comfort us, caress us and, most importantly, love us. How often they are willing to sacrifice for us!

Thanks moms for your strength, patience and ability to make things better by your calming and reassuring presence. Whenever we take you for granted or forget what you have done for us over the years, we apologize. You deserve better from us. We love you!

For those (like myself) who have lost their earthly mothers, please remember to pray for them and have Masses offered for them. Our faith teaches us, whether they are in purgatory or in heaven, they can pray for us! Let’s aid them in getting to heaven by offering our prayers, Masses and sacrifices for them. 

In addition to our biological (or adoptive) mothers, I think that it is also important to remember to honor Mary, our Spiritual Mother as well, especially in this month of May. We honor Our Lady as our Queen and Mother. She continues to intercede for her children here on earth and we place our confident hope and trust in her. Our Blessed Lady should play an essential role in the lives of Catholics and indeed all Christians. She was given to us as our mother through St. John at the foot of the cross: 

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.  (John 19: 26-27)

Finally, we enter into a period of preparation—originally, nine days of prayer or a novena—for the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (May 24th). As the disciples prayed and awaited the promised Holy Spirit, so should we. The gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church transformed the lives of early Christians into true believers and bold witnesses to the risen Christ and His teaching.

One might see the obvious necessity of another outpouring of the same Holy Spirit for our times!

 Fr. Ed Namiotka

Pastor

An Honest, Comprehensive Look at Our Parish

Dear Parishioners,

I begin my weekly letter to you with a serious tone because I need to address objectively the over-all situation at St. Thomas More Parish. I also need to put matters here in the context of our diocese and local deanery (group of parishes joined in a particular area).

First, I acknowledge how I have truly grown more in love with you, the people of St. Thomas More Parish, over my past six years as pastor. Honestly, it was not easy being assigned here following the combined retirement of one pastor and then by the unexpected, sudden death of his successor. It was also the time of COVID-19 with its difficulties and societal irregularities. Fortunately, time has helped to heal some of those situations.

On an incredibly positive side, I am grateful for the cultural and ethnic diversity found here as well as the prayerful and cooperative spirit I find in so very many of you! Historically, St. Thomas More has been an intimate parish, and our people enjoy the closeness and camaraderie this small size brings.

However, with a weekly congregation of approximately 300 per week attending the current three weekend Masses, I have found it challenging as pastor to pull together the necessary participants for more large-scale activities or programs. We just do not seem to have the numbers to attempt new or varied things repeatedly!

For example, our First Holy Communion class this year is three, we had no one in the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) preparing to become Catholic, and I have had about six weddings total over the past six years. Parish funerals exceed baptisms annually, our religious education program instructs only about 40 students, and our Confirmation ceremonies are small enough to be held during an ordinary Sunday Mass (without any overcrowding) rather than in a separate ceremony as at most parishes. So far this year, I have had only one infant baptism. I could go on listing similar statistics, but I think these sufficiently illustrate my point.

Now when we consider the priest situation in the diocese, only one priest is scheduled for ordination this May (with eight seminarians currently being trained in various seminaries). Three pastors are retiring this year. There are 62 parishes serving almost one half million Catholics with the number of active diocesan clergy declining annually.

With the above in mind, Msgr. Louis Marucci, the Episcopal Vicar for the Renewal of Structures and our Dean, has been leading a discernment session with a group of our parishioners and me to discuss our parish situation. In the “spirit of Synodality,” through an experience of prayer and planning, Msgr. Marucci continues to facilitate this planning session to discuss ideas and to initiate a conversation on the various possibilities, pathways, and collaborative efforts we might undertake to serve the Catholic families of St. Thomas More Parish, our deanery, and the entire diocese.

If I can be blunt, the status quo will not continue here at our parish, and various changes are currently being considered. We will know more in the coming weeks.

Please pray as decisions are made for the best possible outcome for us as a parish, the good of the entire Diocese of Camden and our local deanery.

Fr. Ed Namiotka

Pastor

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Easter "A" - Fr. Edward Namiotka

 

First Holy Communion and the May Crowning

Dear Parishioners,

On May 3, 2026, at the 11 AM Sunday Mass, our parish will witness our religious education children receiving their First Holy Communion. It is a very special time for them and for the entire parish.

 

I began to reminisce when I received my First Holy Communion almost six decades ago. I was in first grade, not the traditional second grade. (Incidentally, the very next year, I received the Sacrament of Confirmation.) First Holy Communion was on a Saturday morning and I received Our Lord as part of a rather large class of students—approximately 50 or more.

Depending on the parish, First Holy Communion frequently is on a Saturday (usually in May) or may also be celebrated at one or more of the Sunday Masses. With our small size, the three First Communicants here will once again be receiving at the Sunday Mass.

It is critical to remember that the two families that should be most important in the children’s lives are their domestic family and their Church family. The parents are the first (and need to be the best) teachers of their children in the ways of faith.  It is also necessary to consider that we are preparing the children to be a part of the regular worshipping community that we call the Church.  While it may look “nice” or “cute” to have all of the children together in one (or two) ceremonies with their classmates and friends, it is much more essential to emphasize for them the bonds of family and Church. Essentially, we are not preparing them to be with their current friends (who may not be their friends past next week), but to be regular, practicing members of the Catholic Church as experienced through their local parish family.

Let me quote from our diocesan guidelines:

Children should be made aware that Eucharist is not a “once and done” sacrament. Therefore, there should be encouragement to the children (and their parents) to form good habits of weekly celebration of the Eucharist.

Although so many Catholics today lack commitment and seriousness when it comes to the Sunday obligation to attend Mass, our requirement to worship God regularly has never changed. With our daily prayer, God deserves our worship minimally once a week at Mass. Amazingly, when we do so, we are often the ones who benefit from hearing the Word of God preached to us from the Sacred Scriptures. We are the ones being fed with Jesus, the Bread of Life, in Holy Communion to aid us in our journey of life.

We all have much to learn from each other and to teach one another. We should rejoice to see our children share in the sacramental life of the Catholic Church, as lived and experienced in our parish family. If the faith is not handed on to, experienced and practiced by our young, then eventually our Church will be nothing but a bunch of empty, lifeless buildings.

Congratulations to our First Communicants! My prayer is that your faith in Jesus Christ will grow ever stronger as you receive another important sacrament in your spiritual journey. 

Also, we will be honoring our Blessed Mother Mary after the Mass with the traditional May Crowning led by our First Communicants. Our Blessed Lady is Spiritual Mother to all of us and we publicly honor her as her spiritual children and disciples of her Divine Son, Jesus.

I hope that you can join us! 

Fr. Ed Namiotka

Pastor

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter "A" - Fr. Edward Namiotka

 

The Road to Emmaus

 

Dear Parishioners,

Many years ago, the priests of the Diocese of Camden participated in a spirituality program of priestly fraternity that we referred to as the Emmaus program. It was based on the scriptural passage from today’s gospel of St. Luke (Lk. 24: 13-35). Priests were encouraged to make the journey of the two disciples with Jesus and ultimately to recognize the Risen Jesus in the Breaking of Bread like the disciples.

Notably, the two disciples were headed away from Jerusalem where Jesus had been crucified. They told the unknown stranger walking with them that they “were hoping that [Jesus] would be the one to redeem Israel.” Still, they were heading in the opposite direction. They had to be instructed how the teachings of the Scriptures, from the time of Moses and the prophets, referred to Jesus. The Scriptures were explained and interpreted for them.

Later, after the stranger was persuaded to stay for the meal, “he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.” Note the Eucharistic formula and tone. And they finally recognized Jesus in the “breaking of bread.” He became present for them under the appearance of bread, and then disappeared from their sight.

This excerpt from the gospel is theologically important as it parallels the structure of the Catholic Mass: Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist. First, the Scriptures are interpreted and explained for us. Then, the sacrificial meal is shared in which Jesus becomes present in the Breaking of Bread. Hopefully, we can better understand how this passage illustrates our pattern of worship and what we believe actually happens during the Mass.

Belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist is an essential, non-negotiable teaching of the Catholic Church. The disciples recognized Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist while he disappeared physically from their sight. Catholics are called at every Mass to a faith seeing Jesus in the breaking of bread.

Additionally, from this passage we can learn about a redirection that was made in the lives of these disciples. Although they were initially headed in the opposite direction—away from the cross—they were turned around and returned to Jerusalem and to the Apostles. Whenever we might be journeying in the wrong direction in our lives, Jesus can help to reroute us back to the proper course. This can apply to matters both great and small.

While we have heard before about many Catholics not understanding or believing in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, it appears that these disciples in the early Church understood that Jesus was truly resurrected and present with them and remained with them in the breaking of bread.

Pray that the Lord may redirect our hearts and minds when they go astray and increase our belief in His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. He remains with us!

Fr. Ed Namiotka

Pastor

Homily for Easter Sunday 2026 - Fr. Edward Namiotka

 

Jesus, I Trust in Thee!

Dear Parishioners, 

Happy Octave of Easter! 

We continue in the octave of Easter. A single day is not enough to celebrate this great solemnity. The Church gives us eight days and then an entire Easter season to rejoice in the Risen Lord. Alleluia! This final day of the octave has been designated Divine Mercy Sunday.

Sister (now Saint) Maria Faustina Kowalska, a young uneducated nun, lived in Poland from 1905 until her death in 1938. Baptized Helena, she was the third of ten children. She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy just prior to her 20th birthday. She had only three years of formal education at the time. During her thirteen years in the convent, she worked as a cook, gardener and porter.

At the same time, Sr. Faustina heard an inner voice speaking to her. She wrote down the messages which she said were given to her by Jesus into her notebooks. The compilation of notebooks was eventually published as The Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska (Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul). The content of these notebooks centered on God’s Divine Mercy. Sr. Faustina described how Jesus gave her the task of “Secretary” of His Divine Mercy.

According to the Divine Mercy website (thedivinemercy.org): 

The years Sr. Faustina spent at the convent were filled with extraordinary gifts, such as revelations, visions, hidden stigmata, participation in the Passion of the Lord, the gift of bilocation, the reading of human souls, the gift of prophecy, and the rare gift of mystical engagement and marriage.

At the time of her canonization in the year 2000 by Pope (now Saint) John Paul II, he also declared the Sunday after Easter Divine Mercy Sunday for the Universal Church. Sr. Faustina described Jesus speaking to her about this day in her dairy:

On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. (Diary of Saint Faustina, 699) 

With the crazy times we live in, I suggest (no, urge or implore) that we all make an intention to avail ourselves of a good sacramental confession (when we can talk to a priest personally) if we have not already done so during Lent. Remember sacraments are properly administered person to person and not remotely by phone, by TV or by the internet. Moreover, each night we should make an examination of our consciences and continue to pray the act of contrition as perfectly as possible.

There is a very important spiritual lesson for us here: time and opportunity will run out for all of us. We will not live forever. If we want to experience God’s Divine Mercy, we have first to admit our guilt and acknowledge our sins to Him through the instrument of the priest—as Jesus instructed His apostles (see Jn. 20:23). We hear His words delegating the power to forgive to the apostles in today's Gospel.

Place your trust where we can have absolute certainty of God’s Divine Mercy: Jesus, I trust in Thee!

Fr. Ed Namiotka
Pastor

Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska