A growing St. Charles Borromeo church draws on the talents of parishoners
By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY — A glimpse into the history of the Catholic Community of St. Charles Borromeo, which celebrated its silver jubilee during a Mass on Sunday, would show a Catholic church much different than the one its pastor, Monsignor Gregory E. S. Malovetz, experienced growing up.
The extent of leadership from the laity and the number of priests giving the liturgies and administering the sacraments at the church throughout its 25 years are two of its main distinctions for the Rev. Malovetz.
Since he arrived at St. Charles Borromeo about seven years ago, he has been the church’s only priest. While he serves as the parish’s only spiritual leader, there are many other church members who practice leadership roles that either didn’t exist or were dominated by priests when he was ordained about 25 years ago.
”When I was first ordained the youngest priests to an extent would serve as youth ministers, but just because you’re young does not mean you have the gift to work with the youth,” the Rev. Malovetz said. “I think what began to happen within the church over the last 25-35 years was the realization that if youth are our future than we need to make an investment.”
According to the Rev. Malovetz, youth minister Chris Small, one of St. Charles’ paid, full-time employees, is an example of one these investments.
”It’s very clear Chris Small not only has a gift for helping young people, but has a gift for understanding the social responsibility kids need to have in the world and the gift of having a good time,” the Rev. Malovetz said.
As youth minister, Mr. Small creates and leads various support groups for youth struggling with different kinds of problems and takes students on service trips to Mexico, Appalachia and other parts of the world, to name a few of his responsibilities.
”I think years ago people who would say they had a vocation or call to serve in the church would all be brothers, priests or sisters,” the Rev. Malovetz said. “There is, however, a sense now that there are people who have vocations to serve in the church beyond volunteerism. I think to a certain extent it’s difficult to compare my experiences serving at parishes when I was first ordained to my experiences today. The reality is there were more priests. It’s like apples and oranges. It’s a different playing field right now.”
The more than 5,400 parishioners at St. Charles in collaboration with the staff of pastoral assistants are running and serving in over 30 ministries that are currently active in the church, including the Men’s Club, Women’s Club, blood drive, Advent Giving Tree, Habitat for Humanity, monthly food collection for Hillsborough food pantry, legislative advocacy, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, Peace & Justice Formation, religious education and OxFam hunger banquet.
”What really strikes me as a priest is when a person says this is what I can offer to the community and I’m willing to make the commitment to that and maybe even the sacrifice, like the person who says, ‘Once a month I will load all the groceries in my car and drive them to the food pantry,’” the Rev. Malovetz said. “The other thing that has been very helpful to us is we have people who are willing to be with those who have suffered a loss or are struggling with something, like taking care of a sick relative. I think that is one of the things I am most proud of in this church.
”It’s been nice to see some of these relationships form that aren’t really friendships,” he added. “What has happened to many of those people who have been recipients is that when they hear of someone else who has lost a loved one or a job or is suffering from cancer, they will say, ‘You can count on me. I’m ready to help.’ There are also people who are doing this is in a very unseen way,” the Rev. Malovetz added.
The pastoral assistants are lay leaders of the ministries offered by the church.
One of the ways pastoral assistant Darrin Nelson serves is through facilitating Bible studies on Friday mornings.
”I think the important thing here is the church has started to recognize the need for people to work at a professional level within parishes. I think that’s very crucial, because the priests need that support,” Mr. Nelson said.
St. Charles is not the only church within the Diocese of Metuchen that experiences a great deal of lay involvement, according to Monsignor William Benwell, vicar general of the diocese.
”I think the seeds were planted during the Second Vatican Council that ended in 1965,” the Rev. Benwell said. “It’s really over the past four decades that the amount of lay involvement has increased not only with ministries but with leadership in those ministries in the diocese, the country and the world. I think a lot of times people attribute that to a shortage in priests and clergy. That may have been sort of the impetus, but what really increased lay involvement is really good theology.
”The Church realized you go back to the letters of St. Paul, who talked about the gifts of the spirit being distributed to the whole community. This isn’t anything new. It goes back to the foundation of the church that maybe for a long time we had forgotten about,” he added.