Chat with Mary
Monsignor Raymond Cole, pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in Hillsborough, sat before me holding the Eucharist, helping me feel a part of the church despite being house bound.
Monsignor Cole paid me a visit on a Sunday afternoon, also bringing me holy oils, for I suffer from leg and lung troubles.
I enjoyed the chance to catch up on news from the church and to see him again.
Our talk went from injuries he suffered in a fall at the construction of a new rectory, to the church’s ministries and his sermons.
Monsignor Cole expressed his satisfaction with the new rectory nestled in the woods but near the church.
”It is simple but beautiful,” he says, which reminds us of Frank Lloyd Wright’s stricture, “What is functional should be beautiful, what is beautiful should be functional.” The monsignor seemed happy about taking up residence at his new address.
One gets the feeling from this pastor that St. Joseph’s is not just a place, it’s not just any place; it’s a composite of spiritual ideas and some down-to-earth temporal ones. And underneath the spirituality there is much warmth and feeling promoted by the pastor.
One of the church’s many spiritual ideas has been to promote ministries specific kinds of service given, such as caring for the poor or promoting Catholicism through Mass and prayers.
The parish has 60 such ministries, including outreach ministries to the poor with money, food and clothes.
Then there’s the care of the homeless, who regularly find a place to sleep at the church.
And there are musicians who contribute their talents in the choir. At one time I participated in a ministry at the church where a group discussed our problems from a spiritual perspective (something like therapy) and then devoted time to prayer.
I asked Monsignor Cole what was St. Joseph’s most important function besides bringing Mass and the Eucharist to people.
”We want to evangelize, meaning welcome the new, be hospitable,” he said. “We want to invite people to share our life, people want to know what’s there.
”To gather the people together for Mass is my most important function,” the monsignor tells me.
I wondered what the population of St. Joseph’s was and wondered why so many people were drawn to the church. Monsignor Cole answered that “there are 1,600 families here .. . Catholics have a sixth sense about going to Mass it is called a Catholic identity. When they can feel that, they feel engaged. (The next step they ask is) what can I do to help?”
I told Monsignor Cole that I had a question that would touch on his vanity. “Do you still give those thoughtful sermons with a little bit of joking alongside them?” I asked.
He nodded and wasn’t at all shy about his vanity over being a successful speaker, all too aware of his gift for emitting provocative insights mixed with humor.
He explained that he gathers many thoughts for his sermons some from his lengthy perusal of the Bible and some from other church readings but without ever writing anything down. Then he blends it all with what he thinks is going on with people.
His ruminations and readings and concern for people is then all served up as a fascinating and stimulating Sunday sermon.
I asked Monsignor Cole about the Sacrament of Penance (or Confession or the Sacrament of Reconciliation). I reminded him that “Time” magazine had published a story fairly recently stating that a large majority of American Catholics had forsaken the practice of this sacrament.
”Participation has dwindled because people don’t think they need it,” he said. “I .. . learned about the sacrament by going through the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.”
In AA the person follows a 12-step program of recovery requires a person to consider a different moral value pertinent to his condition in each step; for example, the alcoholic must take inventory of his deeds to see if he is adhering to the principles and values of the program.
With the Sacrament of Reconciliation, one must examine himself, too.
Also, the alcoholic admits powerlessness over his addiction and the monsignor alluded to our powerlessness over our sins .. . In AA, one asks God to repair the defects of character as someone does with the sacrament.
And, as in any sacrament, a person receives a kind of grace to live better.
I posed a very direct question to Monsignor Cole. “What is the nicest thing you can say about St. Joseph’s parish community?”
He took little time to answer that question. “I like the hospitality of the people,” he replied. “I like the sense of stewardship (service) that I find here in the people, and we have a fabulous staff they are educated and deeply spiritual.”
Monsignor has served at St. Joseph’s for 25 years and has been in the priesthood for 35 years. He spent six years at St. Mary’s Church in South Amboy and four years at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Bordentown before arriving at St. Joseph’s.
He tells me that his family consists of a father and two sisters. To this little biography he adds that he is not an intellectual, but says he is a person of feeling.
I forgot to tell him that a person can be both I like to think I am.
Monsignor Cole is personable, persevering and thoughtful. I would call him a priest’s priest, for with him you have all that you need to hear.
