Holy triple play! Pastor ministers to 3 parishes
Twinning parishes a new initiative in face of priest shortage
BY PATRICIA YOCZIS
Correspondent

PHOTOSBYCHRISKELLYstaff The Rev. Sam Sirianni was recently made pastor of the Holy Trinity Church (bottom), Our Lady Star of the Sea Church (r) and St. John the Baptist Church (below).

LONG BRANCH - When the Rev. Sam A. Sirianni was a boy, he said he always knew that he wanted to be a Catholic priest. Perhaps, he thought, maybe even a pastor.

"Never in my wildest imagination did I think that someday I would be a pastor of three parishes," said Sirianni, a native of Long Branch.

"I never imagined that the parishes would be in my hometown, a town I love."

Sirianni has been pastor of Holy Trinity Church since March. On June 15, Bishop John M. Smith, of the Trenton Diocese, expanded Sirianni's pastoral role to include Our Lady Star of the Sea and St. John the Baptist parishes.

He will minister as part of a pastoral team to about 2,500 families that comprise the three Catholic parishes. The team includes the Rev. Daniel Peirano as parochial vicar and the Rev. Adauto B. Alves as an adjunct priest.

The new appointments include the reassignment of Our Lady Star of the Sea pastor the Rev. M. Joseph Mokrzycki to a new pastorate at St. Elizabeth Church, Avon.

"This is the first pastoral team approach to three parishes in Monmouth County for the Diocese of Trenton," said Sirianni, who is director of the Trenton Diocesan Office of Worship. "When I was informed of the assignment, I said, 'OK, I can do this,' and then I got nervous. Now I know it is a blessing to be part of these parishes and I am very excited."

According to the diocese, the Long Branch parishes join a growing list of parishes in Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties that have been "twinned" or placed under the pastoral leadership of one priest or pastoral team.

Our Lady Star of the Sea Church was built in 1854, while Holy Trinity was established in 1906 as a national parish for Italian-speaking Catholics. Since 1984, St. John the Baptist Church has served the growing Hispanic and Portuguese populations of the area. All three churches are within walking distance of each other.

Sirianni said the three parishes have not merged but will retain separate identities, property and structures.

While he expects to hire a business manager for the financial concerns of the three parishes, existing parish staffs will remain in place and all three parish offices will remain open. No immediate changes in parish councils or other advisory groups are foreseen, he said.

"The residence for the pastoral team will be the rectory at Our Lady Star of the Sea," said Sirianni. "The office team will be from the Holy Trinity rectory."

Sirianni said his first order of business is to get to know his expanded family that not only comes from Long Branch, but includes surrounding towns such as Eatontown, Monmouth Beach and Oceanport. He is usually present after several of the currently scheduled 16 weekend Masses for the three parishes.

"I am meeting and greeting as many members of the three parishes as I can," he said. "As I am getting to know them, I'm letting them know that I care for them and will be here to help them."

He said he is hopeful that the Mass schedule can be maintained, perhaps with the help of a weekend assistant.

"We also have to look at whether this is sustainable in the long term," he added.

According to the diocese, the pastoral team will also look at the possibility of combining ministries and sharing facilities to better serve area Catholics.

"This new model of pastoral ministry will move Long Branch ahead in its efforts to better serve its Catholic community," he said. "We have a lot of ethnic diversity, as well as the need to continue to serve the English-, Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking populations."

Sirianni said the pastoral team approach and the building of larger Catholic churches to serve the growing needs of area Catholics is the wave of the future.

"Priests are aging and there are fewer priests available," he said.

"The average age of a priest in the Diocese of Trenton is the mid-50s. We have about 118 individual parishes and perhaps 200 active diocesan priests who are assisted by retired priests and priests from various religious orders."

According to Sirianni, throughout the Diocese of Trenton a self-evaluation process on a parish-by-parish basis is taking place with restructuring, mergers and closings as foreseeable results.

In 2004 and 2005, numerous parish mergers and two parish closures resulted in the Greater Trenton area.

In the fall, Our Lady Star of the Sea, Holy Trinity and St. John the Baptist parishes will be included in a group of 15 parishes in Monmouth County to undergo this self-evaluation process that will have representatives from each parish.

"The Diocese of Trenton is going through this process to make its members aware of what is happening today," he said. "Things are changing and these surveys show what actions are advisable and possible."

Sirianni said he looks forward to being part of the pastoral team and working with members of the three parishes that have a diversity of blessings.

"The pastoral team is a work in progress and we are learning day by day as we go," he said. "I want people to know that we are praying together for the success of this project. We are all in this exciting process together."

Sirianni's home parish is Holy Trinity, and he is a 1968 graduate of Holy Trinity School, which closed in June 2006. For more than 50 years, his parents, Anthony and Marie, owned Sirianni's Friendly Café on Brighton Avenue in the West End section of Long Branch.

One of his three brothers, the Rev. Anthony Sirianni, is pastor of St. Theodore Church, Port Murray, in the Diocese of Metuchen.