It was in the early afternoon on Friday, August 17 that The Church Alive crew (Cheridan Sanders, David LeRoss, Sam Sorich, and myself) drove from Midtown Manhattan over to Hoboken, NJ to meet Msgr Robert Meyer of Saints Peter and Paul Church.  I had met Fr. Bob a few months earlier at the Path to Peace Foundation’s Social Justice Seminar for university students in collaboration with the Holy See Mission to the United Nations. Impressed by his pastoral sensibilities and the great efforts of his team to get parishioners involved in the life of the community, I returned to Toronto and immediately told Cheridan that this must be a parish we feature on The Church Alive. When we arrived at the church we were greeted with warm hospitality.  Louis Scarpa, the Director of Development, and Fr. Bob sat and spoke with us about the life of the community and the different ministries and initiatives going on there.  It was impressive!  They are in the process of creating a children’s chapel, renovating the residence hall for the interns of the Holy See Mission (they live there while working at the UN), and creatively tweaking a system whereby all parishioners contribute to the life of the community based on their gifts and talents.  We spent the rest of the day filming and doing interviews for one of our features for The Church Alive, and left just before a wedding began in the church on that beautiful summer day. In late October, Hurricane Sandy struck the Northeast coast of the United States and left many families and communities broken.  Hoboken was no exception, and the parish of Saints Peter and Paul responded accordingly, taking immediate action by opening the church and providing for all those in need.  We ask all of our viewers and followers to pray for our friends in Hoboken, and to consider donating to their relief effort.  May God console and comfort them, and may the loving actions of the community be a sign and a light to still suffering and grieving.   Learn more and donate here: http://spphoboken.com