On March 14, the Passaic County Board of County Commissioners honored Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney in Paterson as part of their Irish-American Heritage Month Celebration. Bishop Sweeney is pictured at the ceremony, which included dancing and bagpipes. County Commissioner Terry Duffy presented the bishop with a letter.
Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney presided at the annual Acies convocation of the Legion of Mary on March 12 in St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Morristown. It was attended by Legion of Mary members and priests. During the Acies each year, Legion of Mary members recommit themselves to the Holy Spirit and to Mary. The event included Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, followed by the recitation of the rosary.
St. Bonaventure Church in Paterson hosted a Noche Blanca, or “White Night,” retreat for Hispanic youth and others on Saturday, March 11. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney attended the beginning of the event to welcome participants.
Ecuador Quilt, Inc., founded in the year 2000 by Our Lady of Consolation of Wayne parishioners and incorporated in 2006, seeks, per its website, to provide “adequate health care, nutrition, and relevant training and education that will lift residents out of poverty to create a path to a self-sustaining future.” Father Desmond Dalton is the priest who serves the poverty-stricken fishing village in San Pablo, Ecuador. Twenty-three years ago, his sister’s (a Wayne resident) son began discussing its prevalent severe plight and famine with the son of an Our Lady of Consolation parishioner.
The Diocese of Paterson comprises New Jersey’s three northwest counties of Morris, Passaic, and Sussex, with an area of 1,214 square miles and a population of 1,134,000.
The Holy See created the Diocese in 1937 by separating the three counties from the Archdiocese of Newark.
Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney is the leader of the Diocese of Paterson and was installed as the eighth bishop of the Diocese in July 2020.
The diocese counts some 430,000 Catholics in a rich tapestry of 109 parishes where Mass is offered in 14 different languages and is a good neighbor to five Eastern-rite Churches.
The Diocese of Paterson includes 22 Catholic Schools, 70 Catholic Charities programs, and various ministries in the three counties of Passaic, Morris, and Sussex in northern New Jersey.