Bishop Kevin Sweeney was the main celebrant and homilist for the Diocese’s sixth annual Firefighters Red Mass on Oct. 13 at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson. The Mass honored a firefighter who died in the line of duty and five active duty firefighters who died in the past year. Concelebrating the Mass with the Bishop were Msgr. Geno Sylva, St. John’s rector and diocesan vicar of special projects, and Father Brendan Murray, a retired diocesan priest who has served as a fire chaplain.

On Palm Sunday, Dan Venezia, a personal trainer, life coach and former pro baseball player, landed in the hospital, gasping for breath and trying to hold on to hope in God while fighting his toughest — and deadliest — opponent: COVID-19. A parishioner of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, he engaged in the fight of his life using his own “playbook” with strategies to strengthen his spirit, mind and body — in that order — to help defeat this fearsome enemy.

Bishop Kevin Sweeney made a pastoral visit to St. Joseph’s Rest Home in Paterson run by the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood on Oct. 12. The facility is home for elderly women, who are surrounded with a warm and homelike atmosphere under the care of the sisters. During the visit, the Bishop celebrated Mass in the chapel that was attended by the Precious Blood Sisters and residents of the healthcare facility. Sister Alphonsa Kunnel marked her 50th jubilee in religious life at the Mass.

Engaged couples that participate in Pre-Cana in the Diocese gain practical insights and approaches to build a strong marriage, such as knowing your spouse’s “love style,” in the context of the Seven Virtues in “Life Skills for Married Couples” — part of the Diocese’s marriage preparation program. Last month, Jill Cherrey, a Pre-Cana facilitator at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization in Madison with husband, Jim, led a seminar by videoconference to train or refresh Pre-Cana ministers in parishes and at St. Paul’s in the diocesan program. The Office of Family Life sponsored the event.

I have always found Dorothy Day to be a fascinating, complex individual (and it is not just because she is a fellow New Yorker born in Brooklyn!) She was a prolific writer with strong opinions. Her words were always inspiring and often challenging. Day’s road to Catholicism was not an easy one, but she could not turn away from the beauty of the faith that tugged at her heart. Her tireless work of behalf of the poor, the outcast, the marginalized, along with her steadfast commitment to the Catholic faith, are models for us all. In 2002, New York’s John Cardinal O’Connor initiated Day’s cause for sainthood. While those around her called her a saint, Dorothy Day, always feisty and in true New York fashion, replied, “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.”

In seven years since opening its doors, the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women has touched the lives of countless women, who once felt they did not have a voice but now feel empowered. With more than 10,000 visits to the center, located in the former rectory of St. Nicholas Church in Passaic, according to the center’s mission statement, “the center exists to provide a place for women of Passaic to meet, share and grow in a peaceful and safe environment.”

As a statue of the Blessed Mother passed through the city streets of Passaic for five miles, Catholics found a moment of hope. On Oct. 9, 600 people took part in a rosary procession with the faithful coming from all nine of the Catholic churches in the city to participate. The annual procession is a tradition that takes place in the city during October, the Month of the Holy Rosary.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett and Vice President Joe Biden are both Catholics, but only one of them faces fierce public criticism for their faith. It is not for us to question the faith of a fellow Catholic, but most certainly we can question how secular society looks at Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s faith and excoriates her for it while Joe Biden, running for the highest office in this land, is never, ever questioned about his faith, let alone taken to task for it.

A new white-marble statue of Mary Queen of Heaven stands tall in the recently constructed Marian Shrine next to St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Clifton. While holding the Christ Child and wearing a crown, the Blessed Virgin Mary greets visitors to the parish campus and passersby out front on busy Mount Prospect Avenue.

On Holy Thursday, April 13, 2017, just hours before Easter Triduum celebrations were to begin, a large portion of ceiling in St. Anthony of Padua Church in Passaic collapsed. The damage was extensive but thankfully, no one was inside the building at the time of the collapse. For the next three and a half years, the church building was closed. Masses took place across the street in the parish hall.

The faith community of St. Catherine of Bologna Parish in Ringwood welcomed Bishop Sweeney on his pastoral visit on Oct. 10 where he was the main celebrant and homilist for the 5 p.m. vigil Mass for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Concelebrating the Mass with Bishop Sweeney were Father Pawel Szurek, St. Catherine’s pastor, and Father Stephen Prisk, the Bishop’s priest-secretary.

Bishop Kevin Sweeney led a rosary rally and procession Oct. 11 and along with hundreds of the faithful prayed for the nation during these unprecedented times. The procession, organized by the N.J. Area of the Order of Malta, began at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Evangelization Center in Madison, and continued along Madison Avenue to its endpoint at St. Thomas More Church in Convent Station.

As early as five-and-a-half weeks after gestation, a baby’s heart­beat can be detected through an ultrasound. In an effort to help the mission of Lighthouse Pregnan­cy Resource Center, the Father Joseph A. Cassidy Knights of Colum­bus Council 6100 in Budd Lake recently donated an ultrasound machine that allows the first bond between a mother to see and hear the heartbeat of her unborn baby in her womb.

By using the tools of prayer, religious discernment and rational thinking, Catholics can cut through the noise of today’s ever-polarizing political climate in their quest to do the right thing: to be faithful in casting their ballots for moral and just candidates, laws and policies in the upcoming Nov. 3 election.

Attacks on houses of worship have continued all around the country over the summer and into the fall with little coverage of this vandalism on religious institutions being reported in the secular media. In September, for example, statues were toppled and destroyed at churches and cathedrals in Utah, New York and Texas. Acts of arson were suspected, investigated or determined at churches in Florida, Boston and California over the summer and statues at other churches were vandalized in Tennessee, California and Colorado.

Bishop Sweeney made a pastoral visit to Our Lady of Pompei (OLP) Church in Paterson Oct. 3 where he celebrated the vigil Mass marking the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.