The American Medical Association (AMA) is considering changing its long-time position of opposing allowing physicians to participate in physician-assisted suicide. With New Jersey’s legislature fast tracking voting on an assisted suicide bill in an attempt to make the Garden State the sixth in the nation to legalize assisted suicide, the AMA’s consideration of changing its position should be troubling to all Catholics, not only in our home state, but across the nation.

The soft, deep voice of Father David McDonnell, pastor of Our Lady of the Lake (OLL) Parish here, rises above the gentle picking of an acoustic guitar to sing about the plight of the poor in “Hard Times,” Steven Foster’s timeless ballad.

Last month, seven-year-old Katie Castronovo, a second-grader at St. Joseph School here came up with a bright idea: raise $140 for an American Girl doll that has no hair for a local hospital to serve as a support to girls who had lost or will lose their hair during treatment for childhood cancer.

There’s no place like home, especially a home like Nazareth Village here. At this one-of-a-kind facility, its residents are a special group of men — priests that have given a lifetime of service to the people of the Diocese of Paterson. Nazareth Village first opened in 1993 and the retirement residence offers a unique setting for these priests in their golden years. They have fraternity with their brother priests yet live independently at their own residence.

DePaul Catholic High School here began celebrating its 60th anniversary last month to reflect on its far-reaching legacy. During this anniversary year, its faculty and staff have stayed focused on continuing to broaden the scope of an educational renaissance that has been taking place for six decades inside and beyond its walls. And they are powered by an intense passion to meet the ever-changing needs of its students by offering the latest in technology, curriculum and facilities.

On Oct. 27, Pope Francis announced the appointment of Bishop Serratelli as a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Bishop Serratelli was the only American prelate among the 26 appointments made by the Holy Father. At present, Bishop Serratelli is the Chairman of the International Committee on English in the Liturgy (ICEL). He is a member of the Vatican’s Vox Clara Commission. He also served as co-chair of the Vatican’s International Dialogue with the Baptist World Alliance.

The state Assembly passed a bill Oct. 20 that would allow physicians to prescribe lethal drugs to end the lives of individuals considered to be terminally ill. In a vote with 41 in favor and 28 opposed with five abstentions, the Assem­bly passed A2451, known as “Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act” that would legalize publicly funded assisted suicide in New Jersey. The bill has now been taken up in the state Senate and a vote on it could be posted in the Senate as early as today, Nov. 3.

With Election Day around the corner, one of the looming issues in the presidential campaign has been the future selection of Supreme Court justices. Given the fact that many of the Supreme Court’s recent decisions (before the death of Justice Antonin Scalia) were closely divided with 5-4 decisions, it points to the fact that even one justice can make a pivotal difference in swinging a decision one way or the other.