St. Luke Parish in Long Valley welcomed Bishop Kevin Sweeney as he made his first visit to the Morris County parish on Aug. 2. During the visit, the Bishop celebrated Mass marking the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time. During the Mass, he administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to seven young people of the parish.

At Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta, 164 seniors had the opportunity to celebrate their graduation day at the high school’s in-person commencement ceremony July 29 on the football field. The graduation ceremony had originally been scheduled for early June, but had to be cancelled due to State mandates in place at that time related to the pandemic.

Bishop Kevin Sweeney made his first pastoral visit to Nazareth Village, the diocesan priest retirement residence in Chester, July 28. During the visit, the Bishop met some of the priests who have served the Diocese for many years. The Bishop celebrated Mass with the priest-residents in Our Lady, Mother of Priests Chapel at Nazareth Village. Following the Mass, the Bishop and the priests enjoyed a luncheon prepared by the staff at Nazareth Village.

With creativity and the use of technology, the Department for Per­sons with Disabilities (DPD) virtually reopened its Gruenert Center in Lake Hopatcong July 22 in an effort to continue the many opportunities provided to the 60 individuals who take part in the programs offered at the center. On March 16, DPD had to close the doors to this vital program following the directives of the N.J. Division of Developmental Disabili­ties in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. DPD is an agency of diocesan Catholic Chari­ties. The other two diocesan social service agencies are Catholic Family and Commu­nity Services and Straight and Narrow.

During these past few months as we faced the pandemic and the protests for social justice and racial equality, the need to have school choice in place for every student in the nation has never been more apparent. That is why a bill, “The School Choice Now Act,” sponsored by two Republican senators, Tim Scott and Lamar Alexander, both from South Carolina, needs to be passed immediately by the Senate and have the bi-partisan support from the Demo­cratic-controlled House of Representatives.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney ordained five men to the priesthood on Aug. 1 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson while presiding over his first Mass of the Rite of Ordin­ation for priests since being ordained and installed as the eighth Shepherd of Paterson on July 1. The Bishop urged the new priests to follow the example of Jesus as the Good Shepherd “who came not to be served, but to serve and who came to seek out and save what was lost.”