Bishop Kevin Sweeney served as the main celebrant and homilist at Mass on Palm Sunday March 28 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson marking his first Palm Sunday Mass as the Bishop of Paterson.

Although the pandemic has kept the retired Salesian sisters of the Provincial House in Haledon indoors and away from in-person ministry, it has been unable to limit their creativity and desire to help others. After seeing a news segment on the television about a young Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurse, Alexandra Marcello, and the program she started to help families who lost a loved one to COVID-19, the sisters knew they wanted to get involved.

It was a warm afternoon on March 20 with clear skies over the town square in downtown Newton, where a small but spirited group of Catholics held up two long banners that helped make their faith-based message to the public loud and clear: “God’s Marriage = 1 Man + 1 Woman.” On that Saturday, these 21 faith-filled men and women drew a variety of reactions from passing motorists — from honks of approval to one disapproving gesture of “thumbs down.”

On Easter, the Catholic Church in the Philippines will inaugurate a yearlong celebration to mark 500 years of Christianity in the country. The theme of the jubilee celebration is “Gifted to Give.” For Filipinos in the Paterson Diocese, this celebration has brought joy and excitement as several events are planned to coincide with the jubilee year. On Easter, Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Rockaway will be the site of the official kick-off of the celebration with a Filipino Mass at 1 p.m.

Bishop Kevin Sweeney was homilist and main celebrant, with priests of the Diocese as concelebrants, at the Diocese’s annual Mass of Chrism March 29 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson. During the Mass, priests of the Diocese renewed their priestly promises before the Bishop and received the prayers and support of the people of God, who attended and watched through livestream since in person attendance was limited due to the pandemic.

With the celebration of the great feast of Easter just days away, kindhearted Confirmation candidates found a way to bring Easter joy to senior citizens confined to local nursing homes during the pandemic. At Our Lady of the Lake Church in Sparta, the teenagers teamed up with the parish’s “Adopt-a-Family” ministry for a special parish-wide project.

Father Jayke Parinas, parochial vicar at Our Lady of the Mountain and St. Mark parishes in Long Valley, came with questions about canon law and marriage on March 23 to Loyola Jesuit Center in Morristown. There, he and a group of his fellow new diocesan priests got expert answers to their questions on the subject from the judicial vicar of the Diocese of Scranton, Pa., during the second monthly live session of a new program in Paterson: Ongoing Forma­tion of Newly Ordained Priests.

As we begin the Sacred Triduum today on Holy Thursday, our eyes can now become fixed on knowing that after the Passion and death of Jesus comes Easter, the greatest feast on the Church calendar, when Jesus is raised from the dead. The Resurrection of Jesus carries the promise that death cannot separate us from God. Christ lives and so will we.

Since Christ accomplished his work of human redemption and of the perfect glorification of God principally through his Paschal Mystery, in which by dying he has destroyed our death, and by rising restored our life, the sacred Paschal Triduum of the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord shines forth as the high point of the entire liturgical year. Therefore, the pre-eminence that Sunday has in the week, the Solemnity of Easter has in the liturgical year.

Lately, Joelyn Hoferer has been wrestling with an unsettling image: that of the final dash that will sit between her birth and death dates on her tombstone one day. That small dash — to represent a life lived between birth and death — has prompted this parishioner of Holy Family here to ask herself some questions to help put her life and faith in sharper focus. They include, “What am I living for?” and “What or whom am I searching for?” — maybe Jesus?

From now on, Michael Hardy, a married father of nine, ages 9–20, plans to call on “the saint of saints” — St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus — more often, to ask for his guidance on issues, such as marriage, finances and raising his kids. A parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Stirling, Hardy made that commitment as a result of preparing for and then becoming consecrated to St. Joseph, during a special rite as part of morning and evening Masses at his parish.

Bishop Kevin Sweeney presided at the annual Acies of the Legion of Mary March 21 in St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Morristown, attended by members of the Legion of Mary.

Marking St. Patrick’s Day with a feast day Mass, Irish-born priests from around the Diocese celebrated the patron of their homeland at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson March 17. Bishop Kevin Sweeney, whose parents were born in Ireland, was the main celebrant of the Mass.

Bishop Kevin Sweeney made a pastoral visit to St. Bernard Parish in Mount Hope on March 21 and celebrated Mass marking the Fifth Sunday of Lent.

Young people from the parish community of St. Mary Help of Christians in Paterson received the Sacrament of Confirmation admin­is­tered by Bishop Kevin Sweeney March 20, during the vigil Mass marking the Fifth Sunday of Lent at which he was the principal celebrant.

The world today is marked in two ways — life before the pandemic and life after the pan­demic. In March 2020, life forever changed worldwide when the World Health Organization officially labeled the outbreak of COVID­-19 as a pandemic. The Beacon interviewed a range of people in the Paterson Diocese to get different perspectives on how the pandemic has changed so many facets of life in the Diocese. Stories were shared by those who serve in many areas of ministry in the Dio­cese. Each story is different yet at the heart of them all — God’s love and the support of the people — are present.

For the first time, St. Joseph, the quiet earthly father of Jesus, stepped into the spotlight in the Diocese for a day of celebrations that honored him on March 19, his feast day. It concluded that night with Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney consecrating the Diocese to St. Joseph’s fatherly care and intercession at a Mass in St. Joseph Church in West Milford.

Earlier this month, President Biden issued yet another one of his executive orders that should concern Catholics and all people of faith. This new executive order could promote gender ideology in public and some private schools while affecting both the privacy of women and the intellectual freedom of children.

On March 25 of most years, nine months before Christmas, we celebrate the liturgical Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, the moment when Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel and it was announced to her that she was chosen to be the “Mother of God.” We learn of this encounter in Luke’s Gospel (1:26–38). It is also recounted in a beautiful prayer, known as the Angelus, which unfortunately does not seem to be as popular as it was in years (and centuries) gone by.

It has been an exciting journey from writing a song to becoming the online vote winner and now a finalist in a statewide contest for 16-year-old Erin Peters, a parishioner at Holy Family in Florham Park. Her song “They Say to Run” has advanced to the finals of the N.J.-based organization, “Shout Down Drugs,” which partners with Drug Free New Jersey.