A reception was held in the Rodimer Center adjacent to St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Paterson for Bishop-elect Kevin Sweeney and invited guests July 1 prior to his ordination/installation Mass in the cathedral. Msgr. Sylva, also diocesan vicar for special projects, participated in the planning of the Mass as well as a vesper service for the bishop-elect at the cathedral the night before.

The Beacon won three awards — a first-, second- and third-place — in the annual Catholic Press Association’s Best Catholic Newspaper competition for work published in 2019. The awards were announced at the 2020 Catholic Media Conference, which was held virtually June 30 to July 2. The conference had originally been scheduled for those dates in Portland, Oregon, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and financial hardships many of CPA members faced and instead was replaced by the virtual conference, “Together While Apart.”

When Bishop Sweeney was growing up, his family considered prayer time sacred at their home in the Whitestone section of Queens. If kids from the neighborhood came to the door to play with the Sweeney children before they were finished praying the rosary — usually after dinner, they either were asked to wait in the foyer or accepted an invitation to pray a decade or two with them. On July 1, family members sat proudly in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist to watch one their own, Kevin J. Sweeney, be ordained and installed as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Paterson.

Bishop Kevin Sweeney celebrated Masses at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson during the weekend of July 4-5. On July 4, the Bishop celebrated the 7 p.m. vigil Mass in Spanish (pictured in this spread), the first time Bishop Sweeney celebrated Mass for parishioners at the cathedral. On July 5, Bishop Sweeney celebrated the 11:30 a.m. Mass in English which marked the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Despite following the social distancing measures set by the state, which allowed only a minimum number of guests inside the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson for the ordination/installation Mass of Bishop Kevin Sweeney on July 1, it was anything but a subdued affair. The joy and excitement at having a new bishop even bubbled over onto the streets of the city as family members of the Neocatechumenal Way from two Paterson parishes chanted “Alleluia” loudly and clapped in celebration with the sounds of tambourines, trumpets and drums resonating repeatedly throughout the Mass and after it when the new bishop came to greet them.

The personal coat of arms assumed by Bishop Sweeney combines symbols that are meaningful to him reflecting his spiritual life and priestly ministry.

On the evening of June 30 before Bishop Kevin Sweeney’s ordination/installation as the eighth Bishop of Paterson on July 1, a vesper service was held for the new bishop in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson. The vesper service was a warm welcome for Bishop Sweeney, which was attended by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, who represented Pope Francis. That night, the Bishop-elect entered the cathedral following a procession of clergy members from around the Diocese as well as laywomen dressed in native garb from countries around the world, who represented the rich diversity of the people in the Diocese of Paterson’s three counties of Passaic, Morris and Sussex. The women read the general intercessions in eight different languages.

With the receiving of the Holy Spirit during the rite of the laying of hands, Bishop Sweeney, 50, former pastor of St. Michael Parish in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, officially became the new spiritual leader of the 82-year-old Paterson Diocese after he had been appointed to the position by Pope Francis on April 15.

As the doors to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist opened wide onto Main Street in Paterson and bishops and priests processed out of the mother church of the Diocese on July 1, the music and voices singing grew louder. Directly across the street from the cathedral were family members who belonged to the Neocatechumenal Way at two parishes. They were playing instruments and drums while singing “Alleluia” as they awaited their first official look at the new bishop of Paterson who had just been ordained to the episcopacy and installed as Paterson’s eighth bishop.

Young people at St. Monica Church in Sussex received the Sacrament of Confirmation from Bishop Serratelli during his pastoral visit to the parish June 27 where he also celebrated the vigil Mass marking the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Bishop Serratelli made his final pastoral visit to St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish in Chester June 28 where he celebrated Mass for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

On a wing and a prayer, Father Javier Bareño hedged his bets and bought a ticket for a June 14 flight from Colombia to Miami that he was not sure he would be allowed to board. For several weeks prior, Father Bareño had been longing to return to New Jersey where the diocesan priest serves as a parochial vicar of Our Lady of the Moun­tain (OLM) and St. Mark the Evan­gelist parishes, both in Long Valley.

We were just in the midst of a Paterson liturgical extravaganza: Wednesday, June 24 was the diocesan patronal feast, the Solemnity of the Birth of St. John the Baptist; the following day was the liturgical commemoration of the rededication of the diocesan Cathedral; and yesterday, July 1, was the Episcopal Ordination and Installation of Paterson’s eighth bishop, the Most Rev. Kevin J. Sweeney! All this and COVID-19 too!

On Good Friday, Father Leonardo Jaramillo, pastor of St. Paul Church in Clifton, said he experienced a miracle. In great pain as he struggled to breathe suffering from the coronavirus, he thought that evening would be his last on earth. He even accepted the fact that if death came to his door, it was his time to return home to God. Instead, the Colombian-born priest believes he received God’s mercy and that allowed him to survive that night.

Row upon row of U.S. flags waved proudly in the breeze on the front lawn of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Newark on the sunny Tuesday morning of June 23. It painted a striking patriotic backdrop to what was happening in the adjoining courtyard: rows of men and women, including Father Michal Falgowski, were raising their right hands to swear the oath as newly minted U.S. citizens. Since then, this Polish-born pastor of St. Virgil Parish in Morris Plains has felt a greater sense of pride about Old Glory — and his new status as an American.

Last week a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe found it was illegal for N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) to limit religious worship services over the coronavirus while condoning and encouraging massive anti-police brutality protests.

The parish community of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Swartswood welcomed Bishop Serratelli, who made a pastoral visit there and celebrated vigil Mass marking the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time on June 20.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Luke Parish in Long Valley where he celebrated the 11:30 a.m. Mass marking the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time on June 21, which was also Father’s Day. This was the second weekend that churches around the Diocese were open for Masses. All who attend Mass are required to wear masks and follow strict social distancing guidelines to ensure the safety of everyone attending Mass.

Weeks before parishes started to reopen for Masses on the weekend of the Feast of Corpus Christi, June 13–14, 60 directors of religious education (DREs) programs in parishes in the Diocese began discussing when and how they might restart their programs after months of a statewide lock down due to the coronavirus pandemic. DREs discussed possible plans in the still-uncertain future on a May 28 Zoom online video-conference of the diocesan Cate­chetical Leaders Association (CLA).

While COVID-19 has caused the Department for Persons with Disabilities (DPD), an agency of diocesan Catholic Charities, to cancel its 2020 Wiegand Farm Golf Classic, the DPD still intends to honor its frontline heroes by inviting the faithful to make a difference and donate to its appeal virtually. The golf classic was originally scheduled for June 22 to help the hundreds of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are served by the agency.