Honoring Those Who Protect & Serve

PATERSON  Public safety officers from across North Jersey gathered at The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist here on Tuesday, May 1 for the 19th annual Blue Mass sponsored by the Diocese of Paterson.

Bishop Serratelli was principal celebrant of the Mass which drew nearly 300 police and other emergency responders and their supporters to the landmark house of worship. The Mass honored fallen police and military personnel, with a special remembrance of three New Jersey police officers who died in car crashes in 2017 and 2018.

The homilist, Father Michael Drury, pastor of St. Luke Parish in Long Valley, focused on the ubiquitous police motto of Protect and Serve: “Protection is what we are about today, celebrating how well you do that,” he told the officers, most wearing their dress blues. “Service really means a ministry — doing something extra ordinary for other people.”

The largest contingents of officers were from the New Jersey State Police and the Paterson Police Department, which just last month lost one of its own when 41-year old Officer Tamby Yagan was killed in a car crash on Getty Avenue while on duty. The 12-year veteran of the department left behind a young son.

Two other officers who died in car crashes on their way to work during 2017 also were memorialized.

Jersey City Lt. Christopher Robateau, 49, was struck while checking on the welfare of a driver involved in an accident on the New Jersey Turnpike in the pre-dawn of Jan. 5. Robateau had garnered more than 40 meritorious service awards during his 23-year career with the Jersey City department. He was survived by his wife and three sons.

Summit Detective Matthew Tarentino, 29, was killed in a head-on crash when a car veered into his lane on I-78 as he traveled to work in the early morning hours of May 30. He had been on the force for five years and was known for his community policing. Tarentino left behind his wife, Victoria, and two young sons, ages 3 and 2. Two months after her husband’s death Victoria gave birth to the couple’s third child, a girl.

The Mass was also a chance to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the fall of the World Trade Towers, which took the lives of so many public safety personnel.

“This is our way of consoling the families. It really is our way of giving them moral support now and in the future,” said Retired Detective Lt. Frank Petrelli of the Paterson Police Department, who with June Fiduccia has organized the Mass with the Diocese of Paterson since its inception. “And it’s a yearly remembrance of our brothers and sisters, who we carry in our hearts all year.”

The Emerald Society pipes and drums and a color guard composed of members from several area police departments provided the pomp.

This Mass on May 1, coincided with the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, noted Father Drury. “He represents for all of us today an example about placing our lives in the service to others,” Drury said.

The liturgy was a homecoming for the annual event, which relocated to St. Gerard Majella Church on West Broadway in Paterson while a seven-year renovation proceeded at St. John’s. The newly-renovated Cathedral was rededicated by Bishop Serratelli last June 24.

“It was a beautiful Mass in a beautiful church,” said Lt. Steve Rooney of the Paterson Police Dept.

The Bishop was joined by two-dozen concelebrants, including Msgr. Mark Giordani, rector of St. John’s.

As police and other worshippers filed out of the cathedral, Bower, a German Shepherd who is a canine officer from the Passaic County Jail just across Main Street stood sentry. A luncheon at the Brownstone Inn followed the Mass.