PATERSON Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney, who will mark the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood on June 28, will be the principal celebrant of the annual diocesan Jubilee Mass for diocesan and religious priests who are also marking significant milestones in the priesthood. The Jubilee Mass was celebrated at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 9, in St. Gerard Majella Church here, to honor those priests celebrating 65th, 60th, 50th, 40th and 25th anniversaries of their priestly ordinations this year.
Following are brief biographies on the jubilarians:
65 YEARS
Benedictine Father Gabriel Coless was ordained on May 25, 1957. He made his first vows to the Benedictine order in 1951 at St. Mary Abbey, Morristown. He holds several degrees in liturgy from St. Anselmo, Rome. He is listed as a contributor to Volume XVII of the New Catholic Encyclopedia, published by McGraw-Hill, in which he wrote the encyclopedia’s section on liturgical reform. Much of his ministry was spent researching history and the development of Catholic liturgy. He has served as a teacher at Delbarton School, Morristown; St. Benedict’s Prep, Newark; and Caldwell University. He taught on the graduate faculty at Drew University, Madison, retiring in 2015. He is also weekend assistant at St. Patrick Parish, Chatham.
60 YEARS
Msgr. Joseph A. Ciampaglio was ordained on May 26, 1962 by the late Bishop James McNulty in St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Paterson. A native of Morristown, he served as executive director for Catholic Charities’ Catholic Family and Community Services from 1969 to 1979. His parish assignments included Our Lady Queen of Peace, Branchville, and St. Anthony, Hawthorne, after which he went on a two-year sabbatical, studying at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and the North American College in Rome. In 1993, he went to serve as executive director of his alma mater, the former Bayley-Ellard High School in Madison. Msgr. Ciampaglio served as a member of the Phoenix Center in Nutley; was a trustee of St. Joseph Hospital and Medical Center in Paterson and St. Mary Hospital in Passaic; a Covenant House board member; adjunct professor of social casework at William Paterson University in Wayne; fire and police chaplain in Hawthorne; coordinator of the diocesan bicentennial committee and director of the Urban Task Force in Paterson. He went on to serve as pastor of St. Clement Pope and Martyr Parish, Rockaway Township, from 1993 until his retirement from active ministry in 2002. During retirement, Msgr. Ciampaglio has been involved with the work of Catholic Relief Services, traveling on several mission trips overseas to the Holy Land, Cambodia and Sri Lanka. He is currently weekend assistant at St. Aloysius Parish in Jackson.
Msgr. Elso C. Introini grew up in Clifton and was ordained to the priesthood on May 26, 1962 by the late Bishop James McNulty in St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Paterson. His first assignment was at St. Paul Parish, Clifton. He then served at several schools including the former Pope Pius XII High School, Passaic; the former Neuman Prep, Wayne; and the former Paterson Catholic High School. He has served at St. Anthony, Hawthorne, and Corpus Christi, Chatham. He served as chaplain to the Sisters of Charity and College of St. Elizabeth in Convent Station. From 1979 to 1987, he served as director of clergy personnel and from 1983 to1987, as executive secretary from pastoral ministry. He was a member of the Priest Senate for two terms and the priests’ retirement fund. He served as pastor of St. Simon Parish, Green Pond; St. Clement Pope and Martyr Parish, Rockaway Township, and St. Anthony Parish, Hawthorne. In 1993, he received a prelate of honor by Pope John Paul II. He served as a Navy chaplain from 2002 to 2006. He currently serves as weekend assistant at St. John Parish in Lakehurst.
Franciscan Father Daniel J. Lanahan entered the Franciscan order on July 14, 1955 in Lafayette. He was ordained March 17, 1962 at Mount St. Sepulchre, Washington. He attended Holy Name College in Washington, D.C. and studied philosophy at St. Francis in Rye Beach, N.H. During his priesthood, he studied at Catholic University in Washington D.C., St. Bonaventure University, New York and Alphonsianu, Rome. He was rector of Christ the King Seminary in New York. He served in Ministry of the Word for parishes in Haskell, Rochelle Park, Rutherford and Ho-Ho-Kus. He served as spiritual assistant to the Poor Clares. He currently resides at St. Anthony Friary in Butler.
Msgr. Kenneth E. Lasch, a native of Jersey City, attended the former Bayley-Ellard High School in Madison and Seton Hall University, South Orange. He was ordained on May 26, 1962 by the late Bishop James McNulty in St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Paterson after completing his priesthood studies at the former Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington. He served as parochial vicar at St. Therese Parish in Paterson and went to study at Lateran University in Rome, returning in 1966 with a doctorate in canon law. He was then named diocesan vice chancellor. In 1971, Msgr. Lasch was appointed director of the diaconate internship program and a year later placed in charge of the newly organized permanent diaconate program. He received the title of Monsignor in 1981 when St. Pope John Paul II appointed him an Honorary Prelate. In 1975, Msgr. Lasch was appointed pastor of St. Therese Parish, Paterson. He then served as executive secretary of the newly established diocesan Secretariat for Pastoral Ministry. He was appointed pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Mendham in 1983 where he served until his retirement in 2004. He currently serves as a weekend assistant at St. Luke Parish in Long Valley. He will celebrate a jubilee Mass in St. Joseph Church in Mendham on Sunday, June 12 at 2 p.m.
Father Joseph W. Lugo was born in New York City and ordained to the priesthood on May 26, 1962. He began his ministry in the Paterson Diocese at Holy Rosary Parish in Dover. He then served at St. James Parish in Totowa. Father Lugo later was assigned as parochial vicar at St. Michael, Paterson; St. Joseph, Paterson; Holy Family, Florham Park; and St. Lawrence, Chester. In 1969, he began service as a U.S. Air Force chaplain. He then served as chaplain and campus minister at the College of St. Elizabeth (now St. Elizabeth University) in Convent Station. He also served on the faulty of the former Bayley-Ellard High School in Madison.
Franciscan Father Bartholomew McMahon entered the Franciscan order on July 14, 1955. He was ordained March 17, 1962 at Mount St. Sepulchre, Washington, D.C. and studied philosophy at St. Francis College in Rye Beach, N.H. and theology at Holy Name College in Washington, D.C. One year after being ordained a priest, he was sent to serve in Japan where he remained for more than 50 years. He was pastor in several parishes in Japan and he also was a regional superior for his order there. He also served as a prison chaplain. He returned to the U.S. in 2014 and retired in 2016 from active ministry. He continues to celebrate Mass at local nursing homes. He currently resides at St. Anthony Friary in Butler.
Father John H. O’Connor, a native of Morristown, was ordained May 27, 1962. He began his ministry as a priest at Assumption Parish in Morristown. He later served at St. Philip, Clifton; Our Lady of Consolation, Wayne; St. Mary, Denville; St. Mary, Dover; and St. Rose of Lima, East Hanover. He studied for two doctoral programs at Temple University and Rutgers University. He also taught at the former Neumann Prep in Wayne and Mount St. Mary College, Emmitsburg, Md. He retired from active ministry in 2003.
50 YEARS
Father Anthony J. Mastroeni, a native of Passaic, was ordained on May 27, 1972. His first assignment was at the former Paterson Catholic High School. He then went for studies to Rome and upon his return to the Diocese in 1975, he served as parochial vicar of Our Lady of Consolation Parish in Wayne. He then served at the former Neumann Prep in Wayne. He served in the Newark Archdiocese for two years and then attended Gregorian University in Rome for graduate work in theology. In 1981, he received his doctoral degree in moral theology at the University of St. Thomas, Rome. For the past 40 years, he has been teaching unversity students. He taught at St. Ignatius Institute at the University of San Francisco; Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio; and Gaming, Austria, From 1999 to 2004. Father Mastroeni was a faculty member at Christendom College, Front Royal, Va., where he taught theology and directed the chaplaincy. He later founded and directed its Rome campus. More recently, he has been adjunct professor of Medical Ethics and Theology at Felician College (now Felician University), Lodi, and a professor of Moral Theology at the Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University. In 2009, he served as administrator of St. James of the Marches Parish in Totowa.
Father David McDonnell, pastor of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Sparta since 2009, is a native of Belmullet, County Mayo, Ireland. He completed his priesthood studies at Thurles Seminary in County Tipperary. He also holds a master’s degree in family ministry from Fordham University, the Bronx, N.Y. He was ordained June 10, 1972 in Ireland for the Paterson Diocese and arrived in the U.S. one month later. His first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish, Denville. In 1980, he was named parochial vicar at St. Paul Parish, Clifton, and was named to the clergy personnel board in 1984. In 1985, he was named coordinator of a pilot program to establish and implement marriage ministries to train marriage preparation teams and sponsors. In 1988, he was appointed as the founding pastor of St. Matthew Parish in Randolph. He also served on the diocesan clergy personnel board. In 2018, he was appointed minister to priests for the Diocese. Father McDonnell, a vocal artist, has recorded several songs, including “A Child Is Born” and “Memories Linger On,” to raise money for charity.
Father Patrick (Paddy) G. O’Donovan was born in Ireland and ordained to the priesthood on June 10, 1972 in the Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow, Ireland. He studied for the priesthood at St. Patrick College, Carlow, Ireland. His first assignment in the Paterson Diocese was at St. Joseph Parish, Newton, where he served as parochial vicar and taught theology part-time at Pope John XXIII High School, Sparta. He then served St. Patrick Parish, Chatham. In 1979, he received a master’s degree in education from Fordham University, the Bronx, N.Y. Father O’Donovan has served as campus minister at Drew University and Fairleigh Dickinson University, both in Madison. He has served as pastor of Christ the King Parish, New Vernon, from1996 to 2015. He then was named pastor of Notre Dame of Mount Carmel Parish in Cedar Knolls, where he currently serves. He has been a chaplain for the N.J. Professional Golf Association. In 2017, he was honored with the Catholic Charities Caritas Award. In 2019, he served as the grand marshal of the Morris County St. Patrick’s Parade in Morristown.
Father Edward G. Reading, a native of Hawthorne, was ordained May 27, 1972 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson. He has spent his ministry serving in pastoral counseling. He began working in the field of addictions in 1969 at Straight & Narrow in Paterson, an agency of diocesan Catholic Charities, where he served until 1980. He became the first director of New Jersey Prevention, Inc. and began working with the Medical Society of New Jersey, treating imparied physicians. The program eventually evolved into the Professionals Assistance Program of New Jersey where he served as the assistant director, treating all licensed health care professionals. Father Reading received a master’s in pastoral counseling from New York Theological Seminary and a Ph.D in pastoral counseling from LaSalle University in Louisana. He has been appointed by five governors to the state board of Marriage and Family Therapists and chairs the Alcohol and Drug Counselors Committee. He has served as president of the board of directors of International Coalition of Addiction Studies Educators. Father Reading has also served on the graduate faculty of Richard Stockton College and lectured to medical and counseling audiences. He is president of the Matt Talbot Institute for the addiction studies in Toms River. His primary ministry is healing and prevention of addictive diseases. He has been a weekend assistant at Good Shepherd Parish in Andover since 1981. He is a board member of diocesan Catholic Charities.
Msgr. Richard A. Rusconi, studied for the priesthood at the former Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington and at Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Dec. 17, 1971. He first served at DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne and then resumed his studies in sacramental theology and liturgy in Rome. He then served at St. Peter Parish, Parsippany, while also serving as diocesan director of worship. He served at St. Michael Parish, Paterson, as pastor and served a three-year term on the diocesan Priests’ Personnel Board. He has also been chaplain of the Serra Club of Paterson. He became pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish, Paterson, in 1990 and then he was named pastor of St. Bernard Parish in Mount Hope and St. Mary Parish, Dover. He was named a Monsignor in 1998 by St. Pope John Paul II. He was named pastor of St. Andrew Parish in Clifton in 2006. He retired from active ministry in 2013 and is currently a weekend assistant at St. John Parish in Lakehurst.
Father Richard V. Tartaglia, a native of White Plains, N.Y., was ordained on May 27, 1972 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist by the late Bishop Lawrence Casey after completing his priesthood studies at Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. He began his priestly ministry at St. Andrew Parish in Clifton. He later served at Holy Family Parish in Florham Park. In June 1974, he was assigned as parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish in Denville where he currently still serves. In July 2005, he was appointed as a member of the priests’ salary committee for a three-year term. From 2014 to 2019, he served on the presbyteral council/college of consultors for Sussex and Northern Morris County parochial vicars. Father Tartaglia will retire from active ministry on June 29.
Msgr. Robert J. Vitillo, a native of Newark, was ordained on May 27, 1972. His first assignment was at Catholic Family and Community Services in Paterson, an agency of Catholic Charities, where he served as director of residential services. He was named executive secretary of the newly established Social Ministries Secretariat in 1982 and later, diocesan director of the Campaign for Human Development. Begininng in 1986, for five years he served as the director of European and North American Services for Caritas International in Rome. He also served as delegate in New York and Washington, D.C., for Cartias International. From 1997 to 2005, he served as executive director of the U.S. Bishop’s Campaign for Human Development in Washington, D.C. From 2005 to 2016, he served as head of delegation of Caritas Internationalis in Geneva and special adviser on HIV and AIDS. Since June 2016, Msgr. Vitillo has been serving as Secretary General of the Interational Catholic Migration Commission.
40 YEARS
Father Gregory Drogon, a native of Bayonne, was ordained May 15, 1982 serving as a Capuchin Father. He was incardinated on March 15, 1988 as a priest of the Paterson Diocese. He served as parochial vicar of St. Margaret, Morristown, and as weekend assistant at St. Michael, Paterson. Father Drogon has been chaplain, director of pastoral care and director of spirituality and worship at Straight & Narrow, an agency of diocesan Catholic Charities. He also served as a chaplain at the former Northwest Covenant Medical Center, Denville.
Father James Moss was ordained to the priesthood on Oct. 31, 1982 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson by the late Bishop Frank Rodimer. He is a native of Toronto, Canada. His family moved to Morristown in 1964, and he attended Assumption School there and the former Bayley-Ellard High School in Madison. He studied for two years at the County College of Morris in Randolph and then continued his studies at the University of Western Ontario, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history in 1975. After working for an insurance firm, he entered St. Augustine Seminary in Toronto in 1978. Later, he transferred to the Paterson Diocese and received his master of divinity degree from the former Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington. His assignments as parochial vicar included Our Lady of the Lake, Sparta; St. Andrew, Clifton; and St. Paul, Prospect Park. He went on leave from the Diocese to serve in the Diocese of Saskatchewan, Canada, and returned to the Paterson Diocese in 2002. For many years, Father Moss has served as chaplain at Preakness Health Care Center in Wayne, where he still volunteers in retirement.
Father Michael J. Parisi, pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Mountain Lakes and diocesan vicar general, was ordained on Aug. 14, 1982 in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Boonton. Father Parisi received an appointment to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy after graduation from Morris Catholic High School, Denville, but after one year transferred to Seton Hall University, South Orange, to study for the priesthood. He completed his studies in Rome and served as an assistant chaplain at a U.S. Army base in West Germany as a transitional deacon. Following ordination, he pursued advanced studies in Rome. He was then assigned to St. Margaret Parish, Morristown, in 1983. He became chaplain in the U.S. Navy in 1988. In 2003, he was aboard the USS Cardinal in the Persian Gulf during the Iraq War. He served as a U.S. Navy chaplain for 30 years and served as a commander. In 2018, he was named pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Wayne, and was named vicar general in 2019. He has served as a member of the vocations board.
Father John P. Pilipie, pastor of St. Thomas Aquin Parish, Ogdensburg, is a Morristown native and was ordained on May 22, 1982 in St. Nicholas Church in Passaic. For his priesthood studies, he went to the former Christ the King Seminary, East Aurora, N.Y. and the former Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington. He has served at St. Paul, Prospect Park; St. Christopher, Parsippany; the former Pope Paul VI High School, Clifton; the former Bayley-Ellard High School, Madison; St. Vincent Martyr Parish, Madison; and Our Lady of Mercy, Whippany. He has also served on the diocesan priest’s personnel board. He served as administrator of St. Thomas Aquin prior to becoming pastor there in 2006. Father Pilipie will retire from active ministry on June 29.
25 YEARS
Father Grzegorz Golba was ordained to the priesthood on June 21, 1997 by Bishop Jan Nowak in Poland. He attended seminary in the Diocese of Siedlce in Poland and holds a master’s of divinity degree and Licenciate of Sacred Theology. In Poland, he served as parochial vicar in two parishes and in 2005 he received permission to serve in the U.S. Upon arriving, he served in the Polish community in the Archdiocese of Chicago as well as the Polish Mission in Sacramento, Calif. In April 2007, he was sent to work with the Polish and Scottish communities in the Diocese of Motherwell, Scotland, for a year. On June 6, 2008, he returned to the United States and began his ministry in the Diocese of Paterson. His first assignment was at Holy Rosary Parish in Passaic. He served as parochial vicar at St. Rose of Lima, East Hanover, and Our Lady of the Lake in Sparta. He served as administrator of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Haskell, before being named pastor there in 2018.
Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney was ordained to the priesthood on June 28, 1997 for the Diocese of Brooklyn by Bishop Thomas Daily. He studied at St. John’s University, in Queens, receiving a B.A. in philosophy in 1992. He then entered the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington and received an M.Div. in theology. Bishop Sweeney’s first assignment as parochial vicar was to the parish of St. Nicholas of Tolentine in Jamaica, Queens, from 1997 to 2003. He was then assigned to Our Lady of Sorrows in Corona, Queens, from 2003 to 2004. In 2004, he was named by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio as the vocation director. During his time as vocation director, which lasted until 2010, he also served as the first director of the Pope John Paul II House of Discernment. In January, 2010, Bishop Sweeney was appointed pastor of St. Michael Parish in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where he served for 10 years. Bishop Sweeney is fluent in Spanish, having studied the language extensively in programs in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. On July 1, 2020, he was ordained and installed as the eighth Bishop of the Paterson Diocese. Bishop Sweeney will commemorate the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood on June 29, the Solemnity of Ss. Peter and Paul at a Jubilee Mass in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.