Welcome Bishop-elect Sweeney

Richard A. Sokerka

The period the Church celebrated last week from Easter Sunday on April 12 through Divine Mercy Sunday on April 19 is an especially joyful time for the Catholic Church. The Church refers to these eight days (counting both Easter Sunday and Divine Mercy Sunday) as the Octave of Easter. Every day in the Octave of Easter is so important that it is treated as a continuation of Easter Sunday itself when we celebrated with truth and certainty that Jesus Christ is Risen!

And in the midst of Easter Week that joy was multiplied many times over when on April 15, Pope Francis announced the appointment of Father Kevin Sweeney, a priest of the Brooklyn Diocese, as the Diocese of Paterson’s eighth bishop.

In his first remarks to the faithful of the Diocese of Paterson in a video posted on the diocesan website, Bishop-elect Sweeney’s first words to his new flock were “Jesus is Risen. He is truly Risen!”

The importance that these words hold for all Catholics bring us joy and peace, especially in this time when the New York metropolitan area has been hit so hard by COVID-19. With so many positive cases overwhelming the healthcare system and so many dying, it has sadly become the nation’s epicenter of the pandemic.

Right in the middle of that epicenter is St. Michael’s Parish in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where Bishop-elect Sweeney has served as Pastor since 2010. There, he is a parish priest ministering to his flock, which is suffering greatly from the coronavirus.

Because of the pandemic, he has not yet been able to visit the people of the Paterson Diocese he will shepherd and his episcopal ordination as our new bishop has not been scheduled, as churches remain closed as part of the shelter-at-home directives state government has put into effect in the New York-New Jersey area.

We welcome Bishop-elect Sweeney to the Diocese of Paterson. Our prayers are with him, most especially in this trying time. And we pray that the time comes soon when he can begin his episcopacy as our Diocese’s eighth bishop.