More Good News

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.