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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.

In the wake of nationwide calls to end racial inequality, many Catholics are getting involved to affirm and protect the human dignity of each person. The U.S. Bishops have called Catholics to pray, listen, study, reflect and respond to ensure that all human life is respected following the principles of Catholic social teaching. Christina Ferguson, a member of St. Paul’s Young Adults at St. Paul’s Inside the Walls: the Diocese’s Evangelization Center in Madison, felt compelled to write a novena through the intercession of St. Katharine Drexel on racial justice.

Bishop-elect Kevin Sweeney will be ordained and installed as the eighth Bishop of Paterson in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson at 2 p.m., Wednesday, July 1. Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Metropolitan Archbishop of Newark, will ordain Bishop-elect Sweeney to the Order of Bishops and install him as the new bishop of Paterson with Bishop Serratelli and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn as co-consecrating bishops.

All the faithful in the Diocese of Paterson are looking forward to joyfully celebrating the ordination/installation of Bishop-elect Kevin Sweeney as the eighth bishop of the Diocese on Wednesday, July 1, the feast day of St. Junipero Serra. Often called the “Apostle of California,” this Franciscan priest not only helped to convert thousands of Native Americans to Christianity and taught them new agricultural technologies but also was a staunch advocate for them and a champion of human rights.

Parishioners who returned to Mass at St. Vincent Martyr Parish in Madison this month didn’t have to say a word because their eyes said it all — brimming with joy from over the protective face masks that they have had to wear. It was evident to Msgr. George Hundt, pastor, as many faithful approached him for Holy Communion. Their masks were wet with tears of happiness now that churches of the Diocese have reopened after a lengthy COVID-19 lock down that kept them away from their parishes — and the Eucharist.

As usually happens, science and religion end up pitted against each other in the classrooms of academia. That is because some scientists and philosophers ask people of faith to leave God by the door when discussing science and its study of the universe and its origins, arguing that religion is at odds with logic and reason and that the empirical method of science cannot prove or disprove the existence of a Creator. However, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has argued often that science and faith can — and do — work in harmony.

With race relations in the headlines today and civil unrest in many communities following the death of George Floyd, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is offering several resources for parishes, schools and ministries to promote the end of racism and bring peace to the community. According to the USCCB website, “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love” — A Pastoral Letter Against Racism, which was created in 2018, was developed by the Committee on Cultural Diversity for Catholics to take action.

It is never easy to say goodbye. And sadly, the pandemic in our nation has only made farewells even more difficult: no huge gatherings to pay tribute to one’s lifetime of achievements, not even a handshake for a job well done is safe to do. In this “new normal” has come the time for the Diocese of Paterson to bid a fond farewell to Bishop Serratelli upon his retirement.

A recent online course in Spanish on Catholic social teaching has prepared and inspired its 60 students from Hispanic parishes in the Diocese to make a commitment to advocate for social justice to make better faith communities, neighborhoods — and world — right at this chaotic moment in history ravaged by a global pandemic and widespread outcry against racial injustice.

For the second Sunday in a row, Our Lady of the Mountain Parish in Long Valley held an outdoor Mass at 11 a.m. on June 7. Celebrating the Mass was Father Marcin Michalowski, pastor, who is also pastor of St. Mark Parish in Long Valley, where a Mass was celebrated on the grounds of the church at 9 a.m. Sunday.