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Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Virgil Parish in Morris Plains where he celebrated the vigil Mass for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time on Nov. 9. During the Mass, the Bishop named Father Michal Falgowski as pastor of St. Virgil Parish.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Clement Pope and Martyr Parish in Rockaway Nov. 10 where he celebrated Mass for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. During the Mass, children were present who attended the Children’s Liturgy of the Word. It is held every Sunday during the 10:30 a.m. liturgy for children to better understand Scripture and how to apply the readings to their daily lives.

All eyes are on Father Steven Shadwell as he sits on a stool behind a microphone in the middle of a darkened corner of a tavern on the evening of Nov. 6. A group of 30 Catholic young adults listens to the diocesan priest, who is barely illuminated by two small wall lamps, shine some needed light on a tricky question for many in their age group: “How much can you disagree with the Church before you aren’t really Catholic?”

The story of Mariana Yupanqui Lira’s road to healing is remarkable. Her journey consists of traveling between two countries almost 3,500 miles apart, several international flights and four surgeries. What is especially remarkable is that Mariana, who was born in Peru, is only 7 years old. Despite having to endure these long trips and surgeries, she’s like any typical youngster her age. She enjoys playing, communicating on her tablet and collecting dolls.

They call Sean Quinlan the perfect gentleman. He prefers wearing a button-up shirt and tie than a T-shirt and he always opens doors for ladies. For the past two years, this charming man has been a resident at Kelleher Super­vised Apart­ments here, a group home of the Depart­ment for Persons with Disabilities (DPD), an agency of diocesan Catholic Charities. Quinlan, a 40­­-year-old man with Down syndrome and the youngest of four children, attends Mass every Sun­day and is very faith-filled.

The grisly discovery of the remains of more than 2,200 aborted children inside the Illinois home of deceased abortionist Dr. Ulrich George Klopfer was a nationwide wake-up call to a problem that’s sadly not an isolated incident: the remains of aborted children being treated with irreverence and disrespect.

With Election Day 2019 in the rearview mirror, all eyes are now intensely focused on the presidential election in 2020. And with every candidate for president in the Democrat Party in lock step with the party’s platform that supports abortion on demand at any time during a pregnancy, the stage has been set for the inevitable clash between politics and faith on this issue.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Wayne Oct. 26. During the Mass, he confirmed 11 young people of the parish.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Our Lady of Fatima Church in Highland Lakes Nov. 3 where he celebrated Mass for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time. During his celebration of Mass there, he named Father Julio Barrios as pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish. Father Barrios had been serving as administrator of the parish.

At times, Catholics want to receive Holy Communion but run into a serious impediment. Sometimes, it’s physical, such as being too ill. Sometimes, it’s canonical, such as having been remarried after a divorce without an annulment. This year, Father Manuel de Jesus Guevara, a diocesan priest, finished the thesis for his newly-completed doctorate in canon law that gives priests and laity suggestions for ways to administer the Eucharist in these difficult situations — or to find an alternative.

Local organizations and people within the Diocese were recognized with awards for their commitment to helping the poor in the area through their longtime support of Catholic Charities of the Paterson Diocese at its 2019 Caritas Gala on Nov. 2 at the Birchwood Manor in Whippany. In attendance, Bishop Serratelli praised the recipients for helping Catholic Charities carry on its mission to “serve our brothers and sisters in need.”

More than 700 business people, friends and family, clergy and religious attended the Tri-County Scholarship Fund (TCSF) 38th annual awards dinner Oct. 28, at the Hanover Marriott in East Hanover. At the event, a record-breaking $1.3 million was raised to provide partial scholarships for financially disadvantaged children in Passaic, Morris, and Sussex counties, enabling them to attend accredited k-12 parochial and private schools.

Twelve faith-filled men took a step to ordination as permanent deacons for the Paterson Diocese during a Mass celebrated by Bishop Serratelli, which included the Rite of Candidacy, on Nov. 1, which also marked the Feast of All Saints Day, a Holy Day of Obligation, in Holy Family Church in Florham Park.

Construction started last month on Phase 1 of an ambitious two-phase, $4.5 million project at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, titled “Building on Tradition,” ­­— first to renovate its Bishop Frank J. Rodimer Center by December and then build a new two-story, 16,000-square-foot, 16-classroom Catechetical and Educational Building. It will house formation programs to help faithful of all ages to get to know Christ and answer his call to evangelize the “Good News” of the Gospel.

What could Gene Tunney — a former world heavyweight champion boxer in the 1920s and a loving husband and father — and St. Teresa of Calcutta — “lover of the unloved” poor in Calcutta, India, and around the world — possibly have in common? Lots — Tunney and St. Teresa were faithful Catholics; prayed to their favorite saint, Francis of Assisi; and pursued their God-given vocations with passion, said Thomas Michael Hardiman, a circuit judge of the Third Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Pittsburgh, in his Oct. 30 talk at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Evangelization Center at Bayley-Ellard in Madison.

Every bride and groom is called to do two things on their wedding day — “love your spouse” and “let yourself be loved by your spouse.” That was the message heard by 119 couples, who celebrated milestone-wedding anniversaries this year at the annual Diocesan celebration marking Silver and Gold wedding anniversaries at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson Nov. 3.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson held its first praying of the Rosary for Life before the 11:30 a.m. Mass in English on Oct. 27. Bishop Serratelli, who served as main celebrant and homilist of the liturgy during his pastoral visit to the cathedral, joined participants in the rosary.

Serving a vital role for helping those in need in Dover and surrounding areas of Morris County, Hope House, a Catholic Charities agency under Catholic Family and Community Services (CFCS), has a new home, centrally located in the downtown part of the city. To celebrate this new location, a blessing, rededication and ribbon cutting was held Oct. 25 at 101-103 Bassett Highway in Dover, Hope House’s new address.

A blessing ceremony for the gravestone of Bishop Frank J. Rodimer, the sixth bishop of the Diocese, was held in Calvary Cemetery, the diocesan cemetery in Paterson on Oct. 25. The date of the ceremony would have been Bishop Rodimer’s 92nd birthday. Bishop Rodimer died last Dec. 6. He served the Paterson Diocese as its bishop for 26 years and was a priest for 67 years.

Patrick Smart, a junior at Delbarton School in Morristown, seemed most fascinated to learn about the stages of development of an unborn baby: a heartbeat by three weeks; arms legs and mouth by four weeks; brain waves by six weeks; and all his or her organs by eight weeks. Like many of the 300 Catholic high-school students, who attended a pro-life rally on Oct. 25 at Morris Catholic High School in Denville, Smart, 16, knew that they would be praying for life and be reminded that all human life is sacred, because all are made in the image and likeness of God.