News RSS Feed

Bishop Sweeney made a pastoral visit to St. Therese Parish in Paterson Jan. 10. During his visit, he celebrated Mass marking the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

When the first man and woman disobeyed God’s command not to eat the apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden, it touched off a cycle of environmental devastation of earth, our common home, by the human race that continues to this day. It started when they “decided to do things their way, not God’s way,” which disturbed forever God’s perfect order for the world, Bishop Emeritus Arthur Serratelli said in two talks he gave during Advent about our duty to be faithful stewards of God’s creation at St. Joseph Church in Mendham.

Msgr. Geno Sylva, rector of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, wears a dramatic expression on his face as he holds up a wooden starfish during his homily. He points to the object, asking the faithful, especially the young people, to identify it by completing the sentence, “This is …” “A starfish!” shouts Mia Campagna, 14, who has mild learning and developmental challenges due to Williams Syndrome, a rare neurodevelopment genetic disorder. She waves her hands in excitement from her pew during that 5 p.m. vigil Mass on Jan. 2 for the Feast of the Epiphany, which also marks St. John’s third Special Needs Mass that began last October.

The Bishops of New Jersey have designated Friday, Jan. 22 as a day of fasting and prayer to mark the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision, which made abortion legal. To mark the grim anniversary, Bishop Kevin Sweeney is inviting all in the Diocese to join him in prayer during a livestreamed event at 7 p.m. on Jan. 22 at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson with a limited number of young people from the city of Paterson joining in person.

After gains were made in the pro-life movement in 2020 to protect life, the outlook for further gains in 2021 is certainly not as promising at both the federal and state levels. With Democrats now holding the White House and both chambers of Congress, a key focus of pro-lifers at the federal level is the preservation of certain pro-life “riders,” or amendments, enacted by Congress that are attached to spending bills.

Pope Francis announced a Year of St. Joseph for the whole Church just over a month ago. Shortly afterward, in my Beacon column, I wrote that friends had given me two copies of Father Calloway’s book Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father, which offers a 33-day preparation and a form for the consecration.

Bishop Sweeney celebrated the vigil Mass marking the Feast of the Epiphany or Three Kings Day at St. Francis of Assisi Church in the Haskell section of Wanaque Jan. 2.

Christmas 2020 may be over and the Church will soon be back to Ordinary Time on its liturgical calendar, but the generosity of so many around the Diocese and beyond has left a smile on the faces of the many in need served by Diocesan Catholic Charities during the holiday season.

The parish community of St. Gerard Majella in Paterson welcomed Bishop Sweeney during his pastoral visit Jan. 3. The Bishop celebrated two Masses — one in English and one in Spanish — marking the Feast of the Epiphany.

Bishop Kevin Sweeney celebrated Mass on New Year’s Day marking the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God in St. Francis DeSales Church in the McAfee section of Vernon Jan. 1.

As a young boy, Father Joemin (Jayke) Parinas, parochial vicar of Our Lady of the Mountain (OLM) and St. Mark the Evangelist parishes in Long Valley, couldn’t hear a call to the priesthood from God over the din of his many pets that included dogs, cats, parrots and hamsters. Instead, this self-described “animal lover” wanted to become a veterinarian in his native Philippines.

COVID-19 has reshaped the world. Life has changed yet there has been one constant source of help and hope that has remained the same. Catholic Charities agencies in the Diocese of Paterson have persevered thanks in part to its employees, volunteers and benefactors and have continuously served the most vulnerable in the Diocese, who have been impacted significantly by the pandemic.

Without realizing it, clients of the Consumer Choice Food Pantry at the Father English Community Center in Paterson, have been enjoying some organic farm-to-table produce — thanks to the Secular Franciscans of the Most Holy Name Fraternity of the Third Order in Little Falls. Over the last year, the food pantry, part of diocesan Catholic Charities, has accepted small shipments of organically grown vegetables, fruit and eggs from farms in New Jersey, donated and delivered by Secular Franciscans.

This Jan. 22 will be the 48th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion on demand in our country. As we speak about and experience political and other divisions, I am not sure if there has been any issue that has been more divisive on the national and many other levels of society over these past 50 (plus) years.

The Pew Research Center recently reported that government restrictions on religion worldwide (and in the U.S.) are at their highest point since 2007. This is a grave threat not only to our religious freedoms but also to human rights. Globally, religious freedom protects human dignity, promotes security and supports American national security. Here in our own nation anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism are increasing.

Growing up in a faith-filled Catholic family, it seemed providential that Thomas Barrett’s life would lead him in the direction of serving the Church. For his family, volunteering for activities at their parish, St. Andrew the Apostle in Clifton, was always a priority. Now Barrett looks back at his 48 years of service to the Church of Paterson and the moments that have shaped his life as he retires from the Diocese on Dec. 31 and begins the next chapter of his life.

During the weekend of Dec. 19–20, an army of volunteers from various ministries at the cathedral joined clergy and several staff members in a historic distribution of new winter coats and toys to children in Paterson. It started on Saturday with giving away about 500 new coats at St. John’s. It continued on Sunday with giving out more than 700 wrapped new age-appropriate and gender-specific Christmas gifts for the children — and a friend — at the cathedral — along with a warmly received visit from Santa.

It has been the “shot in the arm” felt ’round the U.S. for about a million people so far who have rolled up their sleeves to receive their initial dose of one of two highly anticipated vaccines hailed as decisive weapons in the war to wipe out the global COVID-19 pandemic. This fall, Father Ed Reading, a diocesan priest who serves outside the Diocese, volunteered to receive two doses of one of those vaccines as part of the third phase of a global clinical trial to make sure that the drug is safe and effective.

Bishop Kevin Sweeney celebrated two Masses — 11 a.m. in English and the 1 p.m. in Spanish — at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Clifton Dec. 27. The Masses marked the Feast of the Holy Family, which celebrates Jesus, Mary and Joseph as a model for all Christian families.

The parish community of Our Lady of the Holy Angels Church in Little Falls welcomed Bishop Sweeney on Christmas Day where he celebrated Mass marking the Nativity of the Lord Dec. 25.