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Bishop Serratelli helped to celebrate 30 years of tireless faith at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish in Sparta — inspired by its Native American patron saint — with an anniversary Mass in the church, where he had blessed two stained-glass windows on Sept. 29. One of them — a newly renovated window — symbolizes the prayers of its parishioners rising up with the intentions of all God’s people like the smoke from incense. The other — a new window — had been dedicated to their beloved late pastor, Father Patrick Rice, and depicts many of his favorite saints and others who serve as role models.

Bishop Serratelli served as main celebrant and homilist of the third annual Red Mass for Lawyers and Judges on Oct. 7 at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard in Madison. After the Mass, he presented Domenick Carmagnola, an attorney with the law firm of Carmagnola & Ritardi, Morristown, with the Advocati Christi Award — a portrait of St Thomas More — for his commitment not only to the legal profession, but also to the profession of his faith.

Four years after Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich was beatified, Bishop Serratelli dedicated and blessed the History Wall and Legacy Room of the Sister of Charity of St. Elizabeth in Holy Family Chapel in Convent Station Oct. 7. A vesper service for the feast of the Most Holy Rosary was held during the dedication and blessing, which featured hymns, psalm readings, a reading from Greater Perfection by Blessed Miriam Teresa, the Magnificat and the Litany of Blessed Miriam Teresa.

More than 1,000 Catholics from the Diocese and beyond came to St. Anthony of Padua Church in Butler on Oct. 4 to pray in front of two first-class relics of the parish’s beloved patron, St. Anthony — a blessed experience that many of them considered both deeply spiritual and unexpectedly personal.

During his teenage years, Starli Castanos would ask himself, “What do I want to do for the rest of my life?” He pondered and pondered. Several people at home and in his parish, St. Anthony’s in Paterson, would ask him, “Have you ever thought about becoming a priest?”

In the midst of the current Synod of Bishops on the topic of “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment,” Pope Francis will canonize Blessed Pope Paul VI and Blessed Archbishop Oscar Romero on Oct. 14.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Sacred Heart Church in Clifton where he was the principal celebrant of the noon Mass for the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time on Sept. 30.

Bishop Serratelli served as main celebrant of a Mass in observance of the 90th anniversary of Opus Dei held on Sept. 29 in Our Lady of Mount Carmel (OLMC) Church here. That Saturday also marked the Feast Day of the Holy Archangels St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael.

54 young women from grammar and high schools in the Diocese gathered at DePaul Catholic High School for an Evening with Sisters and the Bishop where Bishop Serratelli encouraged them to listen to God’s call, followed by Adoration in the school’s chapel. Religious sisters from various communities spoke to the young women about their own vocations and diversity of their ministries, followed by dining on pizza in DePaul’s media room.

Bishop Serratelli was the principal celebrant of a Mass in St. Michael Church in Paterson Sept. 30 to mark the feast of the parish’s patron, St. Michael the Archangel. The Mass, which was concelebrated by Father Enrique Corona, pastor, marked the parish’s celebration of Feast of St. Michael, which the Church celebrates on Sept. 29.

Principals and staff of Catholic elementary and high schools in the Diocese learned strategies to increase their student enrollments by improving their recruitment of Latino families in a process that starts with building relationships with them in their schools, parishes and communities. Representatives from schools in the Diocese gathered on Sept. 26 in the Pope John Paul II Center here to listen to speakers of the Latino Enrollment Institute (LEI) at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana talk about ways to market to Latinos which they described as a drastically under-served community in the Church.

Beneath a statue in front of St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson, a sign will welcome all just like its namesake, a Sister of Charity of St. Elizabeth, did in her tenure at the hospital. “Sister Jane Frances Brady Drive” reads the newly-installed sign in honor of St. Joseph’s former president and CEO for nearly three decades.

Every person is unique and the Department for Persons with Disabilities' (DPD) mission to help those with disabilities allows it to see that all those it serves have a unique set of hopes and dreams. This Catholic Charities agency aims to give adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities a life of dignity and to be active and valued members of the community. Part of the Diocesan Catholic Charities family, the Bishop’s Annual Appeal supports the works of the DPD, which empowers the agency to provide help and create hope for those it serves. The work of this agency is vital in serving a population that is often forgotten in today’s secular society.

When a church bell tolls, it often announces the beginning of a new hour, a call to worship or a special celebration like a wedding. This coming Sunday, church bells at parishes across the Diocese in Passaic, Morris and Sussex counties will ring to bring to the attention of all the importance of the sanctity of human life. Bishop Serratelli has asked that all 109 parishes in the Paterson Dio­cese participate in “Ring Out for Life” by ringing their church bells loud and clear for one minute at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 7, which is Respect Life Sunday.

October is Respect Life Month and in this week leading to the celebration of Respect Life Sunday, Oct. 7, it was a boost to the pro-life movement to see the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cut its ties with a company whose business is to procure aborted baby parts for research.

The faith community of Our Lady Queen of Peace (OLQP) Parish in Branchville welcomed Bishop Serratelli who served as main celebrant and homilist of the 5 p.m. vigil Mass for the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time on Sept. 22. Concelebrating the liturgy were Father Edward Rama, OLQP’s pastor, and Father Kevin Corcoran, diocesan vice chancellor and the Bishop’s priest-secretary.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Holy Trinity Parish in Passaic on Sept. 23 to mark the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time. During his visit, he celebrated the 10 a.m. Mass in the German language with two concelebrating priests: Father Antonio Rodriguez, Holy Trinity’s pastor, who is fluent in German, Spanish and English, and Father Kevin Corcoran, diocesan vice chancellor and the Bishop’s priest-secretary.

As we navigate the challenges of our everyday lives in an increasingly secular society that is hostile to religion, we should call on the Holy Spirit to provide us with some help in living authentic Christian lives by placing some critical items in our spiritual toolkit: the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. In his latest book, Bishop Serratelli encourages the faithful to ask for these gifts — wisdom, understanding, fortitude, counsel, knowledge, fear of the Lord and piety — while also offering sharp spiritual insights about them and how they can enrich our lives and our faith.

Dressed in Barong Tagalong, the national attire in the Philippines, faithful Filipinos of the Diocese joined together at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson Sept. 23 to celebrate two martyrs of their homeland — St. Lorenzo Ruiz and St. Pedro Calungsod.

Catholics: Do not lose faith in Christ and the mission of his Church to spread the Gospel and be the Body of Christ on earth, despite your possible anger and distrust of the Church after this summer’s child sex-abuse revelations and cover-up. Instead, live in the knowledge that the Church has weathered many scandals throughout its long history and also live in the hope that it is the Lord’s plan for the current scandal to lead the Church to the light of a “new springtime” of spiritual renewal.