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The faith community of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in the Haskell section of Wanaque on Saturday, May 12 welcomed Bishop Serratelli, who served as main celebrant and homilist of the 5:30 p.m. vigil Mass for the Seventh Sunday of Easter. During the liturgy, the Bishop formally installed Father Greg Golba, as pastor of the Upper Passaic County parish.

Bishop Serratelli served as main celebrant and homilist of the 11:45 a.m. Mass on May 13 for the Seventh Sunday of Easter. During the liturgy, the Bishop administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to five young people.

Bishop Serratelli visited Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Rockaway on May 10 to serve as main celebrant and homilist at the noon Mass for Ascension Thursday on the 40th day of Easter. It commemorates Jesus’ ascension into heaven and is a Holy Day of Obligation for all Catholics.

What do theologians and historians really know about the wife of St. Peter — if anything? In his Gospel, Matthew tells the story of Jesus performing a miracle to heal Peter’s mother-in -law, giving evidence that the future first pope had a wife. In one in his letters, St. Paul calls Peter’s wife as a disciple of Jesus. Later, Clement of Alexandra wrote that Peter had comforted his wife, before she died as a martyr. The Church also honored their disabled daughter, Petronilla, as a saint. Still, these scraps of information could not even fill a short biographical pamphlet on the saint’s spouse.

Bishop Serratelli has asked Catholics of the Diocese to open their hearts to the poor and donate food to the fifth annual Corpus Christi Food Drive June 2-3 at weekend Masses. The donations will help local Catholic Charities agencies continue to serve as “one of the most important local sources of food for literally thousands of our brothers and sisters in genuine need, particularly children,” through the summer months, when the shelves of its food pantries become emptier.

President Donald Trump lauded the importance of faith in American life as a foundation for freedom in his speech at the 66th annual National Prayer Breakfast earlier this month. “Faith is central to American life and to liberty,” Trump said, “Our founders invoked our Creator four times in the Declaration of Independence. Our currency declares, ‘In God We Trust.’ And we place our hands on our hearts as we recite the Pledge of Allegiance and proclaim we are ‘One Nation Under God.’ ”

The 49th annual Motorcycle Mass was celebrated on Main Street in Paterson May 6 by Msgr. Mark Giordani, rector of St. John’s Cathedral, and founder of the Christian Riders, a motorcycle club that meets in the St. John’s rectory. Msgr. Geno Sylva, diocesan vicar for special projects and the cathedral, was a concelebrant of the Mass and assisted in the blessing of hundreds of bikers after the Mass for a safe biking season.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Our Lady of the Magnificat (OLM) Parish in Kinnelon to serve as main celebrant and homilist for the 5 p.m. vigil Mass on Saturday, May 5 for the Sixth Sunday of Easter. Concelebrating priests included Msgr. John Carroll, OLM’s pastor; Father Lukasz Iwanczuk, parochial vicar; and Father Kevin Corcoran, diocesan vice chancellor and the Bishop’s priest-secretary.

Bishop Serratelli administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to 21 young people of Our Lady Queen of Peace (OLQP) Parish in the Hewitt section of West Milford on Saturday, April 28, during the 5 p.m. vigil Mass for the Fifth Sunday of Easter.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Simon the Apostle Parish in Green Pond in the northern section of Rockaway Township on May 6 where he celebrated the 11:30 a.m. Mass for the Sixth Sunday of Easter. During his visit, the Bishop also administered the sacrament of Confirmation to five young people of the parish.

The faith community at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Pompton Plains welcomed Bishop Serratelli on Sunday, April 29, where he presided at the 8 a.m. Mass for the Fifth Sunday of Easter. Also at that liturgy, he administered the sacrament of Confir­mation to 53 young people of the parish.

Bishop Serratelli ordained four diocesan seminarians, who hail from a rich diversity of backgrounds, to the transitional diaconate on May 4 during a Mass in St. Peter the Apostle Church in Parsippany. This rite brings the men a step closer to being called to ordination as priests of the Diocese next year.

Bishop Serratelli celebrated the 30-year history of St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Long Valley — one of the youngest parishes in the Diocese and a small rural faith community, blessed with a big sense of family and welcome. On his pastoral visit April 29, the Bishop not only gifted St. Mark’s with his presence, but also gave the parish another present that was well-received — the announcement that he had elevated Father Marcin Michalowski from its administrator to its pastor, and also from administrator of Our Lady of the Mountain (OLM) Parish, also Long Valley, to its pastor.

The faithful in the Diocese joined Bishop Serratelli in honoring the Blessed Mother during the annual diocesan May Crowning devotion, which took place this year on Sunday, May 6 at one of the Church of Paterson’s many Marian parishes, Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Wayne.

As Mother’s Day approaches in the month of May dedicated to the Blessed Mother, there’s a heartbeat for life in the womb, at least in Iowa. The state legislature early last week passed the “fetal heartbeat” bill. On Friday, Iowa’s governor, Republican Kim Reynolds, signed the legislation into law. It prohibits nearly all abortions in the state after a fetal heartbeat is detected, making it the strongest abortion ban in the nation.

Years ago, Cindy Costello, a married mother of five, found herself in prayer in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, Sandyston, pouring out her life to Jesus — all her joys and disappointments, hopes and fears and blessings and shortcomings. At first, she described the experience as “being wrung out like a washcloth” but then reconsidered the enormity of the spiritual release that she felt and added, “It was more like a bath towel.”

Catholics in the Diocese of Paterson demonstrated their great stewardship of many of the outreaches and initiatives of the Church of Paterson by generously making more than $60 million in pledges to its Partners in Faith capital and endowment campaign. It supports individual parishes, Catholic Charities, Catholic school education, healthcare for retired priests and the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women. The campaign also helped fund the major renovations to the Diocese’s mother church, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, which Bishop Serratelli rededicated last June.

Public safety officers from across North Jersey gathered at The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson on Tuesday, May 1 for the 19th annual Blue Mass sponsored by the Diocese of Paterson. Bishop Serratelli was principal celebrant of the Mass which drew nearly 300 police and other emergency responders and their supporters to the landmark house of worship. The Mass honored fallen police and military personnel, with a special remembrance of three New Jersey police officers who died in car crashes in 2017 and 2018.

The International Women of Courage Award is presented annually by the U.S. Department of State to recognize “women around the globe who have demonstrated exception courage and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality, and women’s empowerment, often at great personal risk and sacrifice.”

On Saturday, April 21, the faith community of St. Jude Parish in Hopatcong welcomed Bishop Serratelli, who served as main celebrant and homilist of the 5 p.m. vigil Mass for the Fourth Sunday of Easter. During that liturgy, he also administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to young people of the parish.