50 Years a Priest

GOLDEN JUBILEE  While in Rome earlier this month for meetings of the Baptist/Catholic International Dialogue Commission, Bishop Serratelli attended a papal audience Dec. 12 where he met with Pope Francis individually. The Holy Father congratulated the Bishop on his golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood.

CLIFTON  Last week, Bishop Arthur Joseph Serratelli marked the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood — which took place on Dec. 20, 1968 in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome — by reflecting on his long and fruitful ministry of helping bring people closer to Christ through the Church — “God’s instrument of salvation.” His half-century journey as a priest culminated in his appointment as Seventh Bishop of the Paterson Diocese in 2004 and has included a variety of other roles, including parish priest, Sacred Scripture professor, auxiliary bishop of Newark Archdiocese and a member of several Vatican commissions.

“My ordination day was one of the greatest days of my life. It was the start of my ministry of serving people, drawing them closer to Christ by preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, as a Shepherd of Souls. I am very happy to be a priest,” Bishop Serratelli told The Beacon for his Golden Jubilee as a priest.

Bishop Serratelli has chosen not to hold any public events in recognition of this milestone. Yet on Dec. 20 at the St. John Paul II Pastoral Center here, Diocesan Schools Superintendent Mary Baier presented him with a spiritual bouquet for his anniversary that represented 58,000 prayers, rosaries, Masses and other religious devotions by the elementary and high schools of the Diocese.

Bishop Serratelli felt a priestly vocation as a young boy in Newark, where he was born on April 18, 1944, and raised by his parents, the late Pio Serratelli and the late Eva Fasolino. He attended Ann Street School in Newark but, after hearing God’s call, transferred to Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, Newark, where he completed his grammar school education.

“The first time I went to Mass alone with my sister [the late Carolyn] — I must have been five or six — I came back and told my mother and father that I was going to be a priest,” Bishop Serratelli told The Beacon in its issue welcoming him to the Diocese on July 1, 2004. Later in 2015, He told a group of young men, during a “Pizza Night with the Bishop” vocations-awareness event at DePaul High School, Wayne, “Some men hear the call to priesthood in grade school, some in high school, some in college and some, when they are working. I heard God’s call in grammar school. I was attracted to the work that a priest does and wanted to get closer to the Lord. A vocation is an attraction that you can’t explain.”

Bishop Serratelli attended Seton Hall Prep, West Orange, and Seton Hall University, South Orange, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1965. He studied for two years at the former Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington, and then went to Rome to study at the North American College in Rome and Pontifical Gregorian University, where he completed his theological studies.

“It was a great opportunity studying in Rome. Our classes were conducted in Latin. It was a way to develop my mind. It was a challenge to learn several languages. I had a difficult time, because it was my first time living far from home. I learned to appreciate home more and became closer to my family,” Bishop Serratelli told The Beacon this month. While there, the Bishop also got to know family members living in Italy, he told The Beacon in 2004.

On Dec. 20, 1968, the late Bishop Francis Reh — the North American College’s rector whom Pope Paul VI had recently appointed bishop of the Saginaw Diocese in Michigan — ordained Bishop Serratelli to the priesthood in St. Peter’s in Rome.

“I was ordained after the end of the Second Vatican Council. It was an exciting time of renewal in the Church. The optimism that we had back then helps carry me through the challenging times that we face today,” Bishop Serratelli said.

During his first year of priesthood, Bishop Serratelli served as parochial vicar at St. Anthony Parish, Belleville. For the next two years, he taught systematic theology at Immaculate Conception Seminary before returning to Rome, where he earned a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in 1976, and a doctorate in sacred theology from the Gregorian University in 1977.

From 1977 until 2002, Bishop Serratelli taught Sacred Scripture and biblical languages at Immaculate Conception. He served as rector of St. Andrew’s College Seminary at Seton Hall University (1997-2000). He also has taught at the Redemptorist Seminary in Esopus, N.Y.; St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, N.Y.; the Institute of Religious Studies, Archdiocese of New York; and the lay ministry program of the Educational Program Service of Trinity College, Washington, D.C. He also has been active in giving retreats to priests and religious, diocesan convocations and lectures throughout the United States.

In addition to his academic pursuits, the Bishop pointed with pride to his ministry as a parish priest. He also had served as a weekend assistant in Most Blessed Sacrament Parish, Franklin Lakes, and served in Holy Family Parish, Nutley, in the Newark Archdiocese and at St. Anthony Parish, Passaic.

In 1998, St. John Paul II named him a Prelate of Honor with the title of monsignor and later appointed him Titular Bishop of Enera and an auxiliary bishop of Newark, which was announced on July 3, 2000. Shortly after he was ordained a bishop in Newark on Sept. 8, 2000, he was appointed vicar of ministries, regional bishop for Essex County and vicar general for the apostolates. In March 2002, he was appointed vicar general and moderator of the Curia.

Bishop Serratelli was installed as Paterson’s seventh bishop on July 6, 2004 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Paterson. Since then, he has achieved many accomplishments during his episcopacy. He led the historic $17.4 million restoration of the Cathedral, which he rededicated in 2017. In 2010, he dedicated his dream in the making: St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard in Madison — the first of its kind — to help advance the Diocese’s mission to spread the Gospel. He also established the annual Vivere Cristus Award ceremony to honor laity, who serve the Church. He also has been leading annual catechetical meetings with First Communicants of the Diocese since 2006.

Bishop Serratelli established the Certificate in Catholic Evangelization program — the first of its kind in the U.S. — and has helped create a vocations culture in the Diocese through various initiatives, such as Quo Vadis Days retreats in the summer for young men; “Pizza with the Bishop” vocations awareness events for young men and young women; and spiritual and social activities for priests and religious of the Diocese. Under the Bishop’s leadership, the number of candidates for priesthood and religious life has increased dramatically. Also, the Bishop has led pilgrimages to places such as the Holy Land, Italy and Spain. He will lead another pilgrimage to the Holy Land from Jan. 2 to 11.

Today, Bishop Serratelli serves as a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, chairman of the International Committee on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), a member of the Vatican’s Vox Clara Commission and co-chair of the Vatican’s International Dialogue with the Baptist World Alliance.

As a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington D.C., Bishop Serratelli served twice as chairman of the Committee on Divine Worship. He is the past chairman and present member of the Ad hoc Sub-Committee for the Review of Scripture Translations and also served as a member of the Ad hoc Committee for the Review of the Catechism. He served as past member and chair of the Committee on Doctrine, as well as past member of the Task Group on Liturgy with Children and the Committee for Women in the Church and Society. Bishop Serratelli also served on the Task Force for the Review of the Lectionary and the Ad hoc Committee for the Spanish Bible for the Church in America.

In addition, he is a member of the following: Board of Bishops of the N.J. Catholic Conference; Board of Trustees at Assumption College for Sisters, Denville; Board of Regents and Board of Trustees at Seton Hall University; Board of Overseers at Immaculate Conception Seminary, South Orange; and Board of Directors for the Catholic Relief Services.

Reflecting on his 14 years as Shepherd of Paterson, Bishop Serratelli remarked, “As a pastor is to his parish, I am to the Diocese as bishop.”

“God chose the institution of the Church as his instrument of salvation. I pray that I work as his instrument to help draw people closer to him,” Bishop Serratelli said.