Bishop-elect embraces diversity

PATERSON  When the Paterson Diocese was established in 1937, it was brimming with immigrants, many of them from Ireland. So much so, in addition to having St. John the Baptist as a patron saint, its other patron saint is St. Patrick. For years, many priests came from Ireland to serve the people of the Paterson Diocese. Today, the Paterson Diocese continues to be a melting pot with its largest immigrant community hailing from the countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. In addition, the Diocese has many members in its parishes coming from Poland, the Philippines and other nations.

The future bishop’s life mirrors this same history of the Paterson Diocese. As the son of Irish immigrants from County Mayo, Bishop-elect Kevin Sweeney grew up understanding the immigrant experience in the United States. Serving in the Brooklyn Diocese since 1997, he quickly understood the importance of learning to speak Spanish to serve many of his parishioners. His first experience of this was during a year he spent at St. Agatha Parish in Sunset Park in Brooklyn during his theological studies in seminary.

Bishop-elect Sweeney said, “The people of St. Agatha’s helped to teach me the language as well as the priests there. There was one priest there who wouldn’t converse with me in English, only Spanish, for the year I was there.” The Queens-born priest studied the Spanish language in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. His current parish, St. Michael Parish in Sunset Park, Queens where he has been pastor for the past 10 years, has six Masses with three in Spanish on the weekends.

More than a third of the 109 parishes in the Paterson Diocese have Mass in Spanish and a significant number of young men have come from Spanish-speaking nations to be ordained as diocesan priests. Immigrants from Poland are the second largest foreign-born group in the Diocese with several parishes serving those from that Eastern European country. There have also been young men from Poland coming here who have been ordained for the Diocese to serve the Polish-speaking communities. The Bishop-elect said, “I believe there is a diversity both within the Catholic community and the Diocese of Paterson. We love diversity in Brooklyn and Queens. I’ll be happy to get to know those flavors of the people in the Paterson Diocese and of the community.”

Following cues from Pope Francis, who named him as the next Bishop of Paterson, Bishop-elect Sweeney said, “Pope Francis is a pastor. He reaches out; he has that ‘smell of the sheep.’ He obviously wants to reach each person as a child of God and as a brother or sister deserving of respect and dignity.”

Throughout the Diocese, many communities celebrate culture and faith together. The Polish community continues to celebrate many special liturgies with the faithful wearing clothing from their native land, including children in its First Communion celebrations. Divine Mercy Sunday, celebrated on April 19, is attributed to a Polish saint, St. Faustina. The Vietnamese community at St. Cecilia Parish in Rockaway celebrates an annual Lunar New Year Mass. The Filipino community celebrates a Mass for two of its martyred patrons, St. Lorenzo Ruiz and St. Pedro Calungsod as well as its annual Advent novena Simbang Gabi, which is a diocesan-wide celebration among Filipino communities.

Ivannia Vega-McTighe, assistant director of evangelization at St. Paul’s Inside the Walls in Madison, who has been involved in the Diocese’s V Encuentro process with Hispanic communities, said, “I was beyond excited when I heard our Bishop-elect Kevin Sweeney speaking Spanish. I am certain that, as pastor of a bilingual urban parish, he not only speaks Spanish but has also learned about our beautiful cultures. The fact that he is a son of immigrants is meaningful as well because he can relate to the struggles our immigrant families face. This may be truer than ever in today’s society, which often sees us as takers and not givers. In his video, he included a beautiful message in Spanish affirming the gifts of immigrants. ‘We do not come with empty hands but with our faith and values.’ We are eager to share our gifts with our Church.”

The Bishop-elect said, “Relying on prayer and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I’ll do my best to teach with love. Jesus teaches us that we have to teach the truth with love.”