‘Love Thy Neighbor’

CLIFTON  The stories of neighbors whose lives have been helped are countless due to so many of the faithful who support the ministries of the Church of Paterson.

The Diocesan Ministries Appeal, formerly known as the Bishop’s Annual Appeal, has been under way for the past few months and under the theme, “Love Thy Neighbor.” This annual collection will help fund ministries that serve the poor, sick and needy through Catholic Charities agencies in the Diocese of Paterson; urban elementary school students; education needs of diocesan seminarians and retired priests’ healthcare including support for Nazareth Village, the diocesan home for retired priests located in Chester.

This year the Appeal has featured stories of some of the recipients served by these ministries, which can be seen on the diocesan website www.rcdop.org/dma.

Here are excerpts from these stories.

Catholic Charities and its three agencies — Catholic Family and Community Services, Department for Persons with Disabilities and Straight and Narrow — receive the largest amount of aid from the Diocesan Ministries Appeal.

At the Father English Center in Paterson, its food pantry has seen unprecedented numbers coming for food due to the pandemic. This past summer more than 25,000 children, women and men received food from the pantry, the most in Catholic Charities 80-year history. Carlos Roldan, director of the food pantries, said, “People should not go hungry. We have kept our doors open to feed the hundreds and thousands that come every single day.”

Argentina is one of the thousands that seeks help from the food pantry and she is very grateful. It provides food for her family of six, which includes four generations of family members — her elderly parents, an adult daughter with special needs and her young granddaughter. At the Father English Food Pantry, Argentina receives fresh food such as milk, vegetables and bread from a local bakery.

She is touched by the dignity they give her, even though she is in great need. “The staff calls me by name there at the food pantry. They are good people and they treat all the people very well,” she said.

Catholic Charities also has two other food pantries, one in Morris County at Hope House in Dover, and in Sussex County at the Partnership for Social Services in Franklin. Catholic Family and Community Services operate the food pantries in the Catholic Charities network.

Another recipient of help from the Appeal is the Department for Persons with Disabili­ties, which provides numerous services to those with developmental disabilities. It is the largest and most known program with its group homes that provide a home-like and loving environment to its residents.

Sean Quinlan, a resident of Kelleher House in Butler, is 41 years old and has Down syndrome. He lives a faith-filled life — he attends Mass every Sunday and he is godfather to three of his nieces and nephews.

“I have been here a couple of years and I like it,” he said. “I love my apartment and my roommates. We are a family.”

Straight and Narrow (SN), whose main offices are in Paterson, is the longest-running community-based residential treatment facility for drugs and alcohol abuse. It has programs throughout northern New Jersey helping tackle the epidemic of drug addiction.

Angela Nikolovski, executive director of SN, said, “In the midst of the current health crisis, we at Straight and Narrow remain operational servicing our most vulnerable populations during this time when support, compassion and understanding are needed most.”

Last year, SN faced a devastating loss due to a five-alarm fire that destroyed its men’s halfway house on 410 Straight Street in Paterson. More than 200 people were displaced but miraculously, no one was injured. The 2019 Appeal provided more than $319,000 directly to SN to assist in their rebuilding efforts. “With support from the Bishop’s Annual Appeal last year SN’s vision to rebuild a facility that provides a safe haven to so many can be realized,” Nikolovski said.

The Appeal also helps urban elementary school students. Maemi Carrillo, an eighth­grader at St. Gerard Majella School in Paterson, is grateful for the opportunity to learn in a safe and friendly environment. “The thing I like most about the school is the people. I have been able to form many friendships and I am fortunate enough to have caring teachers who push me to become a better student and strive for my dreams,” he said.

For the men, who have answered the call to their vocation to the priesthood, the Diocesan Ministries Appeal helps fund seminarian education.

Deacon Francis Lennie is in his fourth year of theology studies at Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall Univer­sity in South Orange. “I felt that the Lord was calling me to use my gifts and talents to serve his people as a priest and spread his love to a world that needs it,” he said.

For more than 50 years, Father Brendan Murray, pastor emeritus of Sacred Heart/Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Dover, has served as a priest of the Diocese of Paterson and he has witnessed some of the most extraordinary works of God. He feels blessed to witness the faith of the people and he is honored to be part of so many people’s lives. “I get to bring the Lord Jesus to many families and I am there for their joys like their weddings or their child’s baptism and their sorrows when they are sick or there is a death in the family. It is a privilege to be part of those big life moments,” he said. Father Murray lives in Nazareth Village, another recipient of funds from the DMA, and he appreciates the opportunity it gives him in retirement that he is still able to serve God’s people.

Similar to past appeals, rebates will be given to parishes that raise funds over their Appeal goal. Half the amount received over the parish goal is returned to parishes for their own needs. More than $713,000 was returned to parishes from last year’s Appeal — and more than $3.25 million in five years. All funds raised through the Appeal are used only for these goals. The funds raised in the Paterson Diocese, stay in the Paterson Diocese.