Ministry to the People of God

PASSAIC  The Diocese honored 79 religious sisters and priests, who are celebrating significant anniversaries in religious life this year, for their faithful service to God and his people, during a Mass on May 19 at St. Mary’s Assumption Church here. The liturgy also commemorated World Day of Consecrated Life in the universal Church held on Feb. 2. Bishop Serratelli, main celebrant and homilist of the well-attended Mass, thanked the honored religious and praised them for showing the Church how to live, love and minister in the context of community.

During the 10 a.m. Mass, the jubilarians, who are celebrating 80, 75, 70, 65, 60 and 50 years in religious life this year, renewed their commitment to Consecrated Life before Bishop Serratelli, who presented each of them with a small gift of appreciation — a religious item — near the end of the liturgy. Filling St. Mary’s were many religious from various religious communities, including priests and sisters, as well as men and women in formation or still in discernment, lay associates, and Chancery personnel, who came in support. Many priests from around the Diocese and beyond concelebrated the Mass, including one of six of the honored religious priests, Franciscan Father John Pierce of St. Anthony Friary, Butler. A reception in the St. Mary’s parish hall followed the Mass.

“Today, by sharing the meal that Christ gave us to nourish us with his own Body and Blood, with the Church of Paterson we give thanks to your faithful living out of your religious vocation,” Bishop Serratelli told the jubilarians and the other religious who attended the Mass, in his homily. “The great mystery of truly belonging to the family of God is the beauty and the challenge of consecrated life. Consecrated life means always to be intimately connected with Jesus, so you never live any part of your life apart from him. It means overcoming the individualism that separates us from one another and from forming a family, not based on flesh and blood, but on the will of God — a community where no undo attachment to one another or to a particular ministry separates anyone from the rest of the community. We ask God to keep each of you close to Christ, our Lord, so that you always show us what it means to be chosen members of God’s holy family,” the Bishop said.

On that morning, the honored religious, who have spent their ministries serving in the Diocese or in places beyond, looked back at the histories of their communities with gratitude; to the present with passion for their various charisms, and to the future with hope. During the Mass, the congregation prayed for religious sisters and their ministries, men and women in religious formation and specifically for the Salesian Sisters, as they start to rebuild the chapel at Mary Help of Christians Academy in North Haledon, which was destroyed by a fire on May 18.

In renewing their commitment to Consecrated Life before the Bishop, the jubilarians stated: “Eternal Triune God, trusting in your faithful love, I renew my vows to follow Christ in chastity, poverty and obedience. I commit myself anew to serve the Church in the apostolate entrusted to my institute. Grant me the grace, Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady and the prayers and support of my institute to live these vows faithfully.”

At the beginning of the Mass, Sister of Christian Charity Joan Daniel Healy, diocesan chancellor and delegate for religious, welcomed the jubilarians and guests. She also thanked Bishop Serratelli; Msgr. James Mahoney, diocesan vicar general and moderator of the Curia and pastor of Corpus Christi Parish, Chatham Township; and other priests for their presence at the Mass.

“Today, we join in the Eucharist in praying for each other, affirming each other and recognizing the gifts that we share with each other and with our people — our Church,” Sister Joan Daniel said.

Among the religious at the reception afterward was Sister Joanne Marie Beirne of the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell. Today, she serves at Caldwell University in the Newark Archdiocese, which her community runs. There, Sister Joanne tutors students and enjoys watching the university’s basketball teams play.

Yet Sister Joanne spent most of her 50-year ministry in the Paterson Diocese. She had served at St. Mary Parish, Wharton, as a teacher and in religious education; St. Virgil, Morris Plains, in youth ministry and as a teacher; Resurrection Parish, Randolph, as youth minister and pastoral associate; St. Anthony Parish, Butler, as a pastoral associate, who helped start its Hispanic ministry and worked with the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and pre-Cana marriage preparation; and St. Theresa Parish, Paterson, where she worked with the Girl Scouts and an orphanage. She also served in Connecticut and in the Princeton area.

“I also worked as a camp nurse and an archery instructor, so there’s nothing I didn’t try,” said Sister Joanne, who entered the Dominican community in Caldwell in 1968, after she came to love the Dominican Sisters as a student at St. Aedan School, Jersey City, and as a camper at St. Vincent DePaul summer camp at St. Anthony Parish, Butler. “God provided me with people and situations in my life that made me feel fulfilled. I never thought that I would do the things that I have done. God provided the path, where I met interesting people,” she said.

Also celebrating at the reception was oldest jubilarian in attendance, Sister of Charity Emily Marie Walsh, who was marking 80 years in religious life. Now retired, she helps in St. Ann Villa, a home for infirm sisters, and at the motherhouse, both located in Convent Station, where she entered the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth in 1938. Sister Emily met the Sisters of Charity, while a student at Our Lady of Lourdes School, Montclair. She served as a principal and teacher in many schools in the Newark Archdiocese and ministered to the sick.

“I admired the sisters and wanted to be like them,” Sister Emily said. “I love children and enjoy forming them and teaching them. I also love to be of service to people. I’ve done things that I never would have done unless I was in community with the sisters,” she said.

In his closing remarks, Bishop Serratelli again congratulated the jubilarians, noting that “there is a grace and beauty that comes with age and also new life.”

“As many of our religious communities age, we should never lose our hope, because their roots are strong. Eventually, there will be new life by God’s grace and much prayer,” said Bishop Serratelli. “If there is a time when we need more women and more men in consecrated life, it is in our age and in our jaded world today. God never abandons his Church. He will raise up in answer to our prayers those who continue to work for your congregations,” he said.