Priest Jubilarians Mark Anniversaries

PARSIPPANY  On June 5, Bishop Serratelli gave thanks to God for his generous gift of priests to serve the Diocese and for the spiritual gifts that the Lord has given to them to help them perform their ministries during the annual Jubilee Mass for Priests, held this year at St. Peter the Apostle Church here. The Mass honored 22 diocesan and religious order priests, who are serving or have served in the Church of Paterson and who are marking the 65-, 60-, 50-, 40-, and 25-year anniversaries of their ordination.

As sunlight streamed in through the stained-glass windows of St. Peter the Apostle Church, Bishop Serratelli served as main celebrant for the 11 a.m. Mass. In attendance were dozens of concelebrating priests, including Bishop Emeritus Rodimer, Benedictine Abbot Richard Cronin of St. Mary’s Abbey, Morristown, the jubilarians and many fellow clergy, who came in support. Bishop Serratelli also led them in the renewal of their priestly vows. Also filling St. Peter’s were religious and laity to help the jubilarians celebrate their significant milestones. Celebrating his 50th anniversary, Msgr. Herbert Tillyer, St. Peter’s pastor and president of the board of directors of diocesan Catholic Charities, offered reflections on the priesthood in his homily at Mass. In it, he told his fellow priests, “We are blessed in our vocation.”

“We gather with joy today with our priests to celebrate the great gifts given to them. Among them is God’s faithfulness to the priests in their serving others ‘in persona Christi’ (‘in the person of Christ’). These priests have been faithful to God. For this, we celebrate this Eucharist in thanksgiving,” Bishop Serratelli told the congregation in his opening remarks at the start of the liturgy.

During the Mass, Father Richard Bay, pastor of St. Simon the Apostle Parish, Green Pond, and master of ceremonies for Bishop Emeritus Rodimer, read the names of the jubilarians. Those honored priests in attendance responded with “present.” Celebrating 65 years is Father Edward M. Davey. Marking 60 years are Benedictine Abbot Brian H. Clarke, Franciscan Father Charles Finnegan and Father Richard G. Rento. Marking 50 years in addition to Msgr. Tillyer are Msgr. Louis J. Bihr, Msgr. Felipe Carvajal, Father John A. DeMattia, Msgr. Martin McDonnell, Father William J. Mooney, Benedictine Father Hilary C. O’Leary and Franciscan Father Edwin F.D. Robinson. Celebrating 40 years are Father John T. Connolly, Father Martin G. Glynn, Father Michael D. Lombardo and Father John F. Tarantino. Marking 25 years are Father A. Richard Carton, Father Timothy Dowling, Benedictine Father Edward Seton Fittin, Jesuit Father Steve Pugliese, Father Antonio Rodriguez and Msgr. Eugene (Geno) R. Sylva.

In his homily, Msgr. Tillyer told the story of his meeting a mother of a family while he and other faithful were making a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City recently. The Spanish-speaking family approached the priest, asking him to bless the woman, who had been diagnosed with stomach cancer a few months before — even though he told them that he did not speak their language. Through a translator, Msgr. Tillyer told the woman that he too is a cancer patient, he said.

“I was so privileged in that moment. I blessed that woman with all of my heart and as I was doing it, I was looking directly ahead at Our Lady of Guadalupe. I said to myself, ‘That’s why God brought me here this week to be here — to meet this woman and to meet her family.’ They went away knowing that ‘Padre Herbert’ from the United States had blessed this woman,” Msgr. Tillyer said. “My brother priests, every one of us could come up here and speak of similar experiences that we have had often in our priesthood — things that we had not expected, opportunities that we were not looking for. All of a sudden, God puts us there or puts somebody there for us so we can be a priest for that person or to that family. We are blessed in our vocation,” he said.

Also, Msgr. Tillyer acknowledged, “There may be times in your priesthood and mine, where we seem to be in a dark corner, going up the wrong road some way or faltering.” But he assured his fellow priests that “the Lord is patient with us. He never leaves us. He is always saving us. For this, we are so grateful.”

“My brother priests, strive to be conformed to the image of Christ himself — the ‘alter Christus’ [‘another Christ’] — and be constant witnesses of faith and love,” Msgr. Tillyer said.

Toward the end of the Mass, Bishop Serratelli led the congregation in reciting the Prayer for Vocations. In his closing remarks, he thanked Msgr. Tillyer for his decades of dedicated service to the Diocese. The priest has served as St. Peter’s pastor since 1994, but has held many positions on the diocesan level. They include vice chancellor; vicar general, and president of Catholic Charities board of directors.

“I want to thank so many of you for coming today to see the church filled with so many good priests, so many zealous priests. That is indeed a great encouragement,” Bishop Serratelli told the congregation and the priests. “Only a Church united can stand against the secularism, agnosticism and indifference that we face as missionaries of the Gospel. So being united in the priesthood and united in charity is a great source of life for the Diocese of Paterson. Many thanks to all of our priests,” he said.

One of the 25-year jubilarians, Father Richard Carton, was ordained in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Paterson, on Nov. 27, 1993 by Bishop Rodimer. He has served as pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Stirling, since 2011.

“What I love about being a priest is having a relationship with Christ and the Sacraments. I also love being involved with his people in times of great joy and sorrow. We priests are blessed to be sources of encouragement for God’s people. In turn, they are great sources of encouragement to us. At the center is Christ,” he said.