News - July 2018 RSS Feed

Diocesan Catholic Campus Ministry in Madison presented its annual Man of the Year and Woman of the Year awards to Joe Caceres, a leader in CCM at FDU, and Taylor Gudenkauf, president of CCM at FDU, during a Mass recently at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard, also in Madison. The liturgy marked the end of the 2017-18 academic year.

The Sisters of Christian Charity of the Eastern Province received an official “welcome home” to their new three-story Mallinckrodt Convent in Mendham July 19 during a ceremony which included a ribbon-cutting and a blessing and dedication by Bishop Serratelli, who also celebrated Mass in the building’s spacious chapel.

The Fifth Circuit federal appeals court last week permanently blocked an order that would have forced bishops in Texas to hand over private emails and other communications on abortion. The court’s decision stemmed from a suit filed by Whole Woman’s Health, an Austin, Texas-based abortion facility chain, which sued the State of Texas in 2016 over a state law that required hospitals and abortion facilities to dispose of aborted human remains by burial or cremation, rather than in a landfill or the sewer, as had been previously allowed.

The clock read 7:05 a.m. Undaunted by the early hour, Father Philip-Michael Tangorra, a priest of the Diocese of Paterson, was fully alert to tackle a deeply spiritual question by the co-host of a Catholic radio show in Ohio: “How are we called to sanctify all aspects of our lives through the Crucifixion?”

The warm and generous multicultural faith community of St. Bonaventure Parish in Paterson celebrated 140 years of welcoming in the strangers among us from the surrounding neighborhoods and beyond and also reaching out to help the poor of Paterson.

Within minutes of President Trump’s announcement July 9 that he would nominate Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court, came the hues and cries of opposition to his choice. Immediately, the Democrats marshalled the troops with their scare tactic that if Kavanaugh sat on the Supreme Court, it would mean the end of Roe v. Wade and abortion on demand.

Christopher Brancato has been appointed as the develop­ment director of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Paterson. The appointment, which was effective July 1, was announced jointly by Scott Milliken, Catholic Chari­ties Chief Executive Officer, and Msgr. Herbert Tillyer, president of the Board of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Paterson.

For the 32nd consecutive year, teens from the youth ministry program at St. Patrick Parish in Chatham are traveling to Rowlesburg, W.V. to repair homes for families in need. This summer time mission began in 1986 following a flood that devastated Appalachia. The mission trip to help those who live in extreme poverty there was started by three teenage parishioners of St. Patrick’s and has continued since as a highlight of the youth ministry experience. That initial trip, now named Appalachia Help Week, annually connects Chatham to West Virginia.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Bernard Parish in Mount Hope on July 1, where he served as main celebrant and homilist of the 10:30 a.m. Mass for the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time.

At various times in his life, Father Peter Clarke, president of Morris Catholic High School in Denville, has walked with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, patron of Catholic schools and the first U.S.-born saint, in his faith, vocation and pursuit of higher education. Before becoming a priest, Father Clarke attended St. Peter Parish in Manhattan, where Mother Seton converted to Catholicism in 1805. Years later, as a priest in Catholic schools in the Diocese, he was inspired to pursue a doctorate in educational leadership at the College of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station, named in the saint’s honor and operated by the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth.

About 150 members of the St. Lucy Province of the Religious Teachers Filippini gathered at their Motherhouse, Villa Walsh, for a convocation from June 28 to July 3, where they were privileged to receive fresh perspectives on their charism, mission and history, which started with their founder, St. Lucy Filippini. Guided by the theme, “A Summons for the Time that Is Ours,” the convocation also included liturgies and spirit-filled presentations that gave the Filippini sisters a renewed sense of hope in moving forward.

Given today’s political climate in our nation and abroad, most of us would be hard pressed to come up with the name of a single politician we admire enough that he/she should be considered for sainthood. But Giorgio La Pira, the mayor of Florence from 1951 to 1965, was not like any of the politicians of our day and age.

On average, more than 3 million people are expected to visit the U.S. Capitol in Washington each year. Some of these people will go through the Cannon Tunnel, an underground walkway that connects the U.S. Capitol with the Cannon House Office Building — the oldest congressional office in the country. In that tunnel, there are hundreds of pieces of artwork that are created by high school students. One of those pieces of art belongs to 2018 Pope John XXIII Regional High School graduate Alyssa Talon.

A barbecue for seminarians of the Diocese of Paterson was held June 26 on the grounds of St. Bonaventure Parish in Paterson. Joining the seminarians were Bishop Serratelli; Father Kevin Corcoran, the Bishop’s priest-secretary; Father Edgar Rivera, diocesan vocations director; Father Vidal Gonzalez Jr., assistant vocations director, and Father David Monteleone, assistant vocations director, as well as Father Brando Ibarra, who helped in providing the food.

The N.J. Employee Assistance Professional Association (NJ EAPA) selected Father Alan Savitt, CEAP, LCADC, M. Div., a retired priest of the Diocese of Paterson, as the Riley Regan Addiction Professional of the Year recipient. The award is presented annually to the New Jersey substance abuse prevention and/or treatment professional who consistently demonstrates extraordinary efforts, compassionate outreach and ongoing advocacy services on behalf of individuals and family members struggling with addiction issues.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in Morristown on June 30 to serve as the main celebrant and homilist of the 5 p.m. vigil Mass for the Feast of the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome. During the liturgy, the Bishop conferred the Sacrament of Confirmation on 60 young men and women of St. Margaret’s and also young men of Delbarton School, which is operated by the Benedictine religious community, both in Morristown.

Most young men might have been more concerned with keeping the flame lit. During his freshman year at Delbarton School in Morristown, Derek Lattmann accepted the honor of carrying one of four candles that surrounded the Blessed Sacrament for a procession. On route, this life-long member of St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish, Chester, did not seem overly worried about his duties as keeper of the flame. Instead, his thoughts centered on something deeper — reflecting on the great power of the Eucharist and hearing God’s call to the priesthood for the first time.

A group of Catholics at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization in Madison recently got to meet two famous figures of the early Church: St. Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas — not personally but on a theological, historical and academic level. These enthusiastic faithful learned, among many facts, that Albert, a university professor, had mastered several academic disciplines, while Thomas, also an academic, wrote “Summa Theologica,” a massive compendium of the Church’s theological teachings.

Everyone knows I am a big sports fan. So, it was with great interest that I read “Giving the Best of Yourself” — the very first-Vatican document focusing on sports. It was released by the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life released last month by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the dicastery’s prefect.