News - August 2019 RSS Feed

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Matthew the Apostle Parish in Randolph on Aug. 25 to celebrate the 11 a.m. Mass for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. Concelebrating the Mass was Father Brian Quinn, pastor; Father John Rocco Calabro, Jr., currently studying at Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome; and Father Stephen Prisk, priest-secretary to the Bishop.

Our Lady of Fatima Parish (OLF) in Passaic welcomed Bishop Serratelli during his pastoral visit on Aug. 24 where he celebrated the 7 p.m. vigil Mass to mark the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. Concelebrating the Mass with Bishop Serratelli were Rolands Uribe, OLF’s pastor, and Father Stephen Prisk, diocesan vice-chancellor and the Bishop’s priest-secretary.

On Aug. 16, the jubilant strains of “Laudate Dominum” resounded throughout the Chapel of Mary Immaculate of the Sisters of Christian Charity in Mendham as two novices, Sister Paulina Navarro and Sister Graciela Colon, pronounced their vows in the Liturgy of First Profession. Bishop Serratelli officiated at the ceremony.

A small group of young people at St. Therese Parish in Succasunna put their backs into portraying the priests of ancient Israel, as they struggle to carry the Ark of the Covenant — a cardboard box covered with tan construction paper —only to encounter what seemed an insurmountable obstacle. In a corner of the church, they came to the Jordan River — made of two blue plastic tarps — and did not know how to cross its mighty current, until their feet touched the waters.

During a Mass on Aug. 21 to commemorate the 170th anniversary of the founding of the congregation of the Sisters of Christian Charity, Bishop Serratelli thanked God for these consecrated religious women, whose faithful example “can help us in turning away from our own thoughts and worries to see the love of God on the face of Christ crucified.” The Bishop served as main celebrant and homilist at the liturgy, which also marked significant anniversaries of eight sisters, held in the Chapel of Mary Immaculate, Mallinckrodt Convent, their motherhouse.

Despite the “worst emergency in the history of the Paterson Diocese to take place in one day,” Catholic Charities has vowed to continue its mission “to provide help and create hope for those in need including individuals in recovery” in response to a devastating fire at Straight and Narrow on Aug. 24.

A memorial Mass for Maryknoll Father Vincent R. Capodanno, U.S. Navy Chaplain, will be celebrated Sept. 4 in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C. on the 52nd anniversary of his death on a battlefield in Vietnam. We highlight this yearly memorial Mass because it gives us the opportunity to reflect on the heroic life of this priest. His story is one that should never be forgotten.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Clifton Aug. 17 where he celebrated the vigil Mass to mark the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Concelebrating the Mass with the Bishop was Father Jeider Barraza, parish administrator; Msgr. Patrick Scott, a retired priest of the Diocese, and Father Stephen Prisk, priest-secretary to the Bishop.

The parishioners of St. Thomas More Parish in Convent Station welcomed Bishop Serratelli during his pastoral visit. During the visit, he celebrated Mass marking the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Aug. 18.

Bishop Serratelli marked the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Our Lady of Victories Church in Paterson where he celebrated Mass on Aug. 15. The feast day observes the Assumption of Mary into heaven and it is a Holy Day of Obligation.

August brought much joy to the Salesian Sisters as 15 women either made or renewed their religious vows. Additionally, four women entered the interprovincial novitiate in Newton, entrusting themselves to the guidance of novice director, Sister Karen Dunn. The eastern United States and Canadian Province of the Salesian Sisters has experienced a strong growth in vocations, attributed to the efforts of the vocation office and the prayers and sacrifices of the sisters.

Lily Bogardus and her fellow fourth- and fifth-graders at St. Patrick School in Chatham made a fascinating discovery, after testing out a new toy — a plastic frog game — that they created on the school’s pre-k to eighth-grade student population: the younger children were able to master the game more quickly than the older children.

From his heroic efforts as the former captain of a U.S. Merchant Marine cargo freighter that saved thousands of Korean refugees to the quiet moments of prayer at a Benedictine abbey in Newton, the life of Brother Marinus LaRue is now being examined by a diocesan Tribunal panel as part of his cause for sainthood.

For their work for championing the pro-life cause above all in their lives, three people — Cheryl Holley, Marian Desrosiers and Chuck Donovan — were honored Aug. 5 at the 2019 People of Life awards for their contributions.

The parish community of St. Nicholas in Passaic welcomed Bishop Serratelli, who celebrated the vigil Mass for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time during his pastoral visit Aug. 10. The Mass was a bi-lingual English/Spanish celebration for the community.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Sacred Heart/Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Dover where he celebrated Mass in Sacred Heart Church for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Aug. 11. The Mass was a bi-lingual celebration in English and Spanish.

When people think of summer vacations, they think of exotic locations, tours through European cities, or the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore. But for a group of teens from the Catholic Heart Work Camp, their summer vacation meant cleaning homes, working outside and making a difference in the lives of those in need who are served by Catholic Charities.

Since the inception of the Paterson Diocese in 1937, St. John the Baptist, the titular of our diocesan Cathedral, has always been considered the patron saint of the Diocese. But, there are four other saints, Clement and Felicity, Urban and Claude, all early Roman martyrs, who might also make a claim as diocesan patrons. These four saints — two popes, a Roman maiden and a stonemason — are not well known and do not have any churches or chapels in the Diocese dedicated to them. Nonetheless, they have a substantial presence in the Diocese because the relics of these martyrs are imbedded in many of the altars of the Diocese.

A short ride on a small boat takes visitors across Lake Kinnelon to a tiny island in Kinnelon where, after 130 years, St. Hubert’s Chapel continues to make its presence known with a tall stone clock tower that rises up above the stands of lush trees that surround it on several sides. Yet its out-of-the-way location inside the Smoke Rise community here has been hiding the little-known but sizable Catholic legacy of tiny St. Hubert’s — the former private chapel of the wealthy Kinney family and the first consecrated Roman Catholic place of worship in Kinnelon in 1889.

The U.S. State Department’s newly released annual report on international religious freedom shows continued attacks and abuse by governments and societies against religious minorities, including Catholics, in many countries. Among the countries cited was Nigeria where “terrorist organizations Boko Haram and Islamic State-West Africa continued to attack population centers and religious targets.”