News - June 2022 RSS Feed

Diocesan Catholic Charities welcomed some 400 golfers at its 48th annual Wiegand Farm Golf Classic at Crystal Springs Resort in Hamburg June 20. Sponsored by Lakeland Bank, it was a record number for the golf outing that is one of Catholic Charities’ largest fundraisers.

On June 24, the Chancery staff gathered to honor six longtime employees, who will retire after serving the Church of Paterson faithfully for many years. These employees are Rosemary Donnelly, executive assistant of the Diocesan Clergy Personnel Office; Deborah Duane, associate superintendent of the Dio­cesan Schools Office; Barbara Fierro, executive assistant to Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney; Maria Nunez, administrative assistant in the Diocesan Vocations Office; Richard Sokerka, diocesan director of the Communi­cations Office and editor/general manager of The Beacon; and Joan Valk, diocesan director of Human Resources.

A new stained-glass window depicting the Visitation of Mary was blessed this past weekend at Holy Family Church here dedicated to all mothers. Frank and Barbara Tinari, co-chairs of the pro-life ministry at Holy Family Parish, sponsored the window of the meeting of the Blessed Mother and her cousin, St. Elizabeth.

Life is a gift that comes to us from God from the moment of conception. Our laws should protect the dignity and value of life at every moment from conception until natural death. That the Supreme Court has recognized that life begins at conception is an answer to prayer and is the beginning of a process of reclaiming our society’s respect for the fundamental dignity of every human person.

We the Catholic Bishops of New Jersey express our deepest gratitude for the United States Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. This decision ends a very dark chapter in American history and now is the time for our nation to move forward to heal wounds and social divisions.

After nearly 50 years, pro-life advocates serving as a voice for the voiceless in the womb at each March for Life in Washington D.C. in January, saw their efforts rewarded as the U.S. Supreme Court made its historic decision last week to overturn Roe v. Wade that had legalized abortion in 1973. The decision brought joy to the faithful from the Diocese who had traveled by the busloads in freezing temperatures and rain, sleet and snow to make the annual pilgrimage to Capitol Hill to defend life in the womb.

A few Catholic young men stretched every muscle as they scaled an indoor rock ­climbing wall at Camp Shiloh last Friday. Wearing safety harnesses, they grip ascending plastic rocks to get to the top of a 40-foot-high wall. Once there, they ring a bell proclaiming their accomplishment to a crowd applauding below.

June 24, the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, was a watershed moment in our nation’s history as the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in a decision that ends nearly a half-century of nationwide legalized abortion in the U.S. The decision not only overturned Roe, the landmark 1973 abortion case, but also Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992 decision that affirmed Roe.

Seven months ago (last November), I wrote about my experience at my first in-person meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and how impressed I was by a particular presentation given by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, and the chair of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities. Archbishop Nauman offered a presentation and update on a program (initiative) called Walking with Moms in Need.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney made a pastoral visit to St. Paul Church in Prospect Park June 19, where he was the principal celebrant of Mass marking the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. After the Mass, the Bishop led a procession with the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Prospect Park.

On June 12, young people of the Diocesan Shrine of St. John Paul II/Holy Rosary Church in Passaic received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney administered the Sacrament and also celebrated Mass marking the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity at the Polish-community parish.

It is a rather unsettling question: what fate awaits the souls of the saved — and the condemned — at the final judgment? Many Scripture passages paint a stark picture: from God sentencing unbelievers to be burned in a lake of fire for all eternity to Jesus separating the saved and unsaved like a shepherd separates his sheep. But perhaps Catholics might think about the Final Judgment like a giant lively party that lasts for eternity, Father Steven Shadwell, pastor of Our Lady of the Magnificat (OLM) Parish in Kinnelon, suggested in the third and final talk in his recent Chapel Chats series on June 16.

As the Diocese marks the Year of the Eucharist, the annual Hispanic Summer Institute was centered on the theme of the Eucharist, “the Source and Summit of the Christian life.” The institute was held from June 13 to 17 at the Pope John Paul II Center in Clifton in partnership with the diocesan Hispanic Ministry Office at the Evangelization Center at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison and St. Elizabeth Univer­sity in Convent Station.

The long road to greater racial justice in our communities starts with a simple step: “Making friends with people, who don’t look like you — white, black, and brown — and then sharing God’s love with them.” That hopeful message came from an African-American man who experienced racism as a child in the South — retired Deacon Frank Owens of St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish in Chester who spoke at an interfaith prayer service in Chester three days before the June 20 observance of June­teenth, marking the end of slavery in the U.S. on June 19, 1865. It officially became the 11th federal holiday on June 17, 2021.

In my more than three decades of work in the Catholic press, never have I used the term “domestic terrorism” with “the Catholic Church” in the same sentence. But the recent outbreak of targeted vandalism against Catholic churches, the fire-bombings of crisis pregnancy centers, Masses being interrupted, the illegal protests outside the homes of Catholic Supreme Court Justices, coupled with an assassination plot against one of them by pro-abortion fanatics upset by the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade are just that — acts of domestic terrorism.

It will depend on your perspective, whether you would say that 2003 is “recent history” or “a long time ago,” but, in 2003 St. Pope John Paul II (at that time affectionately known as “JP 2” or “the Holy Father”) wrote one of his many Encyclical Letters, entitled Ecclesia De Eucharistia. As we participate in a Diocesan Year of the Eucharist, I have tried to look back at some of Church’s teaching and the writings of the saints on the topic of the Eucharist. It was a wonderful experience to read (again?) St. John Paul’s Ecclesia De Eucharistia. While I remember its publication in 2003, I can’t remember if I read the complete document at that time. During the past week, I had the opportunity to read the letter slowly and prayerfully.

Msgr. Kenneth Lasch, a retired priest of the Paterson Diocese, marked the 60th anniversary of his priesthood ordination in St. Joseph Church in Mendham with the celebration of Mass June 12.

In his new book, Bishop Emeritus Arthur J. Serratelli reveals an array of insights about the Eucharist found in Scripture about the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish by viewing it the way a movie director looks at a scene: from multiple camera angles.

Pauline Marie Jaricot, founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, was beatified last month in her birthplace, Lyon, France, following recognition of a miracle attributed to her intercession. Attending the beatification was Mila Burdeos, diocesan mission director, who joined 120 national directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney installed 10 men of diverse backgrounds to the office of acolyte during a Mass on June 10 in St. Peter the Apostle Church in Parsippany. This is their last step before being ordained to the diocesan Permanent Diaconate in June 2023.