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I remember my mom’s exuberance when Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected bishop of Rome. Here was the first pope of the Americas and the first from the Jesuit order. Certainly, change was afoot. But not only that. The new pope took the name “Francis!”

On Ash Wednesday, I drove by a church marquee on my way to Vernon that said, “What are you giving up for Lent for God?” Hmm, I thought. That’s odd. For those of you who make the daily commute on Route 515, you know the one I’m talking about. You can’t miss it because it’s situated where the road takes a sharp S-turn. You’d crash right into it if you didn’t stay on the road. It’s that classic outdoor church sign style with black lettering on white plastic. They’re all over the place. It’s an American religious tradition often taken for granted.

This will be my last issue as Editor/General Manager of The Beacon and as the Diocese’s Director of Communications. That was a difficult sentence to type. You have seen my face and read my editorials on this page each week for the last 32 years, but the time has come for me to say farewell and begin my retirement and my next journey in life.

As the new school year begins, there is no doubt that there is nationwide movement among parents to be more directly involved in their children’s education and to what is being taught to their children in schools. However, pushing back against parents are teachers unions, like the New Jersey chapter of the National Education Association (NJEA), which recently released a video on You Tube in which parents concerned about curriculum materials in classrooms are labeled as “extremists.”

It’s that time of year when the Major League baseball divisional races are winding to a conclusion that leads to the World Series and when the high school, college, and National Football League seasons begin. For most sports fans, there is no better time of the year.

Abortion is big business to N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy (D). He is not content with our home state already being the largest provider of abortions in Ameri­ca. He wants even more of them performed here because he sees abortion as providing an economic boon to the state. Being the No. 1 salesman for the culture of death in New Jersey, Murphy used his zealous pro-abortion message as a reason why businesses should relocate to New Jersey.

As a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, you will not hear many words of praise from me for the University of Michigan, our longtime archrival on the football field. However, news reports out of Michi­gan in the past few weeks have led me to stand up and applaud the actions of the university’s medical school and its head football coach for having the courage of their convictions.

In the coming days, the U.S. Senate will take up a vote on the so-called “Respect for Marriage Act,” which would codify same-sex marriage into federal law. On the surface, the name of the bill (H.R. 8404), which has already been passed in the U.S. House of Representa­tives, seems innocuous enough, but it is far from that.

This past Sunday, July 24, the Uni­ver­­sal Church marked the second World Day for Grand­parents and the Elderly. Estab­lished by Pope Francis in 2021, the observance is celebrated each year on the fourth Sunday of July, coinciding with the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s parents and Jesus’ grandparents, Ss. Joachim and Anne (Yes, Jesus had grandparents!).

Since the announcement of the Dobbs decision by the U.S. Supreme Court June 24, Catholic churches and their ministries, and crisis pregnancy centers that not only help women choose life instead of abortion, but also help women after their babies are born, have been the targets of unrelenting domestic terrorist attacks by pro-abortion zealots with no end in sight. None of these domestic terrorist attacks has yet to be condemned by the Biden Administration nor has the Department of Justice made a single arrest in any of these hate crimes.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that overturned a Maine law denying religious schools access to state tuition assistance available to students attending secular private institutions was a victory for students, parents, school choice advocates and, most importantly, religious liberty.

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.

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.

This Sunday, June 19, is an important date in the life of the Church in the United States. It is not only the date of the Feast of Corpus Christi, it is also the date when the National Eucharistic Revival will start. The Feast of Corpus Christi is the beginning of a three-year grassroots revival of devotion and faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, culminating in the first National Eucharistic Congress in the United States since 1975. The congress will take place in Indianapolis in 2024.

June 3 marked the 100th day of the war in Ukraine. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, since Russia’s invasion began on Feb. 24, 4,183 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, of whom 268 are minors. In addition, 5,014 people have been injured, including 427 minors.

As the Year of the Eucharist continues in the Diocese of Paterson and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Eucharistic revival begins on June 21, a highly acclaimed film, highlighting the transformative power of the Eucharist, will have an encore showing in theaters across the country on that date for one night only.

The news Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco announced May 19 that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) should not be admitted to Holy Communion in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, nor should she present herself to receive the Eucharist until she publicly repudiates her support for abortion, ricocheted off church bell towers nationwide.

In the wake of the bombshell leak of the opinion in the Dobbs case May 3, which indicates that Roe v. Wade will be overturned, the furor from pro-abortion activists and politicians continues unabated. Despite the mass hysteria from the abortion activists involved in vandalizing pregnancy centers and churches and their anti-Catholic bigotry, which is cheered on by their violent commentary on social media platforms, the pro-life movement remains resolute in protecting life in the womb and caring for pregnant women in crisis.

Watching the evening news over the weekend and seeing a video of police cruisers parked outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City with a reporter’s voiceover telling viewers they were placed there due to possible violent pro-abortion protests against Catholics attending Masses on Mother’s Day was both chilling and sad.

During a “kneel down” in a football game, a quarterback takes the snap from the center and takes a knee with the sole purpose of running out the remaining time on the clock to ensure a victory for his team. However, for Joseph Kennedy, a former assistant football coach at Bremerton High School, near Seattle, “kneel down” had a very different meaning.