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Dr. Timothy Flanigan worked to combat the deadly Ebola outbreak of 2014. If someone asks him, “Is it safe for me to go to Mass?” Flanigan has one answer: “Are they following the guidelines the CDC has provided us to decrease the risk of transmission?” In his view, it is the wrong question to ask whether it is safer to go to Home Depot than to go to church.

At first, Rose Robayo of Our Lady of the Lake (OLL) Parish in Sparta thought that a daily commitment to 30 minutes of reading, praying and journaling on Sacred Scripture might take up too much time. Nevertheless, Robayo devoted herself to a half-hour each day of praying and writing her reflections in a journal — her “homework” each week as a member of “Abide in Me,” a spiritual direction program that offers prayer and support for wives of candidates studying to be permanent deacons of the Diocese, who will be ordained in 2023.

At the Paterson Adult Day Center located in Governor Towers in Paterson, the sounds of a piano fill a room with songs of yesteryear. A wave of memories and nostalgia flashes to the minds of the 120 seniors who enjoy daily activities and socialization at the center with their peers living in their golden years.

When Bishop-elect Kevin Sweeney is ordained and installed as the eighth Bishop of Paterson on July 1 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, the Brooklyn native will be standing on the shoulders of a distinguished line of previous bishops of who have left their marks on the Diocese. One of them was Bishop James Navagh, the fourth Bishop of Paterson, known as a “builder of many buildings and teacher of young priests” who had a “missionary heart” and a profound influence on the future sixth Bishop of Paterson, Frank Rodimer.

These days when Carlos Roldan, director of the food pantries of diocesan Catholic Charities, heads to work and drives past the Father English Center on Main Street in Paterson, there are 35 to 45 people in line waiting for food. By 9 a.m., when the doors open up, that line has grown to 150 people. At the days end, 1,000 bags of food will have been given to people in need. This has been the new normal for the Father English Center and the other food pantries operated in the Diocese by Catholic Charities during the pandemic.

The Paycheck Protec­tion Program (PPP) under the CARES Act was an emergency loan measure to help eligible small businesses and non-profits with 500 employees or lesss. Under the Small Business Association (SBA), these loans kept employees on the payroll during the pandemic with the specific understanding that the loans could become grants. If a business was affiliated with a larger national organization under existing SBA rules, then it would be counted together with the larger organization and all its affiliates.

Socks, a towel, some oversized clothes. These sound like items for the laundry but for one day, they became something more. They were essential things around the house that made a virtual field day possible. Every spring at Assumption School in Morristown, the students look forward to its annual field day filled with friendly competitions of three-legged and potato sack races. Keeping up with this tradition even during this time of social distancing with school buildings closed, Assumption School still hosted the field day.

All Saints Academy in Parsippany is home to a faculty, staff, and student body that has embraced the distance eLearning platform. Founded in 2009 as a merger of the former St. Peter the Apostle and St. Christo­pher schools, both located in Parsippany, All Saints Academy is AdvancEd accredited, and was the first elementary school in the Diocese of Paterson and Morris County to become a nationally-certified STEM school.

Arlene Sullivan, a Wayne resident and visual/graphic arts teacher at Morris Catholic High School in Denville, delivered 200 transparent medical masks to facilities in need this past week. Masks were given out to Wayne healthcare workers in Care One, thanks to the request of Gary Marchese, a volunteer, and to Preak­ness Healthcare Center/William Paterson University testing site, thanks to County Freeholder John Bartlett.

Becoming clean and sober is a complex journey for a person battling addiction, but imagine the road to recovery compounded by a global health crisis. This is the experience of the clients of Straight and Narrow (SN) faced with the opioid epidemic while in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. This agency of Catholic Charities continues to help many men and women during this critical time with its medical departments working around the clock for both outpatients and inpatients.

Father Francis Conde looks like some kind of modern-day knight, when all suited up from head-to-toe in his “armor” of sorts — shoe coverings, gown, gloves, face shield and hairnet. It takes three minutes for the priest chaplain to put on this medical gear — his Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) — which he needs today to keep him safe when ministering directly to COVID-19 and other patients in St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson.

Bishop Serratelli, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Paterson, has announced that the date of the ordination/installation of Bishop-elect Kevin Sweeney of Brooklyn as the eighth Bishop of Paterson will be on Wednesday, July 1.

On the 100th anniversary of the birth of St. Pope John Paul II on May 18, also the first day public Masses resumed throughout Italy, Pope Francis offered his morning Mass in the chapel of the saint’s tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica. The legacy this Pope who became a saint left to us is undoubtedly unprecedented in the more than 2,000-year history of our Catholic Church.

Bishop Serratelli celebrated Mass on Mother’s Day to mark the Fifth Sunday of Easter in the chapel of St. Paul Inside the Walls, the Diocese’s Evangelization Center in Madison on May 10. The Mass was livestreamed for the faithful to watch on Facebook. Mother’s Day marked the eighth week since public Masses have been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. Following Mass, the Bishop led the annual diocesan May Crowning ceremony and placed a crown of fresh flowers on the head of a statue of Mary.

On Good Shepherd Sunday, May 3, some parishioners of St. Joseph Parish in Mendham got a personal visit from Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Father Andrew Burns, parochial vicar at St. Joseph’s, brought the Blessed Sacrament to parishioners’ homes and, maintaining social distancing by staying in the street, blessed families on porches, driveways, and front yards.

It’s mid-May and the faithful of the Diocese, still under self-quarantine, are eager to press “fast forward” — to return to Mass and other activities at their parishes and to welcome Bishop-elect Kevin Sweeney, who is expected to be ordained and installed in the coming months as the eighth Bishop of Paterson. Meanwhile, the now-retired Bishop Serratelli, currently serving as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese until Bishop-elect Sweeney’s ordination/installation, took some time to press “rewind” on his life in a new video series — happily looking back on his childhood, priestly life and accomplishments in his almost 16 years as the seventh Bishop of Paterson.

May the Lord and Our Blessed Mother bless you, your families, and all those who are sick. I am praying for our heroes — the hospitals and healthcare workers, doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists, ambulance drivers, pharmacists, and those who work in pharmacies, police officers, firefighters, supermarket and restaurants employees, and those who are dedicating their lives to save others — as they battle the coronavirus and bring care to the desperately ill patients.

Staff and parishioners of St. Lawrence Martyr in Chester carefully placed a statue of the Blessed Mother in the back of a pickup truck on May 10, Mother’s Day, and took her on a journey through Chester Township, Chester Borough and beyond. They were on a mission: to give parishioners, who are sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, an opportunity to honor and pray to Mary on this special day.

Among some of those the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic are veterans, who are particularly vulnerable to both health and economic difficulties. Many veterans at risk are facing homelessness, lack of adequate health care and delays in receiving financial support. Amid the pandemic, diocesan Catholic Charities’ Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Program has continued to assist those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces and their families.

It is deeply disturbing that the Little Sisters of the Poor again find themselves in court defending their community against attempts to force this religious order to violate their conscience. The Supreme Court of the United States began hearing oral arguments May 6 in the case of Little Sisters of the Poor v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Other states have joined this suit against the Little Sisters including California, and sadly, New Jersey.