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Bishop Kevin Sweeney made a pastoral visit on July 23 to St. Joseph’s Health in Paterson where he celebrated Mass in the chapel. Afterward, the Bishop met with administrators and staff members and thanked the healthcare workers for serving on the front lines during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Bishop Kevin Sweeney made a pastoral visit to Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Pompton Plains July 27 where he celebrated Mass to mark the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time. During the visit, the Bishop blessed high school graduates of the parish, members of the Class of 2020, who attended the Mass.

The parish community of St. Matthew the Apostle in Randolph welcomed Bishop Kevin Sweeney during his pastoral visit July 25 where he celebrated the vigil Mass for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Launched last March as churches were required to close due to social distancing guidelines, the Diocese of Paterson official Facebook page has helped many connect with news of the Paterson Diocese amid the coronavirus pandemic. The faithful are invited to “like” or follow the page to stay in touch with many events happening around the Diocese.

Studying mechanical engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark was the perfect fit for Stephen Delia Jr. of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Stirling — or so he thought. After all, he has an aptitude for math and for all things mechanical — forever trying to figure out how machines and devices work.

With input from three prominent Catholics who live, work and worship in the Diocese, the Leadership Roundtable has published a new report that offers key recommendations on finances, governance and accountability to national Church leadership, dioceses, parishes and Catholic organizations.

What is the meaning of this “Chrism Mass” that we celebrate today? Many of us here and those united in prayer via livestream — priests, deacons, seminarians, religious, lay leaders, catechists and others — are very familiar with the meaning and significance of this Mass. It may feel somewhat “strange” that we are celebrating the Chrism Mass in July, rather than during Holy Week, but this is 2020 and we know that so much is different this year and we are thankful for the opportunity to be here, taking care for the health and safety of all. As it happens, we are also celebrating this Chrism Mass on the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, the faithful disciple and witness of the Resurrection, and patron saint, of penitents and perfumers.

This year’s annual Chrism Mass celebrated in the Diocese of Paterson was marked by a series of firsts: the first Chrism Mass celebrated by Bishop Kevin Sweeney and the first ever to be celebrated in July due to the COVID-19 pandemic due to the closure of churches during Holy Week, the usual time for the Chrism Mass to be held.

Bishop Kevin Sweeney made a pastoral visit to St. Mary Help of Chris­tians Parish in Paterson where he celebrated the two vigil Masses July 18 to mark the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

For the first time in his episcopacy, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney will preside over the ordination of two men to the transitional diaconate during Masses on different dates in their respective home parishes. This is their final step before being called to be ordained as priests of the Diocese next year.

Five men will be ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson at 9 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 1 by Bishop Kevin Sweeney. The Class of 2020 will be the first in Bishop Sweeney’s episcopacy. The ordination Mass will be livestreamed on the Diocese of Paterson’s website, www.rcdop.org. During the Rite of Ordination, steeped in the rich traditions of the early Church, he will ordain five men of diverse backgrounds and life experiences as priests.

Teens at St. Matthew the Apostle Parish in Randolph did not necessarily come with a lot of experience in the skills of power washing, staining, painting and landscaping. But they came with heart and a willingness to learn last week to tackle outside jobs at four houses of elderly members of the parish and at the church like pros. Some of them even demonstrated calm under duress in dealing with a scary situation not in their job description: the appearance of a 300­-pound black bear at one of their work sites in the Morris County town.

Affirming the dignity of all persons, no matter what race or creed they may be, parishioners of St. Lawrence Parish and fellow community members gathered July 15 at the church in Chester for an outdoor prayer service for racial healing in the country amid the recent protests for racial justice across the nation.

A few days after a violent mob tore down the statue of St. Junipero Serra in San Francisco, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone held a prayer service at the base of where the statue once stood. “Evil has made itself present here. So we have gathered together to pray for God to ask the saints...for their intercession, above all our Blessed Mother, in an act of reparation, asking God’s mercy on us and on the whole city, that we might turn our hearts back toward him,” the archbishop said.

One day, the history books will have a chapter about the year 2020. Students will learn and study about the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected all nations of the world causing an unprecedented number of deaths and infections never seen since the Spanish flu in the last century. One area that the pandemic has had an especially profound effect on was education. Worldwide, students continued to learn, not in a classroom but in their own homes to help control the spread of the disease.

At Blessed Sacrament Church in Paterson, eight children received First Holy Communion July 11. The Sacrament was administered by Father Ray Orama, pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish, on July 11. First Communions and other Sacraments were delayed in the spring months in the Diocese due to state mandates imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic that closed churches. Confirmation candidates at Blessed Sacrament Parish will receive the Sacrament this weekend.

Bishop Kevin Sweeney made his first pastoral visit to St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison where he celebrated Mass for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time July 12. The young adult community at the Diocese’s evangelization center hosts the 11 a.m. Sunday Mass. It was livestreamed on social media for the faithful to view at home. During the Mass, Joseph Mactal, diocesan seminarian, who will enter his fourth year of theology in the fall, was installed as an acolyte by Bishop Sweeney.

So much about the ordination/installation Mass of Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney as the eighth bishop of Paterson on July 1 at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson reminded Father Cesar Jaramillo about his own ordination to the priesthood three years earlier. That afternoon, Father Jaramillo, parochial vicar at St. Peter the Apostle Parish here, served as one of the many concelebrants of the historic liturgy for Bishop Sweeney wearing the same cassock and alb that he wore at his own ordination in 2017. In the cathedral, he heard a hymn that played at his first Mass: “Pescador de Hombres” (or “Fisher of Men” in English). Father Jaramillo and the new bishop even share the same ordination anniversary date — July 1 — which the young priest and four of his classmates celebrated with a Mass and reunion lunch on July 7.

Like any typical afternoon, traffic on Ringwood Avenue bustled along on July 11 to the purring of cars and roaring of motorcycles that passed by St. Francis of Assisi Church in Haskell. Signs on the front lawn of the church alerted motorists to what the noise of the road prevented them from hearing but God could hear loud and clear: a group of 30 people in front of the church praying the rosary for the sake of America.

This year has been especially difficult for students of all ages in our Diocese — from kindergarten to seniors in high school. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the lives of students in a way that no one has ever experienced. This issue of The Beacon pays tribute to the Class of 2020 — a group of graduates who deserve high praise for their perseverance and pluck.