Bishop reflects on his life

MADISON  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.

Bishop Serratelli talks about his lengthy retirement process and some of his greatest accomplishments as Bishop of Paterson — including the creation of St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization in Madison and the $14.7 million renovation of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson — in a three-part video series, “Speaking of Faith.” Father Paul Manning, St. Paul’s executive director and diocesan vicar for evangelization, interviews the Bishop, who also reflects on the joys and challenges of being Catholic.

The first of the 15-minute episodes debuted on May 4 with the second airing on May 11 at 7:30 p.m. and the third to air on Monday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m. After each segment airs, it is available to watch on the Vimeo video streaming platform under “Speaking of Faith with Bishop Serratelli.”

“At St. Paul’s, we used to have a series called ‘Speaking of Faith’ — informal interviews with people from all walks of life, asking them to spontaneously reflect on their conception of God, their life of faith and the integration of faith into their work and their lives,” Father Manning said during the interview. Their exchange was taped on May 1, when Bishop visited St. Paul’s to celebrate a livestreamed Mass for the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. “We thought it would be fitting, as his tenure as our ordinary draws to a close, to have a similar conversation with Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli, the Seventh Bishop of Paterson,” the priest said.

In the first segment, Bishop Serratelli talks about the process of waiting after he submitted his retirement letter to Pope Francis on his 75th birthday, April 18, 2019, as mandated by Church law. A few months later, Rome replied saying, “We received it. Remain bishop until we find somebody to replace you.”

A few days before his 76th birthday, he received a call. “They told me that I could resign but in the same breath, that I’ve been named Apostolic Administrator, which means that I am continuing to do all the work I did before and continuing to run the Diocese like before until the actual date that the new bishop takes over,” Bishop Serratelli said in the interview.

In that first episode, Bishop Serratelli talks about growing up in a “tight-knit family” in Newark and his call to priesthood at 6 or 7, attracted by the “Eucharist, saying Mass and offering Christ to others” — and by the examples of his parish priests. He also talks about his early priesthood for the Newark Archdiocese, including teaching at Immac­ulate Conception Seminary in South Orange and later being ordained an auxiliary bishop for Newark in 2000.

Of his major accomplishments as Bishop of Paterson, Bishop Serratelli highlights St. Paul’s, which he dedicated as the diocesan evangelization center in 2010.

“As important as the Sunday homily is in seven minutes, it’s not possible to give everything that people need today. They — young people, married couples, doctors and lawyers — need a deeper appreciation [of the faith]. I always dreamed of a place like this,” said Bishop Serratelli in the second segment.

Then, Bishop Serratelli highlighted another accomplishment: major renovations to the Cathedral, which he rededicated in 2017. This major project was precipitated by the partial ceiling collapse in St. John’s, he said.

“We had such cooperation from priests and the laity to accomplish it. It was the Diocese coming together and proving its greatness by refashioning our Mother Church into a beautiful cathedral,” Bishop Serratelli said.

In the second segment, Bishop Serratelli speaks about the joys of being bishop: continuing to administer the Sacra­ments, especially the Eucharist, and fulfilling his role as teacher. During his tenure, he taught courses at St. Paul’s in its Certificate in Catholic Evangelization, which he helped establish; wrote weekly columns for The Beacon, which garnered an award from the Catholic Press Association, and wrote three books about Catholic spirituality and theology. In the interview, he also speaks of his work for the Church on national and international levels.

Reflecting on his life in the second segment, the Bishop said, “I learned never to say ‘no’ to God, who’s asking you. His plans are better than ours. Maybe there are certain things that I did not want to do but I was asked to do them and I did them. God leads you where he wants.”

Also in the second segment, Father Manning asks Bishop Serratelli broader questions about the faith, such as “What’s the biggest blessing of being a Catholic?”

“It’s that the Church offers Christ in his totality. We have the guidance of the Holy Spirit to know that we are receiving teachings that Jesus gave to the world in their fullness. The means of grace that he has left for the world — we have all those means at our disposal,” Bishop Serratelli said. “It’s also that we belong to a wider community than just our local parish or local family and that we are part of the great mystical Body of Christ that is both here on earth and in heaven and purgatory.”

Bishop Serratelli told Father Manning that the biggest challenge for Catholics “is how to witness to the faith in such a way that it attracts people to Christ.” We need to “mirror those values and virtues that Christ taught us” with joy, “so that others seeing them, say, ‘This is the way to happiness,’ ” he said.

Later, Father Manning told The Beacon, “In retrospect, Bishop Serratelli seems proud of some of the things that he was able to do and grateful for the way that God has used him for all these years. But I imagine that he is relieved to put the burden down.”

Reflecting on the “Speaking Faith” series, Bishop Serratelli said, “In this time of confusion and difficulty, it’s great to look back at the accomplishments by so many in the Diocese. When I look back, I realize that I did a lot but now I’m ready to step back.”