News - November 2015 RSS Feed

When you gather 23,000 teenagers in one place, what do you get? Turn on some live and upbeat music by popular Catholic musicians, and you get singing and dancing. Bring in a dynamic speaker, and you find inspiration filled with applause. Host Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and you experience complete silence, total reverence and prayer as young people worship Jesus Christ.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Holy Rosary Parish and the diocesan Shrine of St. John Paul II in Passaic where he celebrated the vigil Mass for the Solemnity of Christ the King Nov. 21. During the visit, the Bishop administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to young people of the parish.

Joseph Spada of Summit Financial Resources Inc., Parsippany, will engage in a conversation about the intersection of faith, work and life during the next Speaking of Faith dialogue event at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 9 at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard in Madison.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Cecilia Parish in Rockaway Nov. 22, which is the usual feast day for St. Cecilia and celebrated Mass for the Solemnity of Christ the King.

Luz Maria Ramirez had never picked up a pastel crayon to create a piece of art and had never used a sewing machine to make a quilt before coming to the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women. The young mother, who walks to the center a few times a week, decided to take up the classes being offered, not realizing her potential talent.

St. Christopher Parish in Parsippany plans to celebrate and promote a greater understanding of God’s infinite love and mercy — especially among young people — on Dec. 5 during “Mercy Rocks,” which will examine the Lord’s gift of mercy through two much-anticipated events in the universal Church — the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which starts on Tuesday, Dec., 8, and World Youth Day 2016 — and its ever-expanding devotion to Divine Mercy. This dynamic event, which is set for 6:30 p.m. in St. Christopher Church, combines several forms of worship and devotion — Eucharistic Adoration, Benediction, veneration of religious relics and a procession — with other activities, such as witness talks about faith and vocation and a performance by a contemporary Christian musical group.

Assumption Parish in Morristown will welcome Vince and Monica Frese on Wednesday, Dec. 9 as they share their personal experiences of God’s mercy through the difficult periods of their individual divorces and then subsequent marriage to each other during their presentation, “Experiencing God: Mercy after Divorce” at 7 p.m. in Assumption’s community room.

On Thanksgiving Day, we leave aside our fast-food routines. We find the time to dine together and to enjoy each other’s company. What a blessing! A family that dines together stays together. A nation that sits at table together, blessing and thanking God, remains united and strong.

The battle to uphold our religious freedom in our nation as guaranteed by first amendment to the U. S. Constitution is being fought on many different fields — and now even on the football field.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Patrick Church in Chatham Nov. 8 and celebrated the 9 a.m. Mass for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Right now, Sebastian Ruiz, a freshman at DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne and a parishioner of St. James of the Marches, Totowa, said that he remains “kind of in between,” when thinking about his eventual vocation: either the priesthood or married life.

How well do you think you understand the statements of faith in the Creed that you recite at Mass every Sunday such as our belief as Catholics in the Communion of Saints? An eager group of parishioners from St. Therese in Succasunna have been asking themselves that very question, while also examining many statements or phrases in the Nicene Creed, during an eight-week faith-formation series on Friday mornings, called Faith Fridays.

If only one word could be used to describe the group homes of diocesan Catholic Charities Department for Persons with Disabilities (DPD), “family” would be the word. Just a single visit to a DPD group home would show the loving family environment that is evident every day of the year.

As Thanksgiving Day approaches, a day when families gather together to share a festive meal and give thanks to God for all their blessings, Pope Francis recently intimated that the true meaning of the holiday meal needs to be replicated over and over at the family dinner table.

The following reflection was submitted by Dr. Mary Mazzarella, the Medical Consultant for the Cause of Miriam Teresa Demjanovich. It certainly was an honor and a privilege for me to be the medical consultant for the cause of Beatification and Canonization of the then Servant of God, Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich SC.

At the annual Silver and Gold Mass, 115 couples from parishes around the diocese celebrated their 25th and 50th anniversaries at St. Mary Church in Denville Nov. 8. Many of the happy husbands and wives were accompanied by generations of family to witness this joyous annual occasion in the Diocese.

Bill Eberle was still a young man in his 20s, but his strong sense of duty drove him always to remember — and then follow — that most important rule, while serving as a member of the Swiss Guard at the Vatican from 1949 to 1952.

In recognition of their efforts on behalf of the poor and marginalized, Diocesan Catholic Charities honored five people with Caritas awards for Advocacy, Service and Convening at its annual Caritas Gala held Nov. 7 at the Birchwood Manor in Whippany.

Bishop Serratelli installed Father Peter VB Wells as pastor of Our Lady of the Valley and Holy Cross parishes, both in Wayne, at the noon Mass Nov. 1 in Our Lady of the Valley Church.

The rules and laws of nature and science make no room for tolerances in fields such as chemistry with its precise formulas and mechanics with its exacting measurements. Likewise, we must seek to change the hearts and minds of people in a society that has grown more tolerant of the “culture of death” — and its promotion of the evils of abortion, doctor-assisted suicide and euthanasia — which defy God’s truth, natural laws and plans for our lives.