News - October 2016 RSS Feed

Election Day is around the corner. But there’s still time for Catholics to not only to read the U.S. Bishops’ statement, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.” (http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/faithful-citizenship/) but to also make a pre-election novena to Mary, the Immaculate Conception, who is patron of the U.S.

The sounds of bagpipes pierced the morning air Oct. 18, alerting the faithful to the start of a solemn Mass in St. Gerard Church here for the Diocese’s second annual Fallen Firefighters Mass where 72 brave firemen who lost their lives in the line of duty were remembered.

At the Department for Persons with Disabilities (DPD) in Oak Ridge, every life is valuable and has purpose. This belief is reflected through the more than 100 clients, the Diocesan Catholic Charities agency serves. For the last 50 years, the DPD has provided loving support for adults with developmental or intellectual disabilities — persons who are often among the most marginalized in society.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Annunciation Parish in Wayne and celebrated the vigil Mass for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time on Oct. 15. During the visit, the Bishop also administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to young people of the parish.

This past Sunday, the Church marked World Mission Sunday and Pope Francis and Catholics around the world prayed for missionaries who leave their homes to travel and live in faraway lands to spread the Gospel. World Mission Sunday (WMS) honors these missionaries who are dedicated to teach all nations about Jesus in some of the poorest regions and even the most dangerous places around the world.

Our Lady of Pompei Parish (OLP) in Paterson, which has been called a “jewel in the city” and a “tight-knit family of faith,” celebrated its centennial Oct. 16. On that day, Bishop Serratelli was main celebrant and homilist of the 10:30 a.m. Mass to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of OLP as a parish.

St. Paul Church here is now handicapped-accessible ensuring access for all to the Clifton parish. Bishop Serratelli visited the parish Oct. 9 and celebrated Mass for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time. During the visit, the Bishop blessed the new elevator, which goes to the parish hall of the church, where many parish meetings and social functions are held.

If bees and butterflies could speak, they would be all abuzz and aflutter about the latest place for them to get their pollen while they forage for food this fall along the suburban landscape of Madison. You might never guess where these winged insects can find such a great natural bounty: St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Evangelization Center at Bayley-Ellard in Madison.

An ad-hoc committee recently formed at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison with the mission to help the Paterson Diocese spread the message of Pope Francis’ groundbreaking encyclical, “Laudato Si’— that everyone bears a responsibility to protect the Earth and care for our fellow man — into meaningful local action in such possible areas as ecology, environmental education and social justice.

It’s game time! Catholic men need to get in shape spiritually, undergoing a transformation of their souls to get ready for the competition of all eternity — evangelizing to others about the faith with the mission of crossing the goal line of a heavenly sort by helping to bring souls to the saving power of Christ. That’s the urgent directive that inspired more than 200 men from the Diocese and beyond during the first Men’s Conference in the Church of Paterson held Oct. 15 in the auditorium of St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison.

Two years after Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich was beatified, Bishop Serratelli dedicated and blessed a new shrine in her honor for public veneration at the Holy Family Chapel of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth in Convent Station Oct. 16. The Blessed Miriam Teresa Shrine is located in an alcove, 10 feet wide and five feet deep that once accommodated a confessional in transept of the Holy Family Chapel.

One in four women and one in seven men will be impacted by domestic violence in their lifetime. With so many households being affected domestic violence could be considered an epidemic. Sometimes, those who serve the church — priests, religious sisters and lay ministers — are the first responders to domestic violence as victims share with them what is happening in their homes. October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Dennis Butler, chief human resources/compliance officer for the Paterson Diocese, is addressing the issue.

The State Assembly Appropriations Committee released Assembly Bill 2451 that would make assisted suicide legal in New Jersey on Oct. 6. This bill should have the full attention of every Catholic in the state. Each and every one of us should take appropriate action immediately to see that it never becomes law.

It was a moment of mercy for more than 500 Hispanic Catholics of the Paterson Diocese as they joined together to celebrate the Jubilee Year of Mercy during a diocesan convocation held at St. Mary’s Assumption Church and the diocesan Shrine of St. John Paul II at Holy Rosary Parish, both in Passaic. The Spanish-language event included prayer services, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, an outdoor procession and presentations.

Bishop Serratelli visited St. Cecilia Parish in Rockaway Oct. 2 to dedicate and bless the new renovations to the interior and exterior of its church — a summer-long project that brightened up the worship space with the painting of the walls, cleaning the floors and ceiling, refurbishing the choir loft and adding interesting spiritual design details, such as new statues of St. Patrick and St. Mother Teresa, that are designed to enrich the experience of churchgoers.

Construction that began in July has been moving ahead of schedule on two new $3 million wings to the mausoleum at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa. This major project will add more than 7,000-square feet to the existing building and create 1,034 mausoleum spaces on the sacred ground of the more-than-170-year-old historic cemetery.

Bishop Serratelli celebrated 8 a.m. Mass Saturday Oct. 8 at St. Joseph Parish here and served as the guest speaker at the parish’s Com­munion breakfast following the Mass. The Bishop talked about “Humor in Religion.” Diane Quaglia, who works on St. Joseph’s social media pages, said, “The Bishop shared with us how humorous Jesus actually was. It was very interesting to learn about Jesus in this way.”

After he administered the Sacra­ment of Confir­mation to the young people of St. Joseph Parish in West Milford Oct. 2, Bishop Serratelli blessed the Father Mychal Judge, O.F.M. Memorial, located in the St. Joseph’s Cem­etery.

Last May, Bishop Serratelli ordained 10 men to the priesthood for the Paterson Diocese in St. Philip the Apostle Church, Clifton, ensuring the mission of Christ will continue for generations to come. The Diocese has been blessed to have had 75 men ordained as priests in the past decade, and to have 55 men studying for the priesthood in seminaries around the country and abroad, with five seminarians studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

When the pope’s prayer intentions are focused on what you do for a living, it’s a very humbling experience, pointing to the fact that you should be motivated to always speak the truth in love. That’s the message we want to share with all of our fellow journalists — religious or secular— because Pope Francis has dedicated the month of October to praying for journalists — specifically that their work would always be motivated by ethics and the truth.