News - April 2017 RSS Feed

Over the years, St. Patrick Cemetery in the Hibernia section of Rockaway has been neglected. In 1910, St. Patrick Church, which maintained the cemetery, burned down and was never rebuilt. It was founded in 1865, reached parish status in 1881 and was closed in 1928. Hibernia is a Latin word that means Ireland. St. Patrick’s was the parish church of Irish and Hungarian immigrants who worked in the surrounding mines of the N.J. Iron Mining Company atop Upper Hibernia. The cemetery was established in 1869.

No matter where you live — whether it is right in the Paterson Diocese, a big city like New York or a small village in the Philippines — hearing the message about the dignity of life is one everyone needs to embrace. Corazon Puro (CP), which translates to English as “pure heart,” is an international chastity and pro-life ministry that brings the message of human dignity to the world. One of CP’s apostolates is the formation of youth and young adults in the truth and meaning of human sexuality in the light of Christ through the Theology of the Body teachings of St. John Paul II. CP has chapters around the world with its main offices in Paterson and the Bronx, N.Y.

The young people at St. Bonaventure Parish in Paterson received the Sacrament of Confirmation from Bishop Serratelli April 23, which marked Divine Mercy Sunday.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Jude Parish in Hopatcong April 22 where he celebrated the vigil Mass for the Second Sunday of Easter, marking the Feast of Divine Mercy. During the visit, the Bishop administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to young people of the parish.

Catechists, along with all other Catholics, need to speak openly about the rich theology, spirituality and morality of the Church but should also teach other people by emphasizing the main love story at the heart of the Gospels: God’s everlasting love for us — so absolute that he sent his only Son to die for us — and our love for him. As evangelists, we are called to share that central love story with the world and invite people into a loving relationship with God, the internationally renowned Catholic speaker and author Chris Stefanick told a large gathering of local catechists, parish ministers and staff of the Paterson Diocese on April 22.

This past Sunday, Catholics around the world marked Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast designated by St. Pope John Paul II in 2001, which is held on the Second Sunday of Easter. The feast is based on the diaries of a young Polish nun named St. Faustina Kowlaska and her encounters with Jesus, who presented himself to her as Divine Mercy during the 1930s.

It might have gone unnoticed because it happened on Holy Thursday, April 13, but pro-life leaders certainly did not miss its significance. It was on that date that President Trump signed a repeal of what pro-lifers called President Obama’s “parting gift to the abortion industry.”

Bishop Serratelli celebrated Mass on Easter Sunday, April 16 in St. Virgil Church in Morris Plains. Easter, the chief feast of the Church’s ecclesiastical year, commemorates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Bishop Serratelli presided at the Easter Vigil Mass at the Bishop Rodimer Center adjacent to the Cathedral of St. John in Paterson on Holy Saturday, April 15. The Easter Vigil began with the Light Service, which began outdoors with lighting of the Easter fire and the Paschal Candle. The Paschal Candle was carried into the darkened center as a symbol of the Light of Christ, a powerful reminder that Jesus is light in the darkness. Individual candles were lit from the Paschal Candle and by the time the procession reached the altar, the center was bathed in bright candlelight.

Bishop Serratelli presided at the celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, April 14, in Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Passaic. The solemn service begins with the Liturgy of the Word, including the account of the Passion and death of Jesus from the Gospel. The second part is the Veneration of the Cross, an ancient practice that allows each person to touch or kiss the Cross, the instrument of torture that leads to salvation.

Bishop Serratelli celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, April 13, in St. Jude Church, Budd Lake. The Mass commemorates the institution of the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Holy Orders by Jesus Christ. During the Mass, just as Jesus washed the feet of his Apostles at the Last Supper, the Bishop washed the feet of parishioners to symbolize the service and charity of Christ, who came “not to be served, but to serve.”

On Holy Thursday morning, April 13, part of the ceiling of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Passaic collapsed just as the parish staff was starting preparations for Holy Week’s Triduum. The ceiling on the left side of the church collapsed completely causing extensive damage and closing the church building until further notice.

John and Chris Groh, a senior citizen couple of St. Matthew the Apostle Parish in Randolph, talked fondly about how much they enjoyed taking with 16-year-old Hannah D’Olivera, a second-year Conformation candidate, during a recent afternoon at the church. They were impressed that the personable sophomore at Randolph High School plays the bassoon — and also did so on a recent trip to Europe with the high school orchestra.

When shy, timid women muster the courage to walk through the doors at the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women in the former rectory of St. Nicholas Parish at 153 Washington Place, their lives are changed for the good. It is not by some majestic happening but by the simplicity of what the Center stands for — a peaceful and safe environment for women who live in the inner city to grow.

When Neil Gorsuch was sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court last week, religious freedom advocates cheered. “As Catholics, we welcome a judge whose record adheres to the Constitutional right to free exercise of religion without government bullying and whose scholarship affirms the inherent dignity in all people,” said Ashley McGuire, senior fellow with The Catholic Association.

On April 5, Bishop Serratelli blessed and consecrated the $5.340 million renovation of both the interior and exterior of St. Vincent Martyr Church in Madison — an ambitious project that included the reconfiguration of the worship space to enhance the worship of the faith community. The Bishop called the 112-year-old stone Gothic Revival church “truly a house of God, where he lives and dwells and works among us in Christ.”

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Paul Church in Clifton April 9 where he celebrated the Palm Sunday Mass of the Lord’s Passion in Spanish.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Simon Parish here in Green Pond section of Rockaway April 9 where he celebrated Mass for Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. To mark the solemn occasion, Bishop Serratelli blessed the palms of the parishioners before they had processed into to the church at the start of the Mass.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist at the Rodimer Center in Paterson April 8 where he celebrated the vigil Mass marking Palm Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday. Palm Sunday begins Holy Week.

Bishop Serratelli was the homilist and main celebrant, with priests of the Diocese as concelebrants, at the Diocese’s annual Mass of Chrism April 10 in St. Philip the Apostle Church in Clifton.