News - August 2018 RSS Feed

Bishop Serratelli has announced that relics of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina will visit the Diocese for public veneration on Thursday, Sept. 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Parsippany to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his death. The historic event will conclude with a Mass at 7 p.m. in honor of St. Pio, to be celebrated by Msgr. Herbert Tillyer, St. Peter the Apostle’s pastor.

Campbell Chapman jumped at the rather daunting challenge: Try to save a life in two minutes. Well, it was really the “life” of a simulation dummy patient used for practicing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck. Regardless, Chapman, a freshman honors student at Morris Catholic High School (MCHS) here, stayed focused for the entire 120-second task. She stood over an operating table and tried to administer as many life-saving chest compressions as possible, while several fellow students — her competitors — looked on. In the background, a smartphone blared an iconic 1970s disco hit to help Chapman keep compressing at the correct pace, while also offering up some comic commentary to the otherwise serious activity: “I Will Survive.”

Bishop Serratelli served as the main celebrant and homilist of the Mass, which opened the annual diocesan Summer Gathering of New Religious at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard in Madison on Aug. 23.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit on Aug. 26 to Our Lady Queen of Peace (OLQP) Parish, in the Hewitt section of West Milford, where he served as main celebrant and homilist of the noon Mass for the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time. At the Mass, the Bishop named Father Kamil Stachowiak, OLQP’s administrator, as the parish’s pastor.

The faith community of St. Clement Pope and Martyr Parish in Rockaway Township welcomed Bishop Serratelli on his pastoral visit Aug. 25. The Bishop served as main celebrant and homilist of the 5 p.m. vigil Mass for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. Concelebrating the Mass was Father Rick Hardy, St. Clement’s pastor.

Most parents can relate to trials and tribulations of Lindsay Schlegel of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Stirling, who a while back, found she was frustrated, yelling at her children to complete simple tasks for the millionth time. Worse, the busy mother noticed that her kids were imitating her less-than-ideal behavior.

Carl Anderson, the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, has called for repentance, reform and rebuilding of the Church in a letter issued to his organization’s chaplains and brother knights. Anderson wrote his letter Aug. 21 in response to the Pennsylvania grand jury report on abuse claims and reports of a cover-up by some Church leaders and the allegations of past abuse and other sexual misconduct made against Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick

When it comes to pro-life issues, Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) is always in the forefront of his fellow members in Congress in fighting to end any taxpayer funds being used to provide abortions. This month, he and 101 other congressmen sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar requesting new regulations to enforce the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) requirement that insurers participating in the ACA marketplace must collect a separate payment, or “abortion surcharge” if the plan covers elective abortion.

The faith community of St. Stephen Magyar Parish here welcomed Bishop Serratelli who served as main celebrant and homilist of the 10 a.m. Mass for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time on Aug. 19.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit on Aug. 18 to St. John Vianney Parish in Stockholm where he served as main celebrant and homilist of the 5 p.m. vigil Mass for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit on Aug. 15 to St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Clifton to serve as main celebrant and homilist of the 10:45 a.m. Mass for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Holy Day of Obligation.

Generosity almost seems genetic throughout the immediate family of Ivannia Vega-McTighe, coordinator of the diocesan Office of Catechesis in Madison — from her great-grandparents, grandparents and parents and down to her two daughters. Per­haps that long legacy of love and kindness also runs from the branches of Vega-McTighe’s extended family over generations that includes a possible saint-in-the-making: María Isabel Acuña Arias (Niña Marisa), known for her short but charitable and prayerful life in their native Costa Rica.

Bishop Serratelli has announced that relics of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina will visit the Diocese for public veneration on Thursday, Sept. 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Parsippany to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his death. The historic event will conclude with a Mass at 7 p.m. in honor of St. Pio, to be celebrated by Msgr. Herbert Tillyer, St. Peter the Apostle’s pastor.

Three people who consistently answered the call of the Gospel of Life were recently honored with the 2018 People of Life awards. The awards were presented to Janice Benton, a proponent for disability rights; Msgr. Joseph Ranieri, an advocate for post-abortion healing; and the late James Hanson, who campaigned against medically assisted-suicide.

As heavy rains pelted Rockaway and the rest of northern New Jersey last weekend, the love and mercy of God came pouring down on faithful in St. Cecilia Church, Rockaway, who had taken the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the message of and the devotion to Divine Mercy, during a “Mercy and Mary Retreat” here from Friday, Aug. 10 to Saturday, Aug. 11. The 380 Catholics from St. Cecilia’s and beyond gave a celebrity welcome to the leader of the retreat, Marian Father of the Immaculate Conception Michael E. Gaitley, a noted author, who encouraged them to spread the Divine Mercy message far and wide to a world filled with suffering and sin.

Bishop Serratelli has issued a decree that brings together and strengthens two distinct and dynamic parishes in Dover by canonically merging Sacred Heart Parish, an Anglo population, and Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, a Spanish-speaking faith community, into one parish, which took effect yesterday, Aug. 15, on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The new unified parish is now called “Sacred Heart and Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church,” although each individual church building will retain its original respective name.

Most of us know that the crime of human trafficking is rampant around the globe, but think it’s not so much of a problem in the United States. But that’s just not the case. A new global report has found much higher rates of modern-day slavery here than previously believed — with the report stating that as many as 1 in 800 Americans is currently a victim of human trafficking.

Teens from across the United States who were taking part in a Catholic Heart Workcamp (CHWC) and were housed at Mary Help of Christians Academy in North Haledon, immersed themselves in working at various agencies of Catholic Charities in the Diocese during their stay during the last week of July.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Mary Parish in Dover Aug. 5, where he served as main celebrant and homilist at the 11:30 a.m. Mass for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Concelebrating the liturgy were SOLT Father Derek Anderson, St. Mary’s pastor, and SOLT Father Patrick Prajzner, St. Mary’s parochial vicar.

Parenthood can be a noisy business, and for a group of Catholic dads in Morris County the pre-dawn hours offer the quiet needed for restoration and reflection on their vocation as fathers. The N.J. chapter of the Fathers of St. Joseph meets for silent prayer and discussion every other Saturday morning in the parish office at St. Cecelia’s Parish in Rockaway.