News - October 2019 RSS Feed

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson held its first praying of the Rosary for Life before the 11:30 a.m. Mass in English on Oct. 27. Bishop Serratelli, who served as main celebrant and homilist of the liturgy during his pastoral visit to the cathedral, joined participants in the rosary.

Serving a vital role for helping those in need in Dover and surrounding areas of Morris County, Hope House, a Catholic Charities agency under Catholic Family and Community Services (CFCS), has a new home, centrally located in the downtown part of the city. To celebrate this new location, a blessing, rededication and ribbon cutting was held Oct. 25 at 101-103 Bassett Highway in Dover, Hope House’s new address.

A blessing ceremony for the gravestone of Bishop Frank J. Rodimer, the sixth bishop of the Diocese, was held in Calvary Cemetery, the diocesan cemetery in Paterson on Oct. 25. The date of the ceremony would have been Bishop Rodimer’s 92nd birthday. Bishop Rodimer died last Dec. 6. He served the Paterson Diocese as its bishop for 26 years and was a priest for 67 years.

Patrick Smart, a junior at Delbarton School in Morristown, seemed most fascinated to learn about the stages of development of an unborn baby: a heartbeat by three weeks; arms legs and mouth by four weeks; brain waves by six weeks; and all his or her organs by eight weeks. Like many of the 300 Catholic high-school students, who attended a pro-life rally on Oct. 25 at Morris Catholic High School in Denville, Smart, 16, knew that they would be praying for life and be reminded that all human life is sacred, because all are made in the image and likeness of God.

When Father Brendan Murray, pastor emeritus of Sacred Heart/Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Dover, retired this past summer, he moved to Nazareth Village, the retired diocesan priests residence here. He was drawn to the idea that the unique retirement facility offered him a place to live independently while still helping at local parishes and at the same time, to live in fraternity with his brother priests.

It was heartening to see the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) and the National Catholic Bio­ethics Center (NCBC), whose Director of Educa­tion, Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, is a regular columnist in The Beacon, respond to a misleading statement from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Physicians for Reproductive Health that abortion can be medically necessary when some issues occur during pregnancies. Its problematic statement read: “There are situations where pregnancy termination in the form of an abortion is the only medical intervention that can preserve a patient’s health or save their life.” The CMA and NCBC were quick to point out the fallacies in this statement stating that they each recognize the obligation to treat both patients, the mother and the unborn child, when a life-threatening pathological situation arises during pregnancy.

On Oct. 20, World Mission Sunday (WMS) was marked by the universal Church with Pope Francis leading the celebration at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. In the Diocese, the annual World Mission Sunday celebration took place at St. Gerard Majella Church in Paterson with Bishop Serratelli as the main celebrant and homilist.

Fifty-seven members of the Permanent Diaconate celebrated significant anniversaries during a Mass with Bishop Serratelli on Oct. 18 at St. Peter the Apostle Church, Parsippany. Priests from the parishes that the deacons serve concelebrated the Mass with the Bishop, who was the main presider.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Our Lady of the Holy Angels Parish in Little Falls where he celebrated the vigil mass for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time on Oct. 19.

The serious crises that the Church faces today — from dwindling numbers of faithful to the sex-abuse scandal — might also signal a “moment” now in its history to inspire Catholics around the world to help heal and renew the wounded Church. This historic inflection point also can inspire the faithful to take stock — and promote — all the good that the Church has done to enrich humanity and, through the power of the Eucharist, to help the Church continue to enrich the world by becoming forces for good in their own lives.

Tiffany Sheppard of Clifton had to wait a few more anxious hours on Oct. 2 to receive her new, life-saving kidney. That day, the organ, harvested from a donor in Utah, got stuck in traffic from the airport in New York City on the way to St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston for her long-awaited transplant surgery. No worries, though — that special delivery, the fresh kidney kept cold in a cooler, finally made it to the hospital by mid-morning for the chronically ill Sheppard.

The mournful bagpipes set the tone in commemoration for the deceased Diocesan firefighters at the annual Diocesan Firefighters Red Mass Oct. 15 celebrated by Bishop Serratelli and priests from around the Diocese, many who are chaplains for local fire and police departments. In its fifth year of celebration, the Mass was held at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson for the first time ever with firefighters from local departments in attendance. Father Luis Alberto Hernandez, parochial vicar of the cathedral, delivered the homily.

The canonization of St. John Henry Newman Oct. 13 in Rome during Respect Life Month had an amazing tie-in to one of the miracles attributed to him that led to his sainthood. Melissa Villalobos first heard about Cardinal John Henry Newman, on a show about him on EWTN “just by accident” in 2000, while she was getting ready for work. “I was really taken by it and I thought, ‘This man is so amazing,’” she told Catholic News Agency.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Rose of Lima Parish in East Hanover and named Father Maciej Kranc as pastor of the parish during the vigil Mass marking the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time on Oct. 12. Father Kranc had served at St. Rose of Lima as parochial vicar before being named administrator earlier this year.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Our Lady of Pompei Parish in Paterson Oct. 13, where he served as main celebrant and homilist of the 10:30 a.m. Mass for the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time. After Mass, he blessed a new prayer garden behind the church, which encourages people to “pray for an end to abortion, for women in crisis, for the healing of men who lost fatherhood and for women who are suffering trauma,” according to Father Frank Agresti, pastor. At the garden’s center is a statue of Our Lady Help of Christians with the Christ Child.

Two years ago on World Mission Sunday, Pope Francis called for Extraor­dinary Missionary Month to be observed during October to foster greater awareness on those evangelized throughout the world because of the sacrifices made by missionaries. “This missionary mandate touches us personally: I am a mission, always; you are a mission, always; every baptized man and woman is a mission. People in love never stand still: they are drawn out of themselves; they are attracted and attract others in turn; they give themselves to others and build relationships that are life-giving,” he said. “As far as God’s love is concerned, no one is useless or insignificant. Each of us is a mission to the world, for each of us is the fruit of God’s love.”

Bishop Serratelli has decided to rewind salvation history back to the beginning in teaching his latest Scripture course by taking students on a dive deep into the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, which throughout, he said, depicts man’s “gradual upward movement to Jesus” as their Savior. Students hung on every word of Bishop Serratelli’s on the night of Oct. 8 of the first lecture of his new Scripture course, “Pathway through the Pentateuch,” at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard in Madison.

Without priests, there would be no Mass and without the Mass, there would be no Eucharist for the faithful to receive. This is a situation faced by many Catholics in mission lands where receiving the Eucharist is often rare. Fortunately, in the Paterson Diocese in the past decade and a half, almost 90 men have been ordained to the priesthood, ensuring the mission of Christ will continue for generations to come.

The Evangelium Vitae Medal is given by the University of Notre Dame to champions of the pro-life movement. The announcement Oct. 6 during Respect Life Month that the recipient of this cherished award would be Vicki Thorn, founder of Project Rachel and executive director of the National Office of Post-Abortion Reconciliation and Healing, is deserving of applause from the entire pro-life movement.

On Oct. 4, Filipino Americans came to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson to celebrate two saints — St. Lorenzo Ruiz and St. Pedro Calungsod — during a Martyr Mass that has become a tradition in the Diocese. Bishop Serratelli concelebrated the Mass along with several priests from the Diocese.