News - December 2019 RSS Feed

In anticipation of Christmas, Filipino Catholics in the Diocese celebrated their tradition of novena Masses celebrated Dec. 15 to 23, known as “Simbang Gabi,” which translates to “Masses of the Night." Bishop Serratelli took part in the celebration at St. Anthony Church in Passaic Dec. 17 as the principal celebrant of the Mass.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Jude Parish in Budd Lake where he marked the Fourth Sunday of Advent by celebrating the vigil Mass on Dec. 21. At the Mass, the last candle of the parish’s Advent wreath was lit.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit Dec. 22 and celebrated Mass in Spanish for the Fourth Sunday of Advent at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Paterson. At the Mass, the Bishop blessed a new statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Father Eider Reyes, pastor, concelebrated the Mass.

Shining a spotlight on the work of the Bishop’s Annual Appeal (BAA) and the tremendous impact of the gifts made by so many throughout the Paterson Diocese, the diocesan development office published its first quarterly electronic newsletter, IMPACT, which is now available on the Diocese website, www.dop.org. In addition, parishioners can subscribe to the quarterly newsletter and receive it by email.

Some 80 Catholics from around the Diocese were reminded about Advent as a time of waiting for Jesus, the Light of the World, to come at Christmas. They huddled outside St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Dio­cesan Center for Evangelization in Madison on Dec. 8 at night to pray and sing to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Spanish and English, while —appropriately — holding lit candles. They gathered for the Diocese’s second-annual observance of “Noche de Las Velitas” or “Night of the Little Candles” — a widely-celebrated event in Colombia.

Rocco Zappile has been appointed as Catholic Charities’ first Chief Financial Officer in the organization’s 80-year history by the Catholic Charities Board of Trustees.

If you want to know what Santa’s workshop looks like in the North Pole, it probably looks like a room full of toys, household goods and clothes for those of all ages. That was the sight as Diocesan Catholic Charities staff members sorted through gifts for some 10,000 people at the St. Pope John Paul II Center in Clifton in the days just before Christmas.

The rain held out Dec. 14 in the skies above Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa long enough for Angelica Alva, 15, to get the honor of placing a wreath at the grave of her great-uncle, Jose Cruz of Paterson, a U.S. Army veteran who died in 2016. Afterward, Alva, of St. James of the Marches Parish, Totowa, and members of her family crowded around to read Cruz’s headstone, which displays a photo of him in uniform, and his foot stone in front, which shows his military rank: SP4, a specialist.

Another new year is less than a week away. For most of us these last few days of the year are times when we reflect on what we accomplished (or not) in 2019 and what positive changes we would like to make in our lives in 2020. We look at Jan. 1, 2020 as a new beginning and as a time for a fresh start in our lives. However, when we look back on the year that is in our rear-view mirror, we find that some problems we vowed to fix in 2019 still remain with us.

Families and friends came together at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa for its annual lighting of the Tree of Remem­brance Dec. 7 to honor their loved ones who passed away. The Christ­mas tree in the mausoleum of the cemetery is adorned with photos, keep­sakes and other ornaments. Msgr. Geno Sylva, rector of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist led a prayer service before the lighting. Holy Sepulchre is the parish cemetery for the cathedral.

Jenna, a young girl, finishes stuffing a small brown-haired teddy bear that she made and places it on a large table in McKenna Hall of Our Lady of the Lake (OLL) Parish here, piled high with even more bears. Before letting go, Jenna gives the bear a big hug — a touching send-off with love for the stuffed animal, destined for a young homeless or neglected child in need of a friend.

For a half-century, the Niederstrasser family, parishioners of St. Joseph Church in New Milford, has had a special global collection that reflects the true meaning of Christmas — a Nativity collection comprised of more than 400 sets from all corners of the world.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Our Lady of the Valley Parish in Wayne Dec. 15 where he celebrated the noon Mass for the Third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday.

Christmas is less than a week away. With celebration of the Birth of Our Savior so close, it is important that Catholics and all Christians take time out from our hectic holiday planning and focus on the real reason for the season. It is amazing how society has secularized the great feast of Jesus Christ’s birth.

Before the Vatican held its annual Christmas tree lighting Dec. 5, Pope Francis expressed hope that the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square will be a reminder to all of what Christmas is truly about. A Nativity scene “is a genuine way of communicating the Gospel, in a world that sometimes seems to be afraid of remembering what Christmas really is, and blots out the Christian signs to only keep those of a banal, commercial imagination,” Pope Francis said.

In the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson on Dec. 8, the Second Sun­day of Advent, the faithful from the Pater­son Diocese came together in celebration of the season of the anticipation of Christ’s birth for the annual diocesan Christmas Concert.

Waiting during Advent for the birth of Jesus at Christmas gives way to an even greater “waiting in joyful hope” within Catholics through faith that opens the door to “authentic hope” in God’s saving work through us that transforms the world and in accepting his gift of redemption in the next life. That was what Benedictine Abbot Elias Lorenzo, president of the American Cassinese Congregation, told priests of the Diocese on Dec. 4 at an Advent Day of Recollection for Priests at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangeli­zation at Bayley-Ellard in Madison.

On the morning of Dec. 14, 2012, an urgent phone call came in to Jenny Hubbard, asking that she come to her daughter Catherine Violet’s school, Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. With reports of a gunman in the school, Hubbard huddled with other frantic parents on a street corner nearby, waiting for news and pleading with God, “If you bring Catherine home, I will be your faithful servant.” But tragically, Catherine, age 6, never made it home — the victim of a shooting that left 28 people dead. Hubbard told her story on Dec. 7 at this year’s diocesan Women’s Conference held at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard in Madison.

The frosty air is here signaling the coming of winter and as the colder temperatures hit, many children in the inner city are in need of a warm coat. Responding to that need, Knights of Columbus councils from around the Diocese joined together at the Bishop Rodimer Center at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson Dec. 8 to hand out winter coats to children in the cathedral parish’s religious education program through the Knights’ Coats for Kids program.

Young people who feel unworthy about the vocation to which God might be calling them, might empathize with Jeremiah in the Old Testament. When the Lord first called him to become a prophet of ancient Israel, he responded by telling him, “Not me!” Bishop Serratelli told young people at a vocations-awareness event on Nov. 18 at Morris Catholic High School in Denville.