News - June 2021 RSS Feed

Despite daunting, unforeseen challenges, many parish religious education programs in the Diocese reported success in continuing to form their young people in the faith during the pandemic using virtual learning, according to a recent survey by the diocesan Catechetical Leaders Association (CLA) on June 15. On that date, the CLA held a meeting of parish Religious Education (DREs) and Coordinators of Religious Education (CREs) at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization in Madison.

Just one day after receiving her Confirmation, Valerie Mejia spoke to her peers sharing her wisdom about the Eucharist during the latest youth night with Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney held at St. Margaret of Scotland Church here June 20. “The holy Eucharist isn’t only the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ but it is also something precious that has led for me to get closer to God,” said Mejia, who is a youth member at St. Margaret’s. “When I was younger, it was always my dream to walk down that path and say ‘Amen’ to receive his body and blood.”

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to young people of St. Vincent DePaul Parish in Stirling June 19 at the vigil Mass marking the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The parish had 41 young people who were confirmed by the Bishop.

On the weekend of June 12 and 13, young people of the Diocesan Shrine of St. John Paul II/Holy Rosary Church in Passaic received the Sacrament of Confirmation. On June 12, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney administered the Sacrament and on June 13, Bishop Emeritus Arthur J. Serratelli administered the Sacrament.

At the end of their careers, most television, radio, or print personalities write poignant or flashy memoirs. They reflect on their past glory and bask in the sunshine of their admirers during retirement. At 90, Father John Catoir, a retired priest of the Diocese of Paterson, decided to write a different type of book as his legacy — and he has never officially stopped working.

Throughout the country, Religious Freedom Week is currently being observed as Catholics are urged by the U.S. Bishops to pray, reflect, and act to promote the essential right of religious freedom for Catholics and for those of all faiths. This year the theme is “Soli­darity in Freedom.”

The U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) overwhelmingly approved the cause for sainthood of “Servant of God” Benedictine Brother Marinus LaRue — a heroic mariner, during the Korean War and later, a humble and holy monk at St. Paul’s Abbey in Newton — during its June 16–18 2021 Spring General Assembly here.

This issue features The Beacon’s annual salute to graduates of our Catholic elementary and high schools. If you read the valedictorians’ addresses, a common theme is the freedom that these young men and women have to praise God for all of their and their classmates’ accomplishments and how much being disciples of Jesus has meant in their lives because of their Catholic education.

I thought and prayed about which topic to choose. In the end, I felt that I should go with the “both and” approach. I wish to share with you some reflections on my second meeting of the USCCB (U.S. Con­fer­ence of Catholic Bishops). I also believe it is important to mention the Feast of our diocesan patron, St. John the Baptist, on June 24.

It has been six months since Pope Francis announced, on Dec. 8, 2020, a Year of St. Joseph in honor of the 150th anniversary of the saint’s proclamation as patron of the Universal Church. Many, here in our Diocese and throughout the Universal Church, have made a consecration to St. Joseph. Along with many others, I have found the book, Consecra­tion to St. Joseph, by Father Donald Calloway, which offers a 33-day preparation for a consecration to St. Joseph, to be a very helpful tool, not only in making the consecration, but also in learning about and getting to know this great saint, the husband of Mary and earthly (or foster) father of Jesus.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney handed out diplomas to 16 kindergarten, eighth grade, and high school Catholic homeschool graduates during a Mass and graduation ceremony on June 13 at 3 p.m. in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson. Bishop Sweeney served as the main celebrant of the Mass and presided at the graduation ceremony, which included homeschool students from in the Diocese and beyond. Congregants also recited a family consecration prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The first-ever homeschool Mass and graduation grew out of the new Diocese of Paterson Homeschool Families organization.

Before sharing their faith with people of different religious beliefs, Christians first should cultivate with them a “spirit of fraternal love.” This could lead to genuine interreligious dialogue: when people of goodwill join with fellow seekers in a quest for the truth. That’s what Father Rocco Viviano, interreligious dialogue coordinator for the Xaverian Missionaries in Japan, told the audience on the final night of the eighth annual Benedict Summer Institute, held June 7–9, in St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization in Madison.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney officially installed Father Benjamin Williams as pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Oak Ridge June 13 during the Mass for the 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Father Williams also serves as pastor of St. Thomas’ sister parish, St. John Vianney in Stockholm, and is dean of the Western Morris Deanery.

A tank vs. a team and many times throughout the day on June 13, it was the team that won against an 80,000-pound tank mounted on a flatbed truck as participants filled with gratitude for veterans pulled the tank at the annual Tank Pull challenge on 1100 Clifton Avenue here. For more than a decade, the Tank Pull challenge — started by the St. Philip Knights of Columbus Council — has had a mission to support combat-wounded warriors.

The Office of Family Life of Paterson joins the other four dioceses in New Jersey this month in launching “The Joy of Love and Family Conference Series 2021” — an online “tool kit” of videos to encourage individuals and families to rely on their Catholic faith when facing the joys and struggles in many stages of life.

The rich history of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson began in 1820 with the creation of a parish church when Father Richard Bulger, a priest in then-New York Diocese, was assigned to serve Paterson and the growing number of Irish-Catholic immigrants living in the city. A year later St. John’s Church was built on the corner of Market and Mill Streets.

As you are reading this, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is in the midst of its annual spring meeting. The agenda includes deliberating and voting on nine action items, but there is one in particular that has garnered a ton of publicity and will be closely watched by Catholics: the approval of the drafting of a formal statement on the meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the Church.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney made a pastoral visit to St. Monica Parish in Sussex June 6 where he celebrated Mass to mark the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. During the Mass, the Bishop administered the Sacrament of Confir­ma­tion to young people of the parish.

At some point in a young person’s life, he or she is asked the question, “Where are you going in life?” The question at times can seem daunting to answer, especially when there is no direction or guidance available to that person. To help answer this age-old question for young men, the diocesan Vocations Office is offering high school students (including those who just completed eighth grade and high school) Quo Vadis, a one-day retreat on Friday, June 25 at Camp Shiloh in Hewitt.

Today the sunlight that streams into the worship space in St. Philip the Apostle Church in Clifton casts a new light — in a bright rainbow of colors — on the faith of the 77-year-old parish through a series of 13 new windows that tell a story of its patron saint, its history, and its mission etched in luminescent stained-glass images.