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On this past Friday, May 20, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone issued a letter by which he communicated his decision that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not to be admitted to Holy Communion. Since the news story broke, I have received a number of emails and messages, mostly encouraging me to support the Arch­bishop’s decision. Two of the emails that I received directed me to (separate) articles referencing nine Bishops who have made public statements in support of Arch­bishop Cordileone’s decision. Here are the links to those two articles:

Traditionally, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord has been celebrated 40 days after Easter in keeping with the Scriptural reference in Acts: “He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). Easter is a moveable feast, being celebrated on a different date in March or April every year. But 40 days after Easter will always be a Thursday. For pastoral reasons, the Solemnity of the Ascension, which joyfully celebrates the completion of Christ’s work of redemption, can be transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter.

As we approached Mother’s Day, there was a line from the First Reading at Sunday Mass from the Acts of the Apostles that resonated with me more and more as the weekend progressed. On this past Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, which, this year, was “Good Shepherd Sunday,” World Day of Prayer for Vocations, and Mother’s Day, the last line of the First Reading told us, “… The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 13:52)

During the past two years, I would guess that the phrase “happy coincidence” has been used less frequently than in times before the pandemic. I was happy to realize that, in this year of 2022, there is a “happy coincidence” — that Mother’s Day, celebrated on the second Sunday of May, falls, in the Church’s “liturgical calendar,” on the Fourth Sunday of Easter. That means that on Sunday, May 8, we will celebrate both Mother’s Day and World Day of Prayer for Vocations. For almost 60 years, since 1963, the Church has marked the Fourth Sunday of Easter, often called “Good Shepherd Sunday,” as World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

When a child is presented for Baptism, parents are asked, “What name do you give your child?” After giving the name, they are asked, “What do you ask of God’s Church (for your child)?” They reply, “Baptism.”

During the course of Jesus’ revelations to St. Faustina on the Divine Mercy, he asked on numerous occasions that a feast day be dedicated to the Divine Mercy and that this feast be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter. The liturgical texts of that day, the Second Sunday of Easter, concern the institution of the Sacrament of Penance, the Tribunal of the Divine Mercy, and are thus already suited to the request of Our Lord. This Feast, which had already been granted to the nation of Poland and been celebrated within Vatican City, was granted to the Universal Church by Pope John Paul II on the occasion of the canonization of Sister Faustina on April 30, 2000. In a decree dated May 23, 2000, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments stated “Throughout the world the Second Sunday of Easter will receive the name Divine Mercy Sunday, a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that mankind will experience in the years to come.” These papal acts represent the highest endorsement that the Church can give to a private revelation, an act of papal infallibility proclaiming the certain sanctity of the mystic, and the granting of a universal feast, as requested by Our Lord to St. Faustina.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is the story known as the “Road to Emmaus” (Lk 24:13–35). This encounter with Jesus on Easter Sunday, “that very day” (v. 13), after he had risen from the dead, is all the more meaningful as we are participating in the Synod on Synodality and having a Year of the Eucharist. By means of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis is calling on the whole Church to reflect on the ways in which we “journey together” and the ways in which we encounter and listen to one another (and to the Holy Spirit) on our shared journey.

In this Lent of 2022, together with the whole Church, we are in the midst of responding to Pope Francis’ invitation to participate in the Synod on Synodality, listening to one another and to the Spirit, as we journey together. Respon­ding to our Holy Father’s invitation, we are reflecting on the ways in which we encounter and listen to one another and how that reflection, encounter, and listening can help us discern the way in which the Spirit is calling us to “be Church,” missionary disciples, the people of God, and community of believers.

On this past Friday, March 25, I was privileged, along with priests, deacons, seminarians, religious, and lay faithful throughout our Diocese, to join with Pope Francis and the universal Church in the Consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We continue to pray for peace in Ukraine and throughout the world. In the midst of all the challenges that we face on the global, national, local, and personal levels, both material and spiritual challenges, we can learn that there are times when “taking a break” from the seriousness of life and our struggles can actually help us to face and deal with challenges.

In the past three weeks, we have seen some very “dark days” for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and we can only imagine what some have suffered and are suffering at the present moment. In the midst of all the darkness and fear, the words of St. John’s Gospel, “the light shines in the darkness” have been very much on my mind, as we have seen the response of our Holy Father and the universal Church, along with nations and people of good will all over the world and the response of our own local Church here in Paterson.

On this past Saturday, March 12, I had the privilege to celebrate and preach at the “Pre-Parade Mass” at Assumption Parish in Morristown, on what was supposed to be the “return” of the Morristown St. Patrick’s Day Parade, after the parade had to be cancelled for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Good things come to those who wait” — while we celebrated the Mass, we will have to wait one more week to march in the parade, which was postponed to Saturday, March 19 (the Feast of St. Joseph) due to inclement weather.

I have not yet had the privilege to meet Pope Francis in person. I hope that I may have that opportunity sometime in the coming year (or years). Yet, without having met him in person, I feel that I have gotten to know him better, especially in the past year. I was somewhat surprised to learn, as I was preparing this column, that the first announcement of the Synod on Synodality was made on March 7, 2020, almost exactly two years ago. My first recollection of hearing about the Synod was in spring 2021. It turns out that the Synod, like so many other things, was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The documents for the implementation of the Synod, including a “Vademecum” (guidebook), were issued by the Vatican in September 2021. I hope that most readers of this column and most of the faithful in our Diocese have at least some sense that the Synod is taking place.

Less than two weeks ago, I would have thought that the spiritual focus for the season of Lent in 2022 could have been the Synodal process, which surely will be part of our Lenten experience. Here in our Diocese, we are also having a Year of the Eucharist and opportunities for Eucharistic Adoration and devotion can also help us on our Lenten journey. The Synod and the Eucharist will be part of our Lent in 2022, but, once again, we have been reminded that our focus sometimes has to change because of events beyond our control. As we are all now aware, a week ago, on Thursday, Feb. 24, Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the world’s attention has turned to the senseless violence and disregard for human life, especially to the innocent victims who have been killed and injured.

Welcome Home to Healing is the name of an initiative or program that has been offered in our Diocese during Lent for the last few years. It is an invitation to celebrate the Sacra­ment of Reconciliation during the season of Lent, especially by making the Sacrament available in every parish in the Diocese on each Monday night of Lent from 7 to 8:30 p.m. As we enter the season of Lent this year, I would like to take this opportunity to invite everyone to consider, perhaps in a new or different way, what it means to celebrate this “Sacrament of Healing.”

I hope that most of the readers of this column and most of the Catholics in our Diocese are aware that we are currently responding to an invitation from Pope Francis, given to the whole Church, to participate in the Synod on Synodality. I know that many parish delegates and others have been trained (prepared) to help us in this “Synodal process” of encounter, listening, and discernment and there is a great deal of excitement and enthusiasm for the Synod here in our local Church of Paterson.

Who was St. Valentine? Did he really exist? Is he just a legend? In this technological age of the internet, when we have questions such as these, it seems that all we need to do is “Google,” type in “St. Valentine” and see what comes up. The first option in my “google search” was an article from the History Channel entitled 6 Surprising Facts about St. Valentine. If you read that article, you will not only read six interesting “facts” (or informed historical opinions) about St. Valentine, but you will also have the opportunity to click on a separate article, entitled Who was the Real St. Valentine?

On Feb. 2, the Church marked the 26th World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life. Here in our Diocese we have a custom of celebrating the sisters, brothers, and priests who serve us through the vocation of Consecrated (Religious) Life in the month of May, when many are celebrating their jubilees and anniversaries. As I realized that the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life was approaching, I reflected on the many ways in which our Diocese is blessed by the presence, witness, and ministry of so many communities and congregations of vowed women and men religious, who, in their response to the Lord’s call, live out their particular charism and truly build up the Body of Christ in our midst.

From the first days that I began serving you as the Bishop of Paterson, I began learning about our Catholic schools. I had attended Catholic schools in my years of schooling. I learned from my brother priests in the Brooklyn Diocese about the schools in their parishes. Those initial experiences barely scratched the surface of what I have learned about Catholic schools in our diocese since I became your bishop.

On Jan. 10, the N.J. State Senate (by a 23–15 vote) and Assembly (by a 46–22 vote, with eight abstentions) passed a new law (S 49), called by some, the “Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act.” Gov. Phil Murphy signed that bill into law on Jan. 13. On Jan. 17, we marked, as a nation, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The law (S 49) that was passed by our state legislators and signed by our governor is a terribly unjust law, as it fails to recognize the “personhood” of an unborn child.

Once again, we approach the sad anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision on Jan. 22, 1973, 49 years ago, that legalized abortion throughout our country. When we think of the millions of innocent lives that have been taken over these past 49 years and the damage done to Moms and all those involved in the “abortion industry,” we must ask ourselves what this says about us as a society and nation? As people of faith, we have to ask whether, as in the teachings of St. Pope John Paul II, a Culture of Death is winning the battle in our effort to promote and build a Culture of Life?