• Gratitude and Hope
    Gratitude and Hope
    December 26, 2024
    The end of one year and the beginning of another is a very appropriate time to “look back” and “look forward.” Here in our diocese, as we come to the close of 2024 and look forward, with the whole Church, to the New (Jubilee) Year of 2025, there is a special reason for us to “look back” with gratitude and “look forward” with great hope.
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  • A Beautiful and timeless Christmas Message ...
    A Beautiful and timeless Christmas Message ...
    December 19, 2024
    I wrote my first weekly column in the Beacon in September 2020. Msgr. James Mahoney was Vicar General and an excellent proofreader, editor, and coach, helping me with the column (and so many other “new experiences”) in my first months as Bishop. Msgr. Mahoney retired as Vicar General at the end of September 2020, and Msgr. Mark Condon has been serving in that role ever since. Msgr. Condon has also been a great help to me with my weekly column — and in many other areas.
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  • Pilgrims of Hope
    Pilgrims of Hope
    December 12, 2024
    With these words, “SPES NON CONFUNDIT…,” Pope Francis invites the whole Church to enter into a HOLY YEAR, a great Jubilee. This invitation was offered to us all when Pope Francis published the Bull of Indiction on May 9, 2024. Now (seven months later), the beginning of the Jubilee, which will take place in Rome on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 2024, with the opening of the Holy Door, is only two weeks away.
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  • Have you heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
    Have you heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
    December 5, 2024
    Ido not remember the first time I heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It may have been during my years in college or in the seminary. When I first heard something about him and his story, I was intrigued and impressed. I remember learning that Bonhoeffer was a theologian and Lutheran pastor in Germany at the time when Adolf Hitler rose to power and that he came to believe and preach that true Christians should oppose Hitler and the Nazi Regime.
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  • As we begin the Season of Advent, prayers for hope, healing, and peace
    As we begin the Season of Advent, prayers for hope, healing, and peace
    November 28, 2024
    Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The words of prayer quoted above should be familiar to most (all) readers. Some may be thinking and asking, “I know that prayer. Where have I heard it?”
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  • A sad day for The Beacon,  but the light will  continue to shine
    A sad day for The Beacon, but the light will continue to shine
    November 21, 2024
    I was hoping that this day would not come, but it has become clearer and clearer during the past two to three years that a decision needed to be made to discontinue the print version of The Beacon, our much beloved diocesan newspaper.
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  • A beautiful, inspiring homily … at the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality
    A beautiful, inspiring homily … at the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality
    November 7, 2024
    For a moment, I thought I had been “scooped” — by our own Beacon! You may recall the front-page story headline in last week’s Beacon, “Pope warns against becoming a ‘sedentary’ church after synod’s close.”
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  • UNITED IN FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE: The annual Diocesan Ministries Appeal
    UNITED IN FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE: The annual Diocesan Ministries Appeal
    October 31, 2024
    This is the time of year when we conduct our Diocesan Ministries Appeal (DMA) and invite all the faithful to become active participants in transforming the Gospel into concrete action. By making a pledge to our DMA, you support the formation of our seminarians, Catholic urban education, our senior priests’ healthcare/retirement needs, and our Catholic Charities ministries, where tens of thousands of people receive assistance. This is all done in response to Christ’s call to care for his people.
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  • The Lives of the Saints and the ‘Hallow App’
    The Lives of the Saints and the ‘Hallow App’
    October 24, 2024
    I have said before that I have been inspired by (St.) Mother Teresa of Calcutta and her Missionaries of Charity since I was a sophomore in college in the fall of 1989. Over the years, I have read a great deal of what has been written and reported about Mother Teresa, her life, and her work. I have also listened to “Mother” speaking on many different occasions.
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  • Forming consciences for faithful citizenship
    Forming consciences for faithful citizenship
    October 17, 2024
    “Election seasons, therefore, should contain a sense of gratitude and hope …” Do you agree? Is that how you are feeling as we approach an election? Is that what you are hearing in the media, on the internet, or in your day-to-day conversations? Do you hear many voices saying that “election seasons … should contain a sense of gratitude and hope”?
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  • United in Prayer – for Life, Family, and Country
    United in Prayer – for Life, Family, and Country
    October 10, 2024
    “On Nov. 2, 1989, Cardinal John O’Connor penned an unforgettable headline for his weekly column in Catholic New York: “Help Wanted: Sisters of Life.” This small seed planted 33 years ago has grown into a thriving community of 130 Sisters, established in 10 cities.
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  • A Powerful and Inspiring Homily: ‘Our Duty to Protect’
    A Powerful and Inspiring Homily: ‘Our Duty to Protect’
    October 3, 2024
    In place of my column this week, I invite you to take the time to prayerfully read the Homily (below) given by Bishop David O’Connell at the Mass for Life at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in Trenton. The Mass preceded the first-ever statewide Rally and March for Life this past Thursday, Sept. 26 at our State Capitol.
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  • In this Year of Prayer, Oct. 7 will be World Rosary Day
    In this Year of Prayer, Oct. 7 will be World Rosary Day
    September 26, 2024
    Most Catholics are aware that, each year, the Church dedicates October as the “Month of the Holy Rosary.” One of the reasons that October is dedicated to the Rosary has to do with the Feast that we celebrate on Oct. 7.
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  • A Historic Opportunity … To Witness on Behalf of Life
    A Historic Opportunity … To Witness on Behalf of Life
    September 19, 2024
    “Historic,” I like the word, but I also believe that it can be a very challenging word. I was happy to see it used in the headline of an article on the front page of last week’s Beacon.
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  • Childhood Cancer Awareness Month: A Request for Prayers … and Awareness
    Childhood Cancer Awareness Month: A Request for Prayers … and Awareness
    September 12, 2024
    In late August, I received a note, quoted above, from a mother, asking me to help in any way I could to request prayers and let people know that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
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  • Back to School: Have You Heard the Conversations About ‘Phone Free’ Schools?
    Back to School: Have You Heard the Conversations About ‘Phone Free’ Schools?
    September 5, 2024
    I have mentioned before that I have become a “fan” (admirer) of Bishop Michael Burbidge, bishop of the Diocese of Arlington, Va. I am also a fan and faithful listener of his “Walk Humbly” podcast. As a priest and bishop, I am grateful for the example and experience that Bishop Burbidge shares, especially as I listen to his podcasts.
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  • The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways … An opportunity to visit Guadalupe and ‘Villa de Las Ninas’
    The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways … An opportunity to visit Guadalupe and ‘Villa de Las Ninas’
    August 22, 2024
    Ten months ago, on Oct. 6, 2023, I celebrated a Mass for our Catholic School Teachers and gave them each a small book on the life of Blessed (soon to be Saint) Carlo Acutis. After the Mass, a teacher from Pope John High School suggested that I read a book called, “Priest and Beggar: The Heroic Life of Venerable Aloysius Schwarz” by Kevin Wells.
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  • Spiritual Athletes And the Lives of the Saints
    Spiritual Athletes And the Lives of the Saints
    August 16, 2024
    Even though the 2024 Paris Olympics began on a “sour note,” with an offensive and disrespectful depiction of the Last Supper, for which the organizers gave a less than satisfying apology, there is still something impressive, inspiring, and encouraging in the opportunity to see the best athletes from throughout the world coming together to compete with one another.
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  • ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’ John, Chapter 6: The Bread of Life Discourse
    ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’ John, Chapter 6: The Bread of Life Discourse
    August 8, 2024
    In what we call a “Three Year Cycle” of Gospel Readings for Sunday Mass, the Church reads from Matthew’s Gospel in “Year A,” from Mark in Year B, and from Luke in Year C. The Gospel of John gets “mixed in” at different times, Feasts, and Seasons during that Three Year Cycle.
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  • A Reflection and a Homily:  The Eucharistic Revival and the Funeral of Father John O’Connor
    A Reflection and a Homily: The Eucharistic Revival and the Funeral of Father John O’Connor
    August 1, 2024
    During my last weeks in the seminary, in 1997, shortly before ordination to the priesthood, the priest who was the Dean in charge of pastoral formation had a “final conference” with those of us who were about to be ordained. I remember that he gave us three practical suggestions so that we might be “good parish priests.”
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