When Cecile Pagliarulo reflects on her social media work for the diocese, she recalls a photograph taken of her at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson on June 24, 2017. This is an important date because not only is it the Diocese of Paterson’s feast day, but it’s when the cathedral reopened after its seven-year restoration.

Christopher C spent most of the last 20 years in jails, prisons, and rehabs because of addiction, which started at around 14 years old. In September 2021, Christopher came to the Halfway House of Straight & Narrow, the substance-abuse treatment program of Catholic Charities of the Paterson Diocese.

In 12 years of living in St. Joseph’s Home for the Elderly in Totowa, Naomi Levine made lots of friends, practiced her Catholic faith — and even honed her talents as a comic. Levine, 95, credited much of her late-in-life flourishing to the care she received at St. Joseph’s, where she lived from 2011 to a few months ago. Now in a nursing home in Wayne, she returned to St. Joseph’s on Nov. 8 to join in a bittersweet moment — to thank and bid farewell to the Little Sisters of the Poor, who opened the facility in 1976.

St. Mary Parish in Wharton celebrated the 150th anniversary of its historic church on Nov. 4 with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney.

A Mass and rosary for life was held on Nov. 4 at St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in Morristown. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney was the main celebrant of the Mass with concelebrating priests, including Father Duberney Villamizar, pastor, and Father Dailon Lisabet, parochial vicar.

Bishop Joseph Espaillat, an auxiliary bishop of the New York Archdiocese, was the keynote speaker of Embark, this year’s youth conference of the Paterson Diocese, on Nov. 5. It was held at St. Elizabeth University in the Convent Station neighborhood of Morris Township.

The community of the Academy of St. Elizabeth in the Convent Station neighborhood of Morris Township welcomed Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney for Mass on Nov. 3.

On a recent Tuesday morning, Luisa visited Mary’s Hands to seek help for herself and her two-year-old daughter, Yesica. Feeling afraid and alone, they are new arrivals to the Morristown area and have little more than the clothes they are wearing.

Araceli Ordaz often likes to evangelize with the powerful and direct “Bronx style” of preaching. She “breaks down” her message about living a life of joy and hope in Christ into small parts that are understandable and relatable to people. In 2021, this Sacramento, Calif., Catholic flew to the Bronx, N.Y., for the Missionary Forma­tion Program, where she learned this technique along with Catho­lics from around the country.

“I’m busier than ever.” That’s how Father Brendan Murray describes the past four years since retiring from active ministry as a priest of the Pater­son Diocese. He stays active, celebrating Mass in places around the diocese, presiding at weddings, funerals, and other services, and providing pastoral care to many people.

Join Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney and Communications Director Jai Agnish for episode 31 of Beyond The Beacon, a podcast of the Diocese of Paterson, N.J. Leading up to Election Day 2023, they discussed faithful citizenship with Jim King, executive director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference (NJCC).

On Saturday, Oct. 28, we held our second annual diocesan Respect Life Convocation. On the same day, the (first part) of the Synod on Synodality was having its final meetings and putting the “finishing touches” on the 41-page “Synthesis Report.” 

Join Bishop Kevin Sweeney and Communications Director Jai Agnish for episode 30 of Beyond The Beacon, a podcast of the Diocese of Paterson, N.J. They discuss Mary’s Hands, a social services ministry that operates out of St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in Morristown.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney celebrated a Mass that opened this year’s diocesan Respect Life Convocation on Oct. 28 at St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in Morristown. Concelebrated by priests of the diocese, Mass was followed by a rosary procession. The convocation featured a presentation by the N.J. Coalition Against Human Trafficking and another about the Walking with Moms in Need initiative.

Mary’s Hands, a social-services ministry of St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in Morris­town, officially became part of diocesan Catholic Charities on Oct. 24.

Hazel Yaptangco is the new director of Development and Public Relations for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Paterson, effective Oct. 23, announced Scott Milliken, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities, last week.

Frank Miles, Scripture Group leader at both Whippany’s Our Lady of Mercy and Convent Station’s St. Thomas More parishes, is in an exceptionally good mood on a recent Wednesday morning. Miles said, “We had one of our Scrip­ture Group meetings last night at Our Lady of Mercy, and we had a great evening.”

Human trafficking isn’t often like it’s portrayed in the movies or on TV. Usually, its victims aren’t physically restrained with handcuffs or rope. Gina Cavallo lived in the hellish world of sex trafficking for a few years as a young adult. Instead, she said her captors kept her in psychological chains — issuing threats, using food and sleep as punishments and rewards, and filling her with shame about her work as a prostitute. Those internal scars wreaked havoc on her for years after her escape.

As far as I can recall, I had never heard of Father Aloysius Schwartz until a few weeks ago, on this past Oct. 6. On that day, I had the privilege of celebrating Mass with all of the teachers and administrators of our Diocesan Catholic Schools. Our Superintendent of Schools, Mary Baier, and the staff of our Diocesan Schools Office had planned and organized a professional day for our teachers and administrators. St. Elizabeth’s University, in Convent Station, graciously hosted the day on their campus.