Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney, on April 28, visited St. Clement Pope & Martyr Parish in Rockway Township, where he presided over the 7 p.m. Mass. There, he administered the sacrament of confirmation to 28 young people of the parish. Concelebrating the Mass with Bishop Sweeney was Father Giovanni Rodriguez, St. Clement’s pastor.

Father Ricardo Ortega, the pastor of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Wayne, has continued a worthwhile appointment started and kept by his predecessors. On the first and last Tuesday of each month, he celebrates at 10 a.m. Mass for residents and short-term rehabilitation patients in the dining room at Excelcare at Wayne.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney marked the 60th annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations by inviting two young priests from the Diocese of Paterson to join him for a down-to-earth-discussion about their own discernment to the priesthood, the people who influenced them and what it is like being a priest.

Msgr. Geno Sylva said he was surprised and honored by the news of his Vatican appointment to the Dicastery for Evangelization at the Vatican. Msgr. Sylva is the rector of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson and the diocesan episcopal vicar for special projects.

I hope that readers of this column are aware that we recently started a “Diocesan Podcast” called Beyond The Beacon. For readers who have already begun listening to or watching (on YouTube) the podcast, I hope that you can appreciate that a podcast is one more way in which we can share some of the “good news” about the Church in our Diocese. I also hope that you can see the podcast as a “format” that can potentially be a more “interactive” way to both share and discuss “news” that affects us as individuals, families, and communities of faith.