More Good News

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Thomas of Aquin Parish in Ogdensburg Nov. 10 where he celebrated the 5 p.m. vigil Mass for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Every year, some middle school history classes at All Saints Academy (ASA) in Parsippany keep the study of the Westward Expansion of the U.S. in motion — with some nice sets of wheels. They are tasked to build a miniature Conestoga wagon — like the ones that carried the pioneers across the Great Plains in the 19th century — but with a modern twist: constructing them with recyclable materials. Students then test the stability of the wagons by pulling them across the classroom floor.

Every human life is a gift from God and staunchly committed to this belief, the Paterson Diocese Federation Knights of Columbus Councils will once again host the annual diocesan Respect Life Mass at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 17. Bishop Serratelli will be the main celebrant with priests from the Diocese invited to concelebrate. Deacons are also invited to serve at the Mass.

With prayer and passion, Dana Catherine, a Catholic singer-songwriter, strums her guitar and sings, “Lord, I Need You” at the side of the altar in Our Lady of the Magnificat Church (OLM) in Kinnelon during a special evening with Eucharistic Adoration on Oct. 29. All the while, she never stops gazing on the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance on the altar, graced with having seen first-hand the miraculous healing power of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament — as her mother also can attest.

The phone rings from central dispatch on the afternoon of Nov. 9 with terrible news: a collision on Rt. 206 in Chester Township here has taken the lives of a grandmother and her 5-year-old granddaughter. Immediately, Msgr. Raymond Lopatesky hangs up the phone, dresses in his clerical garb and heads out the door — ready to lend a willing ear or comforting word to law enforcement officers on scene and to the victims’ family as Chester Police chaplain. So it’s no surprise that police from Chester and elsewhere, diocesan clergy and local public officials turned up on a cold Nov. 10 — a day after the crash — on a street corner in the rural township for the renaming of Meadow Lane to “Father Ray Lopatesky Rd.”

Where they once worshipped, they were honored. Twenty-one fallen parishioners of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson — who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War I — were fondly remembered on Nov. 11, the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that ended “the war to end all wars.”

During the month of October, parishioners of St. Vincent Martyr Parish in Madison collected all kinds of necessities for seminarians studying for the priesthood at Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Orange; Domus Bartimaeus, Diocesan House of Discernment in Boonton and at multiple parishes throughout the Diocese. The bags were filled with soap, belts, undershirts, socks, aftershave, laundry essentials and more. Pictured here are a few of the seminarians at Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall with some of the bags that were delivered to them by St. Vincent’s parishioners.