News - January 2019 RSS Feed

She was a saint living in recent times and now, the community of St. Paul the Apostle in Clifton will be able to be in the presence of a relic of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta whenever they are at daily Mass or in quiet prayer at the chapel named in her honor at the church.

St. Vincent Martyr School began Catholic Schools Week with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Serratelli in St. Vincent Martyr Church in Madison marking the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Jan. 27. During the Mass, students of the parish’s St. Vincent Martyr School took part in the Mass as gift bearers, singers in the choir and greeters at the doors of the church.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Therese Church in Succasunna where he celebrated the vigil Mass for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Jan. 26.

The bitter January cold could not stop pro-life advocates from around the state from being a voice for the voiceless in the womb at the annual Rally for Life here in the courtyard annex of the State House building Jan. 22, the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal in 1973. Gathering to promote life where leaders, elected officials and clergy, including Bishop James Checchio of Metuchen, spoke at the rally to motivate the crowd to continue the fight to save babies in the womb from abortion.

Three of the four Gospel writers — Matthew, Mark and Luke — report that Jesus does something almost physically impossible before he dies on the Cross: utters a loud cry. Meanwhile, John says that, in great pain, Christ cries out the words, “It is finished” — a remarkable feat, because those who were crucified usually died completely spent and unable to utter anything at the moment of death. In his new book, Bishop Serratelli writes that Christ’s dying words indicate something even more profound: that he brings God’s work to completion and “ushers in the kingdom of God.” That’s one of the many insights about the Passion of Christ in Scripture that the Bishop offers in his 123-page “Jesus’ Last Days,” published on Jan. 22.

Bishop Serratelli celebrated his annual Mass on Jan. 27 with the Young Adults of St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard in Madison where the outreach welcomed the new year with a new leadership team. It has also added or re-imagined some of its faith-formation programs — as well as having welcomed the births of children to many of the married couples, who met through the popular outreach.

A new poll released on the eve of the annual March for Life finds that millennials, the largest group of American voters, are not in lock step with politicians on abortion on demand and their support of Roe v. Wade. Long considered a top issue for the younger generation, a Students for Life poll found that millennials are equally divided, 39 percent to 39 percent, in their support and opposition to abortion.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Agnes Parish in Paterson Jan. 20 where he celebrated the 11:30 a.m. Mass for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Bishop’s visit also came the day before the feast day of the parish’s patron, St. Agnes, who is the patron saint of young girls and also the patron saint of chastity. She died a virgin-martyr at the age of 12 or 13 on Jan. 21, 304 in Rome.

The Paterson Federation Knights of Columbus honored Bishop Serratelli at its annual Bishop’s Night held Jan. 18 at Our Lady of the Holy Angels Parish in Little Falls. More than 40 councils from the Paterson Diocese, the state council and various assemblies, attended the event at which the councils presented Bishop Serratelli with donations to be used for diocesan ministries, including seminarian education and diocesan Catholic Charities agencies.

A recent reading of Matthew 16:13-21 — when Jesus told his disciples that he is the Christ and when he named Peter leader of his Church — left Gloria Blanco with as many questions as answers. The young adult of St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in Morristown started wondering, among other things, “Why did Jesus pick Peter as the head of his Church?”

The large sign proclaimed loud and clear in startling pink and black, “I’m Against Baby Murder.” Rising high in the air, the brightly colored banner shouted out its powerful pro-life message against the killing of the unborn in the womb to a great many of the more than 100,000 pro-lifers to see at the 46th Annual March for Life on Jan. 18 in Washington, D.C. Holding the sign was Gabriele Andrade of St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Parsippany, who walked the walk of the March — her first ever — with pro-lifers from around the U.S., 40 years after she walked the walk when she had a baby at 15-years-old.

Sunday begins a special week in the Paterson Diocese and across the nation. It’s the start of Catholic Schools Week as schools celebrate their achievements with their faith community and the community at-large through event-filled days that offer an inside look at the innovative and cutting-edge educational opportunity they offer in an atmosphere of love and caring for every student.

Parishioners of Our Lady of Fatima (OLF) in Highland Lakes gathered for Mass recently for the consecration of a new altar — a new Eucharistic Table, made of granite — a wood-colored slab of stone that not only tells its own geological history, but also helps mark a new era of extensive physical and spiritual revitalization for this rural faith community. OLF’s new altar was the result of fine craftsmanship, in part, by the human hands of a parishioner, Tadeusz Flig.

Catholic schools in the Paterson Diocese will be much safer, thanks to legislation that will provide an additional $11.3 million in security funding to non-public schools across the state. The new law doubles the amount of security funding per student from $75 to $150 for non-public schools. The expanded state funding will allow non-public schools to update and strengthen the security at their schools.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Joseph Church in Paterson and celebrated Mass for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Jan. 13. Concelebrant of the Mass was Father Janusz Rzadca, pastor of St. Joseph Parish.

The parish community of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Wayne welcomed Bishop Serratelli, who made a pastoral visit and celebrated the vigil Mass for the Baptism of the Lord Jan. 12.

As many pro-lifers prepare to travel to the nation’s capital for the 46th annual March for Life tomorrow, Jan. 18, New Jerseyans have the opportunity to be a voice for the voiceless closer to home on Tuesday, Jan. 22 at the N.J. Right to Life’s annual Rally for Life in Trenton.

Audiences watched spellbound as the lights went down in the auditorium at St. Philip the Apostle Parish in Clifton and the curtain went up for the red-carpet premiere of a new local independent film in early December. Some young people here viewed it with fascination, while some older parishioners cried — all getting swept up not in the latest art-house movie, but in “Greater Works,” a homegrown documentary about the real and just-as-powerful 75-year history of St. Philip’s, now on DVD and Blu-Ray.

An analysis by the Pew Research Center shows that the new, 116th Congress is slightly more diverse when it comes to religious affiliations than the prior Congress.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Michael Parish in Netcong where he celebrated the vigil Mass for the Feast of the Holy Family, Dec. 30.