Marking 115 years as a parish community, St. Stephen’s in Paterson welcomed Bishop Serratelli who celebrated the noon Mass for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Concelebrating the Mass was Bishop Santiago Rodriguez of the Diocese of San Pedro De Macoris in the Dominican Republic.

More than 40 years ago, the jubilant voice of an old woman named Stella at a village prayer service inspired Maryknoll Father Mike Snyder, then a seminarian, to choose a challenging ministry as a missionary in Tanzania — enduring the heat and dust of the desert, austere living conditions and difficult-to-navigate roads by U.S. standards.

Last year the Church worldwide celebrated the 100th anniversary of the visitation of Our Lady of Fatima before three shepherd children in Portugal in 1917. While the centennial celebrations have concluded, Our Lady’s message still remains strong and needed more than ever. Because her message of prayer, conversion and reconciliation remains timeless, Corpus Christi Parish in Chatham Township will welcome one of 13 official pilgrim statues of Our Lady of Fatima to the parish from Oct. 11 to 15. The statue comes from Our Lady’s shrine in Fatima where the Blessed Mother appeared to 10-year-old Lucia Santos and her young cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto. These visitations took place on the 13th of the month, from May to October 1917, with the exception of August when she appeared on the 19th.

A farewell Mass was celebrated in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson Sept. 16 by Msgr. Mark Giordani, who recently retired after serving as rector of the Cathedral for 31 years. He was succeeded as rector by Msgr. Geno Sylva. Next year, Msgr. Giordani will mark the golden anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. After the Mass, a reception was held in his honor at the Brownstone in Paterson.

On the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks, Franciscan Father Mychal Judge, who served as a New York City Fire Department chaplain and was the first recorded fatality of the Islamists’ terrorist attacks, was remembered at a 9/11 Memorial Service at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa where he is buried. Father Judge had previously served as pastor of St. Joseph Church in West Milford. A memorial Mass was also held a St. Bonaventure Parish in Paterson before the graveside memorial service. Franciscan Father Daniel Grigassy, pastor of St. Bonaventure, celebrated the Mass and also led the service at the cemetery.

Priests and faithful of southwest Morris County and beyond came together at St. Luke Church in Long Valley on the evening of Sept. 12 not only to voice their outrage over the reports of child abuse and cover-ups that have rocked the U.S. Church this summer, but also to resolve to work individually and collectively to speak out on behalf of the victims and push for the Church to adopt further safeguards to protect children.

There is a lyric from popular religious hymn, “Here I Am, Lord,” the 2018 theme of the Bishop’s Annual Appeal (BAA), that describes perfectly the commitment of those who work, volunteer or donate to Diocesan Catholic Charities. The lyric goes, “I will hold your people in my heart.” Those in the hearts of many served by Diocesan Catholic Charities are disabled men and women living in diocesan group homes, a veteran on the verge of homelessness, a client needing a ride to make her chemotherapy appointment, a senior receiving a hot meal, a single mother heading to the local food pantry to feed her children and a recovering addict finding healing and hope.

Our nation and, more specifically, those of us who live in the metropolitan New York area, marked the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 Islamist terrorist attacks on the U.S. with prayers and sorrow at the massive loss of life that day in 2001 with our solemn vow “never to forget.”