Catholic schools in diocese are communities of love, faith

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
 

Our strange summer is about to come to a close and we see our days becoming shorter! The long Labor Day weekend usually provides us with some extra rest, but for many in our diocese, it was anything but restful this year. Our Catholic schools and parish catechists have been working extra hard to reopen our schools and religious education programs.   

During the summer months, each school formed a local task force comprised of educators, health care personnel and parents to assist in creating a comprehensive Reopening Plan that would meet the Center for Disease Control and the New Jersey State requirements as well as the needs of each individual school. The completed plans were posted on the school website and all the plans can be found on our diocesan website as well. Much time this summer was spent beginning to implement those plans, preparing for the students return.   

Since the planning got underway, I have been so impressed with our Diocesan Catholic Schools office led so capably by Ellen Ayoub. She and her staff worked with our principals, pastors, teachers and many of our parents and medical professionals who have worked tirelessly to prepare to open our schools safely after six long months. So, having implemented the guidelines for their safe reopening, I am very pleased we have been able to welcome our students back.

All our schools are also offering the remote option for families who still prefer this alternate route. For these students, classes will be either live-streamed, in Google Classroom or Zoom sessions, making sure that students feel that they are a part of the school community. In addition to the work that was done to prepare each school for everyone’s return, our dedicated and loving teachers engaged in professional development to further enhance their technology skills in order to meet the needs of all of our students. In March, when our schools closed on short notice, our teachers did an extraordinary job completing the school year. This year they will do even better being so much more prepared to teach our students during this pandemic.

There have been some roadblocks to our reopening, primarily, the loss of many bus routes across the diocese. Many of our families have had to find new ways to get their children to school, since the local school districts or bus companies have told us that they are unable to support the nonpublic schools. This is a very visible sign of the need for our Catholic community to advocate for our rights when we are encouraged to do so. I hope you will respond to the Action Alerts that will be sent to you throughout the year from many ministries in our Diocese.

The pandemic has certainly taught us to be flexible and reminded us of the importance of science, but also to put our trust in our Loving God, who is the only One who can truly guide us through all this, anchoring our lives to hope in Him. Many turns and curves have come to us over the months as we have learned more about the coronavirus. God, however, is really the only aspect of life that never changes, and we know we can depend upon Him to always be with us, no matter what comes our way in life. Since we do not know what the new school year will bring, we have had to plan carefully to be sure that the schools are able to meet any challenges they may face. We are grateful for your good support and prayers!    

This year, we welcomed many new families all across our four counties to our schools, and the increase in enrollment was welcome news. Although everyone was masked, practicing social distance and increased hygiene procedures along with many other new procedures as school began, it did not diminish the joy everyone felt in being together again. Thanks be to God that our schools truly are communities of love and faith where Catholic values build up our students to be leaders in our Church, families, and society at large. Where would we be without our Catholic schools?

Likewise, our seminarians have all returned to their seminaries now, too. We currently are sending our seminarians to Immaculate Conception Seminary and St. Andrews College Seminary at Seton Hall University, South Orange, as well as at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. We are blessed with good seminarians giving themselves fully to their human, intellectual, pastoral and spiritual formation so that they are prepared to serve our diocese as your future priests. We had nine new seminarians accepted this year, which is truly a blessing from God. Ten years ago, we had eight seminarians in our diocese, but now have 25 men preparing to be priests. which is very exciting.   

Educating our seminarians is expensive and even takes a toll on our diocesan budget, but it is a challenge we are grateful to embrace. If you would like to sponsor one of the seminarians please let us know! We would be grateful for the relief on our diocesan budget as we face so many challenges this year with the pandemic and have had to readjust our diocesan budget to live within our means. Our good candidates for the permanent diaconate are likewise beginning their classes, remotely, as this new year begins. And I had the privilege just this month to receive the vows of a new sister for our diocesan religious community, the Sisters of Jesus our Hope. This is truly good news and a young woman from St. Augustine of Canterbury in Kendall Park just professed her vows as a Sisters of Christian Charity. I know we can count on your prayers for all of these men and women. God still calls, but it is up to us to help our young listen to Him!       

Yes, summer is coming to a close and much is happening within our blessed diocese, thanks to all of you and your good prayers and actions! Please keep it up! I count on your prayers for me too, as we face so many challenges in our day. We won’t know why until we meet Him, but we do know that God chooses to need us now, to make brighter days ahead for us all, and those to come after us. We need His love, wisdom, and courage to guide us in these days! He is asking us to build up His Kingdom now in our midst, so that the world will be a better reflection of Him who made it all! I am so grateful that I am doing this with all of you. Know of my love and daily prayers. I miss seeing you as often as we did in the past and am anxious to see you all again sometime soon. God bless and keep you!
 

Most Reverend James F. Checchio, 

JCD, MBA

Bishop of Metuchen