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EDISON — Festivities, family and prayer were the main ingredients for a joy-filled series of events to mark 50 years of faith-filled education on Tingley Lane.

MIDDLESEX — When the Diocese of Metuchen was established Nov. 19, 1981, it became the 24th largest diocese in the United States. Many sets of strong shoulders were needed to help carry it through its formative years and into a stable future.

PISCATAWAY — John Glynn, director, diocesan of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, addressed the athletic directors from schools throughout the diocese in advance of the upcoming CYM basketball season at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center Oct. 1.

PORT READING — During a Sept. 29 liturgy, the congregation in a suburban Catholic church, many of them long-standing area residents, listened intently as their deacon shared sobering statistics of persons who had no place to call their own.

RARITAN TOWNSHIP — More than an hour before the Annual Solemn Pontifical Benediction and Blessing of Roses began at the Carmel Monastery Oct. 1, people arrived. They filled the pews of the small chapel, lined the walls and stood in the hallway just outside. They had come out of love for St. Thérèse of Lisieux, a French Discalced Carmelite Nun also known as “The Little Flower of Jesus,” to celebrate her feast day, to thank her for favors received and seek her help.

PHILADELPHIA — Sister Colleen Michelle Gibson, who was raised in St. Joseph Parish, Hillsborough, professed final vows as a Sister of Saint Joseph of Philadelphia Sept. 15 during a Mass at Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart Chapel, Mount Saint Joseph Convent, according to a release from the congregation.

Have you ever considered the fact that all priests, bishops and consecrated religious men and women first lived as members of the lay faithful, often as teenagers seeking to discern the vocation in life to which God was calling them, before they were ordained or consecrated to God?

Whoever thought that when we were saving our coins to help the missionaries in far-off lands, 30 or 40 or 50 years later, these missionaries would be working in our parishes? Yes, we, the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world, have become one of those “missions” that we envisioned only in third world nations of Africa, Asia and South America. How did this happen?

With a heart full of gratitude, I have some good news to share with you: we have exceeded our goal for the Bishop’s Annual Appeal. I am so grateful for your extraordinary generosity! It certainly is a testament to your faith and your actively trying to build a Civilization of Love here in our four New Jersey counties — Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren. You are a blessing to me and all those who will benefit from your generosity!

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)  Our readings this Sunday focus upon both God’s goodness and the proper human response to that goodness. The first reading as well as this week’s excerpt from St. Luke’s Gospel present miraculous cures of leprosy as opportunities to experience God’s mercy and to give thanks.

In my Back to School opening article, I shared that I embarked on a journey to develop a stronger academic relationship between our schools and Seton Hall University, South Orange.

Erio Rosario-Perales is not your typical student. A graduate student at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, Rosario-Perales is also a community organizer in the New Brunswick “Unity Square Neighborhood,” operated by Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen (CCDOM), with a passion for social justice.

PISCATAWAY — Celebrating a collective 830 years of consecrated life, 15 religious jubilarians from the diocese were honored at a Sept. 12 luncheon at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center.

NEW BRUNSWICK — A unique birthing experience awaits expecting families with the expected opening of Saint Peter’s University Hospital’s new Mary V. O’Shea Birth Center in October.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I have been on plenty of pilgrimages during my life, but one of the best was two weeks ago, when our diocese was blessed with a memorable experience as we went on a Walking Pilgrimage in Annandale, “The Way of St. Juan Diego.” I will not forget it! More than 700 pilgrims walked the nine-mile journey in imitation of the nine miles that St. Juan Diego regularly walked from his home to get to his catechism lessons while becoming a Catholic in Mexico in 1524.

Article 125 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series Paragraphs 1638-1642 This section of the Catechism begins: “From a valid marriage arises a bond between the spouses which by its very nature is perpetual and exclusive; furthermore, in a Christian marriage the spouses are strengthened and, as it were, consecrated for the duties and the dignity of their state by a special sacrament” (ccc 1638).

She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, never performed great works. Marie-Françoise Thérèse Martin was only 15 when she entered the Carmelite Monastery and was given the religious name of Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face.The only book of hers, published after her death is a brief edited version of her autobiographical journal called “Story of a Soul.” Within 28 years after her death, however, the public demand was so great that she be made a saint that Pius XI canonized her on Oct. 3, 1923.

METUCHEN — “We must, in all sincerity, ask ourselves tonight, ‘Am I a disciple of Jesus Christ?’” Father Timothy A. Christy asked the hundreds seated before him Sept. 20 at the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi. “We must not answer too quickly — to be a true disciple of Jesus, we must consider the cost.”

ANNANDALE — Tara Paccillo, who is a massage therapist, usually works Saturdays. However, on Sept. 21, she took the day off to join 700 other individuals on a nine-mile walk through parts of Hunterdon County. She was not trying to meet new clients or network but wanted to be part of the diocese’s pilgrimage, “The Way of St. Juan Diego.”

NEW BRUNSWICK — Thirty-five young adults from the diocese gathered to deepen their faith at a retreat held by the diocesan Office of Young Adult Ministry at the Catholic Center at Rutgers Aug. 17.