Faithful can inspire others to seek consecrated life

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,Thanks be to God, our diocese has recently been blessed with new deacons and priests that were ordained at our Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi during June. We have five new permanent

deacons, three new transitional deacons — who join Deacon Fredy Triana Beltran from our oratory in Raritan who was ordained in February — and three new priests. The generosity and perseverance of these men in their preparation for ordination is something that we should all thank God for! At a time when the priesthood of Jesus Christ is under such intense scrutiny because of the crimes and sins of some priests and lack of appropriate action by some bishops, to have these 11 men dedicate their lives to the service of Christ and His Church is a breath of fresh air for the lungs of our diocese.

I know, too, that our people love their faithful priests and deacons. I hear it all the time as I travel throughout ourdiocese visiting parishes. As horrifi ed

as we are by what we learn and read about past heinous acts, our people are grateful for the service of their faithful parish priests and deacons. The Church has made great strides since 2002 and the commitment made by bishops to not allow any cleric with a credible claim of sexual abuse to serve in any public ministry. The many programs that have been started to ensure child protection in our parishes and institutions, puts the Church now at the forefront of protecting our youth as incidence of abuse by clerics has dropped precipitously in recent decades. The survivors of clerical child sexual abuse and their families have suffered terribly, and we owe them our support and prayers. I do not know of a priest or bishop who is not ashamed of this part of our history and are working hard to ensure those days never return.

At the June 15 ordination to the diaconate at our Cathedral, I encouraged our new deacons who are now confi gured to Christ the Servant to live

that role with authenticity and joy. The chaste, obedient and prayerful living of their promises is the witness which will help the Church to build up the Kingdom of God in our day and likewise it is the clerics’ road to their own salvation. At our priesthood ordinations the following weekend, I encouraged our new priests to always imitate our High Priest, Jesus Christ, who not only offered the sacrifi ce but became the sacrifi ce too. So, we priests are to live in imitation of Jesus which is to live a

life of sacrifi ce and obviously not privi-

lege. We have all seen the damage done when that life of privilege is embraced instead. The renewal ofthe Church in our day

will come about in part by priests living our call as we follow in Christ’s footsteps.

The many good priests and deacons serving our diocese are an inspiration to me, and I know to countless others, too. I was ordained a priest 27 years ago this past June 20 and there has not been a day that I have ever regretted responding to our Lord’s call. It has been a blessed, happy and fruitful life and I am honored and privileged to share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. I love being and serving as a priest of Jesus Christ. I cannot imagine doing something else with my life. Likewise, I am blessed that the Lord has called me here to Metuchen to share in this presbyterate and the life of this good local Church. You have enriched me in my three years here in ways that I would never have imagined. For that have my heartfelt thanks! Yes, June provided us with two important opportunities to thank God for the blessings He has provided for our local Church as we celebrated two ordinations. Please God, we will have many more reasons to celebrate in the future as we currently have 16 Latino men in formation for the permanent diaconate and we are currently beginning to process candidates for a new diacon- ate class. Deacons are confi gured to

Christ the Servant and serve in parishes as well as in many other ministries to the poor, those in prisons and hospitals.

We likewise benefi t from the service of

their wives who join them in serving our parishes and diocesan ministries.

In addition, we have 22 seminarians in formation for the priesthood, which is the most we have had in over 25 years.

While in seminary, they participate in human, pastoral, intellectual and spiritual formation as they prepare to dedicate their lives in service to Christ and His Church as celibate, prayerful and obedient servants of the Gospel. We have much to be grateful for.

Please join me in thanking God for these blessings and pray for our priests and me, too! If you know someone who would make a good deacon or priest, let them know. Survey after survey shows that people do not think of becoming a priest or deacon, because no one had ever asked them. Maybe you could be the one to inspire someone to prayer- fully contemplate such a life of selfl ess

service to God and His Church. Know of my love and prayers for you, and God bless you as we enjoy the graces of these Spirit-fi lled days!

The Most Reverend James F. Checchio, JCD, MBA Bishop of Metuchen