News - April 2024 RSS Feed

Blessed Easter graces to all! I hope that you enjoyed Holy Week and Easter as much as I did. Gratefully, we are still in the Easter Season until Pentecost Sunday, so we get to relish in Easter graces for a longer time. The readings at our Masses about the resurrected appearances of Jesus lift our spirits and deepen our faith as Jesus continues to share Himself with the disciples and us, even after His crucifixion.

Eat. Pray. Love. If you are over forty, these words may be familiar to you.

As a priest, I’m asked plenty of questions: questions about the faith, Church teachings, the priesthood, the liturgy, my interests, hobbies, and many others. One of the questions that I am asked, although not very often, regards the silent prayers of the priest at different moments of the Mass. The silent prayers of the priest during Mass are often overlooked by the faithful. Most people don’t even notice them because they happen very quickly and with subtlety.

During the first few centuries of the first millennium, newly formed Christian communities began celebrating liturgy domestically.  A small gathering of people in someone’s home was commonplace to gather for the Eucharistic. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the exact moment of the first liturgy, we can look at what common materials were available in the Greco-Roman world of the first century.  Wood, clay, glass and wicker, crafted into cups and baskets, became tools to celebrate the inaugural liturgies of our faith. This signifies the limited resources people had during this time as well as emphasizes the Eucharist as a meal to commemorate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Over the years, when praying this third petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done,” even as a child, I always felt that due to my own imperfections, I was falling short of performing God’s Holy Will. Although I always sought to accomplish God’s Will through my words and deeds, I generally felt deep within my heart and soul that it was impossible to properly do so.

Reminding his brother clergy of the joy and responsibility in serving the people of the Diocese of Metuchen, Bishop James F. Checchio addressed the priests seated before him in Metuchen’s Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi during the March 26 Chrism Mass.

This is a great day to examine our relationship between modern culture and faith,” Bishop James F. Checchio assured some 150 guests inside the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center, Piscataway, March 16 for the 2024 Choices Matter Conference. Attendees included the deaconate candidates of the classes of 2024 and 2027, and some of their wives.

The Metuchen Cursillo Movement embarked on its 14th annual Encounter with Christ, May 9, in Mary, Mother of God Church, Hillsborough, commencing with a solemn celebration of Mass. Bill Grippo, diocesan coordinator, expressed gratitude for the support of Bishop James F. Checchio and emphasized the mission to fortify a community devoted to Jesus Christ.

Once again, a Catholic community in Monmouth Junction is emulating its Jewish forebears by hosting a traditional Seder meal during Holy Week.

“The new Directory addresses today’s need for a variety of methods of catechesis,” declared Loyola Press presenter Joseph Paprocki to a group of parish catechetical leaders of the Diocese of Metuchen during a March 21 workshop held in the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center, Piscataway.

Have you ever had the privilege of watching children color eggs for Easter? They start off with a dozen or so of white hard-boiled eggs. Then they mark them with a wax pencil.  Finally, they dip them in cups of colored vinegar-water where they soak in the dyes for about a minute. Eventually, the children enthusiastically raise the eggs from their respective cups, at which point the children smile because what were once dull, generic white eggs are now colorful and unique creations.

The property at our monastery includes large areas of pasture dotted with clumps of woodland. Various birds, such as owls and hawks, nest in the woodlands, and during the night we can hear the owls hooting, while during the day we can see a hawk flying over the pastures. It circles effortlessly round and round the pasture looking for food on the ground. Its wings never move except to tilt slightly as it shifts its circling course over the open spaces. It is held aloft on the warm air currents rising from ground and it rides these over and over the same patch of ground.

“Even before birth, all human beings have the image of God and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing His glory.” – Chief Justice Tom Parker, Alabama Supreme Court

Our Diocese of Metuchen schools have been participating in the  Student Family Chalice Program which was initiated by Director of Curriculum and Instruction Sister Mary Louise Shulas. The idea was inspired through the Office of Schools in supporting vocations in the Diocese. At a recent leadership meeting, Father Thomas Lanza spoke about vocations with the school principals and blessed the chalices before each principal was given one for their school.

In the 17th century, on the coast of Serra do Bouro, a small town in Portugal, there was a shipwreck. In the wreckage, a statue of Our Lady holding the Infant Jesus was found and placed in a small chapel.

“Never did I think I would end up in Peru!” Sister Gianna Mara Lemire says emphatically as we open our conversation over video call. She’s on the couch and I’m propped up on my bed with about 3,600 miles between us. The only clue I have that she lives in an impoverished area on the edge of the Amazon jungle is the hint of foliage I see in the distance.

The first annual diocesan Office of Schools Job Fair, held March 20, brought together prospective educators from across the Diocese to meet with principals and teachers from some of the more than 25 Catholic Schools within the Diocese’s four counties of Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren.

The Sacred Triduum, the holiest Three Days of the Church year, is the occasion when Christians recall the intense suffering, the heartbreaking death and the triumphant Resurrection of Jesus Christ.