News - February 2025 RSS Feed

During the beginning of February, I had the opportunity to join with my brother bishops of New Jersey and Pennsylvania for our annual retreat. It is always encouraging to be with other bishops in a week of prayer and fellowship. This year’s director for our retreat was Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport who gave us wonderful input for our prayer reminding us of Jesus’ love for us and His desire for us to share that love with those we minister to.

Just one month after the start of this Jubilee Year, the Diocese of Metuchen was proud and grateful to gather a group of young Catholics who were local examples of what Pope Francis called “Pilgrims of Hope.”

Members of some twenty different homeschooling families from the Diocese of Metuchen and surrounding areas attended the inaugural meeting of the diocesan Homeschool Ministry on the wintry evening of Jan. 14 at St. Theodore Church, Port Murray. Led by Father Gilbert Starcher, parochial vicar at St. Joseph and St. Luke parishes, North Plainfield, and coordinator of the diocesan Homeschool Ministry, the meeting served to clarify the mission of the ministry, foster a discussion about future ministry gatherings, and introduce the homeschooling parents to the Franciscan at Home ministry platform.

This Lenten season, parishes throughout the Diocese of Metuchen will unite with faith communities worldwide as they participate in the CRS Rice Bowl program. Now celebrating 50 years of practicing the pillars of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, CRS Rice Bowl benefits Catholic Relief Services, the relief and development agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and its good works in more than 120 different countries. Since its inception in 1975, CRS Rice Bowl has raised more than $350 million.

On Jan. 24, 2025, tens of thousands of people from across the country gathered in our nation’s capital for the annual March for Life in commemoration of the 52nd anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide. Several busloads of parishioners and students from the Diocese of Metuchen traveled to Washington, DC, to join the crowd giving witness to the inherent dignity and worth of every human life.

The Jubilee Year 2025 encourages all Catholics to become active Pilgrims of Hope as we journey to our eternal home in heaven. We enjoy our path forward by virtue of who we are as children of God. We received this distinction on the day we were born-again through the waters of baptism. This great sacrament was the singular moment we became members of Christ’s Body; members of the Royal Family of Christ with Jesus Christ as Our Lord and King.

In caring for children, one thing becomes very apparent. They thrive with attention. Attention is a sacred gift. “The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself,” wrote Henry Miller.

The Diocese of Metuchen was proud to celebrate Catholic Schools Week 2025 with the inspiring theme, “United in Faith and Community,” beautifully aligned with the Vatican Jubilee Year, “Pilgrims of Hope.” This week-long celebration was a time to honor the remarkable achievements of our students, the unwavering support of our parents, the dedication of our staff, and the enduring commitment to academic excellence and spiritual growth that defines our Catholic schools.

This year, the Diocese of Metuchen held the second edition of musical training for Hispanic parish music ministry groups, an initiative offered by the diocesan Office of Hispanic Evangelization and Pastoral Ministry at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center, Piscataway. This event was designed to provide musical training and deepen participants’ understanding of the role of music in worship.

Congratulations are in order for Nadine Burgos of Immaculate Conception Parish, Somerville, for fulfilling the requirements to earn the diocesan Series I Catechist Certificate.

A partnership between a Knights of Columbus council and a religious order known for its mission to serve the poor has resulted in a generous donation to Ukrainian refugees.

Mother Seton Council #15540 of the Knights of Columbus recently donated $500 to Quilts for Kids. The Council has supported this nonprofit for a decade. Quilts For Kids uses a nationwide network of volunteer quilters. The quilts are distributed to children suffering from trauma, abuse, serious illness or disasters. Children in the pediatric units of Central New Jersey hospitals have received these comforting gifts.

David Gutierrez was a Claretian volunteer in the summer of 2012 when he met members of Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Perth Amboy. At that time, the friendships and spirit he encountered impressed him and created a long-term relationship with the parish and the people.

Last month, I went to Medellin, to visit a friend who is fighting his third recurrence of colon cancer. In our correspondence, William spoke to me about visiting an outdoor shrine dedicated to Our Lady, Mystical Rose to which many pilgrims flock with their candles praying for various intentions but, mostly for healing. So, when I arrived in Colombia, I had to see this shrine with my own eyes.

An artist once told me that it was only when she saw a still life with onions by Cézanne that she realized that she had never seen an onion. Now, this doesn’t mean that she had never met up with onions. She had peeled onions, sliced and chopped onions, cooked and eaten onions, but she had never SEEN an onion. She had never perceived an onion with that fresh, clear, first-time-in-my-life vision that allowed her to go out of her own thoughts, ideas and memories and stand in awe before the reality of something new and unknown.

Recently, the Holy Father proclaimed 2025 as the Jubilee Year of Hope. In his Papal Bull, Spes Non Confundit, Pope Francis expressed his desire that this year “help us to recover the confident trust that we require, in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relationships, in international relations, and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation.”

Visitors to St. Magdalen de Pazzi Parish may now view artifacts of Holy Years throughout Church history without ever leaving the narthex. The Flemington church is the home of a Jubilee Case, a curio cabinet filled with a wide variety of items enabling faithful to take a mini-pilgrimage and learn more about Church roots.