News - Home RSS Feed

Today is the anniversary of death of St. John Paul II.  He has always been an inspiration for me.  I was blessed to be praying in St. Peter's Square when he died and they announced the sad news of his death to the world, as well as for his funeral Mass. 

PISCATAWAY – As pews sit empty in churches around the four-county Diocese of Metuchen because of social distancing due to the coronavirus, Catholics in the diocese are finding new ways to stay connected to their faith.

“When evening had come” (Mk 4:35). The Gospel passage we have just heard begins like this. For weeks now it has been evening. Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities; it has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void, that stops everything as it passes by; we feel it in the air, we notice in people’s gestures, their glances give them away. We find ourselves afraid and lost. Like the disciples in the Gospel we were caught off guard by an unexpected, turbulent storm. We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other. On this boat… are all of us. Just like those disciples, who spoke anxiously with one voice, saying “We are perishing” (v. 38), so we too have realized that we cannot go on thinking of ourselves, but only together can we do this. 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — People who cannot get to confession because of the coronavirus lockdown or another serious reason can go to God directly, be specific about their sins, request pardon and experience God’s loving forgiveness, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As more and more countries start to feel the economic pinch due to the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis urged business leaders to seek solutions that will not hurt employees and their families.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — As people throughout the U.S. self-isolate and retreat from daily life amid the COVID-19 pandemic, priests and women religious have become beacons of hope globally as they mobilize in unconventional ways.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Defending life is not an abstract concept but a duty for all Christians and it means protecting the unborn, the poor, the sick, the unemployed and migrants, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican has asked Catholic bishops around the world, both in the Latin rite and the Eastern Catholic Churches, to provide their faithful with resources to support personal and family prayer during Holy Week and at Easter, especially where COVID-19 restrictions prevent them from going to church.

BALTIMORE (CNS) — Catholic ethicists and legal experts are sounding the alarm that the scarcity of resources such as ventilators and hospital beds during the current coronavirus pandemic could prompt health care decisions based only on age and disability — and in some cases already is.

The coronavirus’ relentless global rampage intensifies daily. Nations have been forced to seal borders. Within communities, many find their horizons likewise reduced to the confines of their living spaces. And if residents can still venture forth, it’s often to limited destinations and perhaps under curfew. Apart from these current dire circumstances, and for many centuries, in fact, there has always been a world – the monastic world – of those who have freely chosen such enclosure as integral to fostering a contemplative way of discipleship.

The man born blind displays no arrogance whatsoever. He refuses to pass judgment on Jesus. He’s still not ready for a full confession of faith but there is one thing he does know: “I have received my sight,” an unquestionable fact. The Pharisees, though, leave the man with one choice: if you follow Jesus, then you are no longer a disciple of Moses. This counteraction of Moses to Jesus is seen by the Pharisees as the worst possible sin: to no longer be a disciple of Moses made the man born blind guilty of apostasy.

ALEXANDRIA — About 100 students from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, participated in an annual retreat sponsored by the college’s Catholic Center at Camp Tecumseh Feb. 21-23.

METUCHEN — An hour before the diocese’s annual Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion began March 1, there was standing room only for visitors in the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi.

Dear Readers, Due to the coronavirus, many of the scheduled events of the Diocese of Metuchen have been cancelled or postponed. The papers originally slated for April 2 and April 16 issues are cancelled. The next paper will appear on April 30. Your understanding is appreciated. God bless you all, Fr. Glenn J. Comandini, S.T.D. Managing Editor

METUCHEN — “Courageous Love” was the theme at the annual diocesan Youth Day Celebration Feb. 8 at Saint Joseph High School. More than 250 students between grades seven and 12 from the diocese gathered in the school’s gymnasium to participate in activities, listen to speakers and worship at a Mass celebrated by Bishop James F. Checchio.

FORDS — Bishop James F. Checchio and Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, were joined by civic and community leaders at a groundbreaking ceremony for the St. Paul the Apostle Senior Residence Feb. 25.

NEW BRUNSWICK — Catholic Charities’ Unity Square held an open house event: “Martin Luther King Jr. and Paul Robeson: Continuing Their Legacy” at its Community Center.

SOMERSET — Though the liturgical calendar declared Feb. 16 the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the evening’s Mass in St. Matthias Church was anything but ordinary. Instead, the preaching, prayers, native costumes and, above all, the music, blended into a diverse yet unifying celebration of black history and Catholic faith.

“Reconciliamini Deo ” (2 Corinthians 5:20) I am not sure if Pope Francis got his idea for the theme of his Lenten message for this year from my episcopal motto, but he has certainly made my task of writing my own message to you much easier! After much prayer and thought, I chose the phrase that Saint Paul used in his Second Letter to the Corinthians — “Be reconciled to God” — as the motto for my episcopal service. It was a phrase that kept coming back to me in the Year of Mercy in which I was ordained your bishop. It is an encouragement that really sums up the season of Lent, doesn’t it? We are called to return to God with our whole hearts and assist others in doing so as well.

MONROE TOWNSHIP — Bishop James F. Checchio presided at a Mass in which three elements integral to Catholics’ faith were blessed and dedicated in the newly-renovated Nativity of Our Lord Church Feb. 9. In solemn rites, Bishop Checchio blessed the ambo, from which the word of God is proclaimed and homilies are given; the baptismal font, where new members of the faith are christened with holy water; and altar, where bread and wine are consecrated to become the spiritual food of the faithful.