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ANNANDALE – Enveloped in soft light and prayerful silence, adorers at Immaculate Conception Church Aug. 13 were led to discover an immutable truth: Jesus’ love and healing serves as the perfect end of a busy week.

PISCATAWAY — Nine days before former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the first bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, was initially scheduled to appear in a Massachusetts courtroom to plea to the three counts of sexual assault leveled against him as the result of his alleged crimes dating back to the 1970s, Bishop James F. Checchio received a letter in the mail from StoneBridge Business Partners.

The last weeks of August were filled with emotion for Stacey and Paul Miller, who were preparing to send their only son, Jacob, back to college.

Along with the Labor Day holiday which reminds us of the dignity and purpose of work, September always brings a change in mindset as the summer break and vacations end, and we return to “normal” life.  This year, however, life has been anything but normal. There was a major earthquake in Haiti and tragedy reigned in Afghanistan. Hurricane Ida devastated parts of our state, and the ongoing pandemic is still claiming too many lives and even creating challenges for our schools.   

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Sixty-two floors up in the southeast corner of One World Trade Center, where the North Tower once stood in Lower Manhattan, now-Deacon Stephen Kern locked eyes with his administrative assistant, who was kneeling under her desk paralyzed in fear as the building shook around them.

Two weeks ago today, on the Feast of the Dedication of St. Mary Major Basilica, at St. Anthony Church, Hawthorne, Salesians of St. Don Bosco Sister Natasha Roig, joyfully said, “Here I am Lord, You have called me,” and with that her Rite of Religious Profession began. What is significant about her vocation is that it is another sign of how St. Augustine of Canterbury Parish, Kendall Park, continues to promote vocations.

LAURENCE HARBOR — Because of the COVID-19 or coronavirus pandemic, many events and celebrations had to be postponed over the past 15 months.  Religious celebrations were no exceptions to that disruption: marriages, baptisms, first holy Communions and confirmations were all impacted. The installation of pastors at parishes in the diocese also had to be rescheduled. 

SPOTSWOOD — When Father John “Jack” O’Kane was officially installed as pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish at a Mass July 24, it was a role he had yearned for.

WOODBRIDGE — A priest with a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin is the new spiritual leader of St. James Parish.

CARTERET — Living and carrying out their ministry was not just a journey for Christ’s disciples, Bishop James F. Checchio told the congregation at St. Joseph Church, but “a way of life.”

BELVIDERE — Prayers from the faithful of St. Patrick and St. Rose of Lima parishes descended on Father Charles A. Sabella at his Mass of Installation as pastor at St. Patrick Church July 10.

FORDS — Standing before a small crowd gathered in the sun-drenched community room of St. Paul the Apostle Senior Residence, Bishop James F. Checchio imparted his blessing on the newly built home, asking God to make it “a place of goodness and a center of love.”

This August 22nd is the celebration of the principal patroness of our diocese: The Queenship of Mary. As I think of this beautiful feast in honor of Our Lady and the maternal role she plays in the life our diocese, I am reminded that this coming November 19 will mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Metuchen by then-Pope, now St. John Paul II. A remarkable milestone in the life of our “young” local Church. We continue to build upon what has been given to us. It is “our turn,” so to speak, to be the workers in the Father’s vineyard. 

On September 20, 1519, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator working for Spain, led the 1st expedition to circumnavigate the globe, via the Pacific Ocean, in search of valuable spices in the Moluccas.

NEW BRUNSWICK — “U.S. News & World Report,” the global authority in hospital rankings and consumer advice, has ranked The Children’s Hospital at Saint Peter’s University Hospital among the top 50 hospitals in the nation in neonatology in the new 2021-22 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings recently published online.

The Youth Partial Care (YPC) program operated by Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen, resumed full services June 14, making YPC the first partial-care program in Middlesex County to resume the full range of in-person services following the COVID-19 outbreak.

On June 11, the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Father Robert G. Lynam, pastor, St. Augustine of Canterbury Parish, Kendall Park, presided at a blessing and dedication of a redwood tree and memorial stone in memory of Daniel Mark Anderl at the parish’s school.

ASBURY — On the eve of Father’s Day, four new fathers were ordained to the priesthood for the diocese at a shrine dedicated to the Blessed Mother.

The teenagers of today, otherwise known as Generation Z, are considered digital natives. They were born in the era of smartphones and are creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial. They are present in our Church.

On July 26, the Church celebrates the feast day of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and grandparents of Jesus. Their feast day is a celebration and reminder of the important work of educating children in the faith in the hope that one day, like Mary, they would also love God with all their hearts and remember to always say “yes” to His will.