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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.

NEW BRUNSWICK — Bishop James F. Checchio shared advice from the Holy Father with a congregation of health care workers at the Saint Peter’s University Hospital chapel at a Mass, advice they had exemplified in their mission as a Catholic facility from the day its doors opened in 1872. “In the words of Pope Francis on this World Day of the Sick, ‘I hope places of care will increasingly become houses of welcome and comfort, where sick persons will find friendship, understanding, kindness and charity,’” the bishop said in his homily on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, Feb. 11. “In short, humanity.”

WATCHUNG – Bishop James F. Checchio issued the newest pastor of St. Mary-Stony Hill Parish a loving challenge at his installation Dec. 8, saying his task would be “to help us open our hearts more widely to Jesus so that his presence may fill us and all those we encounter each day.”

METUCHEN – With a worshipful mix of prayer, song, veneration and reverent pageantry, Catholics of Filipino descent honored the Virgin Mary Dec. 15 during the opening Mass of a nine-day novena known as Simbang Gabi.

METUCHEN — Standing before a banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe bedecked with fragrant roses, Bishop James F. Checchio issued a challenge to the faithful seated within the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi Dec. 12: their work had only just begun.

NEW BRUNSWICK — “Choices do matter,” declared Bishop James F. Checchio Nov. 2 at St. Peter the Apostle University and Community Church. “We choose heaven by accepting God’s grace in our lives. By living that grace, sharing that grace with others, we make heaven seen on earth.”

METUCHEN — “This has become one of my favorite gatherings of the year,” declared Bishop James F. Checchio at the Oct. 27 Silver and Gold Wedding Anniversary Prayer Service at the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi. “We thank you for your faithful witness to married love in a world so much in need.”

METUCHEN — “Do you realize that you are part of God’s plan to restore the order that was lost?” Bishop James F. Checchio asked the hundreds of law enforcement personnel gathered in the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi Oct. 17 for the 18th annual diocesan Blue Mass. “He has called you to cooperate with Him to help answer people’s need for protection and help, especially in times of great turmoil and chaos.”

NEW BRUNSWICK — “Thanks for giving the witness some of you have done for decades,” said Msgr. Joseph J. Kerrigan to the medical personnel and supporters of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen, seated before him. “Let’s use this gathering … as a catapult for the next chapter.”

EDISON — Festivities, family and prayer were the main ingredients for a joy-filled series of events to mark 50 years of faith-filled education on Tingley Lane.

MIDDLESEX — When the Diocese of Metuchen was established Nov. 19, 1981, it became the 24th largest diocese in the United States. Many sets of strong shoulders were needed to help carry it through its formative years and into a stable future.

PORT READING — During a Sept. 29 liturgy, the congregation in a suburban Catholic church, many of them long-standing area residents, listened intently as their deacon shared sobering statistics of persons who had no place to call their own.

“People have come tonight with a sense of longing and anticipation,” declared Father Timothy A. Christy to the hundreds seated before him in the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi June 8. “Tonight is a time to be refreshed in the fact that God will do something awesome in our midst.”