News - November 2020 RSS Feed

When she was a junior at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, life changed for Franciscan Sister of Penance Lisa Marie Shatynski. She began discerning religious life that year when her spiritual director suggested she read, “Discerning the Will of God,” by Timothy Gallagher. “By the end of that book, it was just blatantly clear that the Lord was calling me to religious life,” Sister Lisa said. She recalled telling her spiritual director, “I feel like God is my boyfriend.”

I recently had a wonderful opportunity to witness one of our third-year theologians (seminarians) become a Candidate for Holy Orders. The candidacy ceremony marks a moment in a man’s journey toward priesthood when, having achieved a certain level of qualification and maturity, he asks the Church to formally hear of his continuing commitment to prepare for the sacrament of holy orders for the sake of God and his people.

SOMERVILLE — Immaculata High School recently announced its seventh Hall of Fame class.

METUCHEN — Upon hearing about the search for a president of Saint Joseph High School, John G. Nolan was sure the position would be a perfect fit for him. It would combine his 35-plus years in fundraising experience, his commitment to his Catholic faith, and his dedication to the high school. His son, John, graduated from Saint Joe’s in 2009.

NEW BRUNSWICK — Saint Peter’s University Hospital recently recognized one of its longtime employees for 60 years of service.

The diocese's Blue Mass, which has been celebrated annually at the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, Metuchen to honor law enforcement personnel, this year was held on a local level because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic prohibited large gatherings around the state, Bishop James F. Checchio asked all parishes to recognize their community’s police officers.

PISCATAWAY – Like Catholic dioceses across the nation and even around the world, the Diocese of Metuchen eagerly awaited the release of the Holy See’s findings of its investigation into disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick – and the report finally came.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,  Over the past eight months, our lives have been steeped in an exhaustive state of disorder, uncertainty, and, at times, despair. All too often, we hear in the news or read about the loss, grief, isolation, fear, and suffering endured by all people as a result of the coronavirus – no one is unaffected by this global pandemic disease. Similarly, and again all too often, we hear analogous stories of the loss, grief, isolation, fear, and suffering endured by survivors of abuse, some of whom were subject to their abuse by some members of the clergy – and again, no one is unaffected by these horrific revelations of past abuse and occurrences of lack of proper leadership by those in authority. Indeed, the times through which we are living, in our Church and in our world, are like no other. 

James J. King of West Trenton, NJ has been named the new Executive Director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference (NJCC). It was announced by His Eminence Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R, Archbishop of Newark and President of the Conference. King succeeds Patrick R. Brannigan, who retired on October 4, 2019, after 13 years of service to the organization. King has served as the interim director for the past twelve months.