News - May 2021 RSS Feed

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Father Michael T. Kottar, 53, passed away on the Vigil of Pentecost May 22, 2021, after a battle with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. He had served as a Catholic priest for 27 years.

Article 150 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series Paragraphs 2133-2159 We have all heard it said in our grammar school “geography lessons” that all the rivers of the world flow to the ocean. Similarly, it can be said, that all words uttered under Heaven reach the “mind” of God. Thus, the Second Commandment teaches that words matter, especially when referencing the Divine Name, as well as the Christian name given at Baptism.

The Fed Challenge team at Mount Saint Mary Academy, Watchung, recently had a paper entitled, “Leading Factors of Gender Inequality” accepted into the “Journal of Future Economists,” said Kathleen Brennan, chairperson of the all-girls school’s Department of Mathematics.

PHILLIPSBURG – Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen (CCDOM), is offering immigrants who want to apply to become a United States citizen, consultations and a free companion. This free offer is available until September. The normal cost for the service is $550.

PISCATAWAY — Seminarian Ngu Quoc Tran, or “Peter,” as he was affectionately called by those who knew him, lost his life in a hit-and-run accident in the East Side of Manhattan, N.Y., May 11.

As we recall the opening Gospel on Palm Sunday, the crowds placed Jesus on the back of a donkey and placed a purple robe around our Lord and waved palms at him as he entered Jerusalem. They, who did not fully understand Jesus, believed him to be the Messiah, long-promised by the Prophets. However, the King, who they anticipated, would be a “Warrior-King” who would usher in a new age in which all Israel’s enemies would submit to the truth, abandon their false gods and worship the One, True, God whose Ark of the Covenant linked the Jewish people to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in a bond of love because Israel was his Chosen People. As we know from salvation history, the Kingship which they believed Jesus would exercise could not be further from the images they conjured from the Scriptures. To the contrary, their King would be condemned, flogged, crowned with thorns, nailed to a Cross and hung in public view for having been found guilty of blasphemy by the Jewish religious authority, and as a threat to civil peace by the Romans. So much for the earthly kingship of Jesus Christ.

Walt Whitman once wrote, “The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.” The 19th century poet might well have enjoyed the simplicity and glorious expression, not to mention strong faith, emanating from the hearts of youth in the diocese as they engage in the annual Seminarian Letter Project.

For centuries, the Catholic Church has dedicated the entire month of May to honor Mary, Mother of God. This tradition expresses our belief that Mary is the Mother of Christ, whom from the first moment of His conception was both human and divine.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,    Each year, in preparing to release the financial report and statistics about the life of our diocese, I am reminded of the people I have met, particularly within the past year, but also throughout these past five years while serving as your bishop.   

EDISON — The life of “a servant of the Church, the community and the nation” was celebrated April 19 at a funeral Mass for Deacon Frank Yuhas at St. Matthew the Apostle Church. The deacon of 13 years died April 13 at the age of 72.

FLEMINGTON — The space, to the left of the main entrance into St. Magdalen de Pazzi Church, once housed two offices. Later, “it became a junk room,” said Father Kenneth D. Brighenti, pastor.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Five years ago today, I was blessed to become your Shepherd. In sending me to your diocese, I remember Pope Francis said to me, “you must know a lot of people and clergy in your new diocese since it is so close to your home.” Obviously, he thought my transition from Rector of a college in Rome to Bishop in New Jersey would be eased by my friends and acquaintances. However, the opposite was true. I knew very few individuals here having met only a couple of Metuchen priests in my 24 years as a priest, and just a few lay people. Today, the Metuchen Diocese is my home filled with friends: clergy, religious and laity.