News - March 2021 RSS Feed

Since the establishment of Trenton Catholic Academy in Hamilton more than 15 years ago, the Diocese of Trenton has provided substantial support to make this Catholic educational experience available to students who live in and around the wider Trenton area.  However, the growing cost of providing this experience has consistently outpaced tuition and other revenue, requiring diocesan subsidy of more than $20 million over the last 12 years.

Overview and Streaming schedule for Holy Week and Easter This Holy Week and Easter, hundreds of thousands of Catholics in the Diocese of Trenton will take part in Masses and services either inside or outside their churches while observing pandemic precautions or at home via livestream.

La Parroquia Cristo Redentor en Mount Holly, que ha vivido menos participación y mayor desafío económico de por la década pasada, cerrará sus puertas y pasará por una supresión canónica.

Christ the Redeemer Parish in Mount Holly, which has experienced declining attendance and growing financial struggles over the last decade, will close its church and undergo canonical suppression, it was announced March 20 and 21. 

As the Holy Season of Lent draws to a close and Holy Week begins, it is time for all Catholics to prepare deeply for the Church’s annual commemoration of the Lord Jesus’ Passion, Death and Resurrection.

Some of you may remember seeing the classic romantic­comedy film from the early fifties, "The Quiet Man" starring screen legends John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara and Barry Fitzgerald. Some of you may not remember either the film or the actors but it took place in Ireland, where John Wayne had returned after a boxing career in the US to find some peace and quiet, hence the film's title "The Quiet Man." Ironically, he fell in love and found just the opposite.

If it were not for the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, and her “yes” to God, the world would have never heard of Joseph, the “carpenter of Nazareth.” And, yet, this man of whom the Holy Scriptures say so very little is the Universal Patron of the Catholic Church.

On this first anniversary of the World Health Organization’s March 11, 2020, declaration of COVID-19 as a world-wide pandemic, we continue to confront the challenges it has imposed.   I ask the clergy, religious and faithful of the Diocese of Trenton to pray for all those who have died from COVID-19 this past year and their families and loved ones; to pray for all those who still suffer from the pandemic and those caring for them; to pray for all health care professionals, support staff and first responders who have been and continue to be truly heroic throughout this difficult time; to pray for all those who are working to prevent COVID-19 from spreading further.  May God help us all remain healthy and safe.

On this first anniversary of the World Health Organization’s March 11, 2020, declaration of COVID-19 as a world-wide pandemic, we continue to confront the challenges it has imposed.   I ask the clergy, religious and faithful of the Diocese of Trenton to pray for all those who have died from COVID-19 this past year and their families and loved ones; to pray for all those who still suffer from the pandemic and those caring for them; to pray for all health care professionals, support staff and first responders who have been and continue to be truly heroic throughout this difficult time; to pray for all those who are working to prevent COVID-19 from spreading further.  May God help us all remain healthy and safe.

Here we are at the midpoint of our Lenten journey with the finish line now in sight.  How has it been going? Living our Catholic faith takes practice all the time, even more so with the challenges imposed upon us by the COVID-19 pandemic.  But when we trip or fall, the true believer picks himself/herself up, dusts himself/herself off and carries on where he/she left off. 

On March 2, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Doctrine, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee

Our experience of the pandemic this past and current year has introduced a new phrase into our everyday vocabulary: “social distancing.” As it is commonly understood, social distancing is the practice of increasing the physical space between individuals and decreasing the frequency of physical contact to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19. Social distancing is being promoted, advocated and even required at virtually every place people are accustomed to gathering together, including churches.

As the pandemic passes the one-year mark and continues to stretch into 2021, a profound side-effect has emerged: isolation.  The experience not only leaves people separated from each other through illness, social distancing and quarantining, but often leaves them, “wondering where God is,” writes Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., in his new release: “‘Behold, I Am with You Always,’  A Pastoral Letter on the Presence of God.”