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On September 11, 2025, Governor Murphy signed into law a bill (A4085/S3007) legalizing “natural organic reduction,” commonly known as “human composting.” This process offers an alternative to traditional burial by transforming a human body into nutrient-rich soil over several weeks. The body is placed in a specialized vessel with organic materials such as wood chips and alfalfa. Naturally occurring microbes, supported by carefully controlled conditions of moisture, oxygen, and temperature, decompose the body and plant matter into usable soil. Upon completion, the soil is sifted to remove any non-organic materials; the remaining bones are ground into sand-like particles, and the mixture is cured for use in planting trees, flowers, or conservation efforts. New Jersey is the 14th state to pass such legislation, and it becomes effective in New Jersey July 11, 2026.

2,977 Americans lost their lives on this day 24 years ago, burning the date “9/11” into our rational memory. As we commemorate the tragic events of that day, we remember the 734 souls of our fellow residents of New Jersey killed in the worst terrorist attack in our country’s history and we continue to pray for them and their loved ones.

Throughout my years of priestly ministry, I have sat with countless individuals and families—parishioners, clergy, and others—who have entrusted me with their most personal struggles. I have listened to stories of depression, anxiety, addiction, and a wide range of mental health challenges.

On Sept. 7, 2025, Our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV will canonize the first saints of his papacy: Blessed Carlo Acutis (1991-2006) and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925). The Church has eagerly awaited these canonizations, each one representing extraordinary holiness among very ordinary young people who lived during the last 100 years; Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati at their beginning and Blessed Carlo Acutis at their end.

AS BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE OF TRENTON AND A LIFE-LONG CATHOLIC EDUCATOR, I call upon all clergy and faithful of the Diocese to unite in prayer for the victims, families, and entire community of Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, who now face the unimaginable in the wake of yet another school shooting.

Our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics throughout the world to join him in a day of prayer and fasting for peace tomorrow, August 22, the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. Established as a Marian feast to follow the Solemn Feast of the Assumption by Pope Pius XII in 1954, Pope Leo explained...

Our Church mourns the terrible suffering of Christians and other innocent victims of violence in Gaza and surrounding areas who are struggling to survive, protect their children, and live with dignity in dire conditions. The Holy Father continues to call for a cease fire and for aid to enter the territory, noting with great sorrow that “Gaza is starving.”

The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven falls on Friday this year and remains a pre-eminent Marian feast day that should be honored and remembered. In the Diocese of Trenton, Mary Queen of the Assumption is our diocesan patroness and the name of our Cathedral. Permit me, please, to share some reflections about this solemn feast with you.

History was made recently when Planned Parenthood and other big abortion businesses were banned from receiving federal Medicaid dollars for a period of one year. However, Planned Parenthood sued, and a preliminary injunction was granted by the court that requires taxpayer funding to continue.

Earlier this month, the president signed into law the first federal school choice tax credit in our nation's history. This new landmark legislation, led by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Bill Cassidy, R-La. and Tim Scott, R-S.C., was modeled on the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) -- which aimed to expand parental choice in education to an estimated 2 million children across the country.

This announcement indicates an I.R.S. reversal of a decades-old prohibition against such engagement by churches and other religious nonprofits in political activity.

Torrential rains and devastating flash flooding have brought disaster to parts of central Texas, with over 100 people including children at Camp Mystic killed as the search for survivors continues.

The Church just observed the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29, commemorating the martyrdom of the Apostles, St. Peter as Chief of the Apostles and St. Paul as the Apostle to the Nations. Each year, this solemnity is a national holiday in Rome and has traditionally marked the beginning of the summer vacation period for Vatican officials following a public Mass celebrated by the Holy Father in St. Peter’s Basilica.

As the Church celebrates today’s wonderful Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist, we also recognize and acknowledge those preparing for the priesthood throughout the world today on this Holy Year’s “Jubilee for Seminarians.” As your Bishop, I send my prayers and affection to you, the seminarians of the Diocese of Trenton. I am so grateful for your generous response to God’s call and I am filled with a sense of pride as you continue your preparation for the priesthood. PHOTO CREDIT: Vatican News

My Dad was a good man and a hardworking, great father. He loved my mother and his four sons. He was born before the Great Depression and was raised in poverty --- one of 13 siblings -- in what today we would call a “dysfunctional family.” Yet he remained attentive to his parents, buying coal for their furnace, turkeys for their Thanksgivings and trees for their Christmas celebrations. My Mom once told me he had never celebrated Thanksgiving at home until they were married.

The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the most profound and enduring expressions of Catholic spirituality. Rooted in Scripture and deepened through centuries of theological reflection and mystical experience, the Sacred Heart symbolizes the boundless love of Christ for humanity. It is a devotion that speaks to the heart of Christian faith: the mystery of divine love made visible and vulnerable.

On this Pentecost Sunday, we rejoice in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and the birth of the Church. It is a day of renewal, a reminder of the fire of faith that unites us as one body in Christ.

Since 2022, the solemn feast of the Ascension has been celebrated in the dioceses of New Jersey on the weekend of the 7th Sunday of Easter rather than on its traditional Thursday date, 40 days after Easter. Although some U.S. dioceses have maintained the Thursday placement on the liturgical calendar (Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Hartford and Omaha), the Bishops of New Jersey --- after consultation with some of their pastors --- determined that the change to the 7th Sunday of Easter fostered greater participation of Catholics at Mass, allowing for more Catholics to reflect on the significance of Christ’s Ascension. Sunday is already a “day of obligation.”

This weekend, we pause to remember and honor the courageous men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation. Memorial Day is a time to reflect on the extraordinary dedication and selflessness of those who fought to protect our freedoms, ensuring that generations to come may live in liberty and peace.

We read these words in the Gospel of St. John: “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. I have appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you (John 15:16).” That is a profound thought for anyone considering a vocation to the priesthood or religious life in the Catholic Church today. It is God who chooses us for his purposes. As a seminarian many years ago I remember reading in Thomas Merton’s great book “No Man is an Island,” that “for each one of us, there is only one thing necessary: to fulfill our own destiny, according to God’s will: to be what God wants us to be.” He wrote: “Discovering vocation does not mean scrambling toward some prize just beyond my reach but accepting the treasure of true self I already possess. Vocation does not come from a voice “out there” calling me to be something I am not. It comes from a voice “in here” calling me to be the person I was born to be, to fulfill the original selfhood given me at birth by God.”