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The COVID pandemic will not take away Christmas 2020!  It will, however, change the way we celebrate it, especially in our churches and parishes, if current circumstances continue as they are or worsen.  Because COVID is a highly contagious airborne virus, the prospect of large (or larger than usual) crowds gathering  indoors this winter for long periods of time without ample ventilation and proper social distancing, as well as the necessity to sanitize churches between Masses, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Mass schedules will be affected, especially in parishes where there is only a single pastor or priest assigned.  The COVID pandemic’s maximum one-third occupancy restrictions in churches coupled with the need for social distancing will limit the space available for parishioners to attend Christmas Mass as usual.  Church schedules will also have to accommodate required cleaning.

The annual worldwide Eucharistic celebration of World Mission Sunday, which emphasizes our shared baptismal call to mission, is celebrated on October 18th this year.

Currently in the Diocese of Trenton, the worldwide religious missionary order Society of the Divine Word (SVD) serves three parishes with wonderful priests from its Chicago-based province:

When the dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation issued by bishops for their dioceses during the COVID pandemic is finally lifted – and it will be – Catholics will be required again to “return to church.”  Canon law defines “dispensation” as a “relaxation of a merely ecclesiastical law in a particular case” that “can be granted by those who possess executive power (canon 85).”  The Mass obligation referred to above is an “ecclesiastical law” presented in the 1983 Code of Canon Law: “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in Mass (canon 1247).”  Its history is much older than that.

The Catholic Church believes and teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death. For that reason, we, the Bishops of each of the dioceses in New Jersey, join in voicing the strongest possible opposition to the “Reproductive Freedom Act.”

Our Holy Father Pope Francis has published his third encyclical letter entitled “Fratelli tutti”(literally “brothers all”), signing it in Assisi on October 3, at the tomb of his patron, St. Francis of Assisi, on the 794th anniversary of his death.  Despite the controversy that has arisen over its title as sexist, the Holy See has responded that Pope Francis was using a direct quote from the writings of St. Francis which he chose not to change.  That decision was in no way intended to exclude or offend women, to whom the encyclical is also addressed, since such terminology, as traditionally used, includes both women and men.  That inclusivity is clearly evident and represented throughout the text.

I am convinced, after almost 65 years on this earth, that all of the problems impacting us in this world of ours derive from a single root cause: the failure to “respect life in all its stages, from conception to natural death.”

It was with sadness that I learned early this morning of the passing of Most Reverent John J. Myers, Metropolitan Archbishop emeritus of the ecclesiastical province of Newark and Archbishop emeritus of the Archdiocese of Newark (2001-2016).  He was 79 years of age.

As Bishop of the Diocese of Trenton, I write to share very important information and instruction in the matter of euthanasia, assisted suicide and end-of-life care, published September 22, 2020, by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and summarized below by the Vatican News Service:

Baptized Catholic citizens of the United States of America have a “dual citizenship,” one within the nation and one within the Catholic Church.  Although distinct, they exist jointly in each baptized American Catholic citizen. 

As we remember, in awesome silence, those who died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York, Washington and Shanksville, those who gave their lives trying to save them, and their beloved families, co-workers and friends, let us together join in the prayer of Pope Benedict XVI when visiting Ground Zero in New York on April 20, 2008:

September 9 is the feast of Jesuit priest and missionary St. Peter Claver (1581-1654) who traveled to Colombia where he ministered to slaves trafficked there from West Africa. He is the patron saint of interracial justice.  Along with Dioceses throughout our nation responding to the call of U.S. Bishops, please join me in prayer today for the elimination of racism wherever it exists.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., issued this appeal to his flock Sept. 1:  Hurricane Laura has wreaked havoc in Louisiana and Texas, devastating families, and damaging and destroying homes and churches.  Here in New Jersey we are quite familiar with such experiences.  I invite you to consider contributing a gift to help rebuild and restore the lives of our affected sisters and brothers and their families through these dioceses or their Catholic Charities agencies.

I wish to express my deep personal gratitude to the faithful of the Diocese of Trenton for their characteristic generosity in contributing to the Diocese’s COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund during the past few months

For centuries, Catholics have turned to the Blessed Virgin Mary, asking for her intercession in times of need by praying the Rosary. This great prayer, whose origins date before the 12th century, uses a meditative repetition of prayers that invoke the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary as she leads us to consider the mysteries in the life of her Divine Son, Jesus.  History has shown this to be a powerful, effective and calming prayer that has truly changed hearts and lives over the centuries of its use.

Although this year the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother into heaven is not a holy day of obligation because it falls on Saturday, it remains a pre-eminent Marian feast day that should be honored and remembered.  

The Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus is celebrated on August 6.  It lifts up for our prayerful consideration as Catholics a pivotal moment in the life of the Lord Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew (17: 1-8), Mark (9:2-8) and Luke (9:28-36) provide details of the event. This year, the Church uses the account of St. Matthew for the Gospel of the Mass for the feast...

We are all familiar with the tense moment of confrontation between Pontius Pilate and the Lord Jesus when Pilate demands “what is truth?” in response to the Lord Jesus’ revelation “I have come into this world to testify to the truth (John 18: 37-38).” 

On July 30, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., will mark the 10th anniversary of his ordination to the episcopacy, less than two months after being named Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Trenton. The Bishop took some time with Rayanne Bennett, Associate Publisher of The Monitor, to look back on the day he first received the news of his appointment from Pope Benedict XVI, and the many highlights that have come in the decade that followed. 

It’s summertime again, although the look and feel of it is quite different this year.  Most of us have been working at home or home schooling so, despite the change of seasons, it seems just “more of the same.”  But it is different.