Earth Day message • Bl. Carlo Acutis Relic Mass livestream • New Catholics welcomed

BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., issued a message marking Earth Day, April 22.  An excerpt follows:

I was a freshman in high school when I first heard the word “ecology.” Our science teacher distributed a copy of a February 1970 TIME magazine article about American environmentalist Barry Commoner and his efforts to raise consciousness about the environmental crisis confronting the world. A few months later, the same science teacher spoke to us enthusiastically about the establishment of the first annual “Earth Day” in the United States on April 22, 1970.

I must confess, at the time I did not sense any great cause for alarm.  My biggest concern was getting a good grade for the science course! Although, obviously, I never pursued a career in science, I find it interesting that I remember that one article the science teacher handed out.
In the 52 years that have passed since that science class and the creation of the first “Earth Day,” so much of our national and international conversations about the environment have heightened our awareness of the effect of our stewardship of the earth – or lack thereof – and of its plentiful natural resources.  Hardly a day goes by without some mention in the media of the environmental crisis and the consequences that face our planet and its inhabitants – namely, us and those who will follow us!

Read the full text of Bishop O’Connell’s Earth Day greeting HERE.

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BISHOP O’CONNELL WILL CELEBRATE A MASS in St. Dominic Church, Brick, April 28 at 10 a.m.., during which he will receive a relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has chosen Blessed Carlo as the patron of the first year of a three-year National Eucharistic Revival – a campaign which seeks to “renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist,” its mission statement declares. Blessed Carlo is the first person of the millennial generation to be beatified by the Catholic Church. 

As part of this Mass, Bishop O’Connell will place all Catholic schools (parish, diocesan and independent) within the Diocese under the special patronage and protection of Blessed Carlo Acutis. 

This Mass will be livestreamed at youtube.com/trentondiocese and on Facebook (The Catholic Diocese of Trenton).

Read more about the Mass HERE.

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IN PARISHES ACROSS THE DIOCESE OF TRENTON, new members were joyfully welcomed into the Catholic faith through the reception and completion of the Sacraments of Initiation. The new members, who received their formation in their parish’s Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process, included the 163 elect who were to receive the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and First Eucharist and 367 baptized candidates who were to be confirmed and receive First Eucharist. In St. Paul Church, Bishop O’Connell baptized 10 elect and confirmed 11 individuals.

“Jesus rose from the dead leaving death behind him,” Bishop O’Connell said in his homily. The tomb is empty. Easter is about glory and triumph. The world would never be the same again because in Jesus, death was no longer the end. Life was transformed and made completely new. And Easter is the first moment when that happened." 

For reporting and photos from the Easter Vigil, and to meet some of the Diocese’s newest members, click HERE.