News - February 2019 RSS Feed

Al igual que muchas tradiciones en la Iglesia, Cuaresma se ha evolucionado por los años. Gente ha empezado enfocarse más en “dar” que “dejar cosas”. El tono sobrio y serio de los cuarenta días de Cuaresma, empezando con el Miércoles de Ceniza, se ha empezado a disminuirse y hacerse menos intenso. Claro, la Iglesia ha mantenido el sentido penitencial de Cuaresma pero lo ha hecho de maneras diferentes, desde una perspectiva más positiva que negativa. La obligación de sacrificar algo se enfatizó menos como la prioridad inmediata de la agenda cuaresmal.

St. Teresa was baptized Juana Enriqueta Josefina Fernandez Solar on July 13, 1900, in Santiago, Chile. She grew up in a loving, faith-filled family, with her parents, two sisters and three brothers, surrounded also by her great-grandfather, aunts, uncles and cousins. Those who knew her well called her Juanita.

The Catholic Church around the nation is observing Catholic Press Month, and The Monitor invites the Diocese of Trenton’s faithful to take a closer look at their diocesan newspaper, which marks its 65th anniversary this year.

The Diocese of Trenton’s youth and young adults have the opportunity to attend programs slated for the beginning of March.

I am a great believer in the “both/and” rather than the “either/or” approach to life. And, so, for me Lent is a holy season of penance when I feel called, as a Catholic, by the very nature and purpose of Lent, to both “give up” and to “give” something.

Faithful in parishes across the Diocese of Trenton will be asked to reflect on the teaching of St. Paul VI as the 2019 Annual Catholic Appeal is introduced at Masses Feb. 23 and 24.

Bishop urges opposition to ‘Aid in Dying’ act on World Day of the Sick; DYC 2019 draws 600 teens to worship, grow in faith together

As a proposed piece of legislation that would allow physicians to assist some terminally ill patients to end their lives moves forward in the NJ State Legislature, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., issued a letter to legislators expressing his opposition as a “bishop, a priest, a man of faith . . . but also as a human being and a son.” In the letter sent Feb. 11, the day that the Catholic Church observes World Day of the Sick, Bishop O’Connell told legislators that “never again will your responsibility be greater or your decision more important.” The letter follows:

Please hold in prayer the teens and youth ministers from all four corners of the Diocese of Trenton who will be attending the annual Diocesan Youth Conference (DYC), Feb. 9 in Holy Cross Prep Academy, Delran.

National Marriage Week kicks off Feb. 7 among communities of faith across the United States. The highlight of this special week, World Marriage Day, was established by Worldwide Marriage Encounter in 1983 and is celebrated annually on the second Sunday of February. This year World Marriage Day falls on Feb. 10.

As Catholic Schools Week 2019 neared its end, student representatives and school officials from Catholic schools around the state were recognized Jan. 31 in the New Jersey State House in Trenton for all that they contribute to their state and communities.