ON Nov. 1 BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., issued the third installment in his five-part catechetical series on the Eucharist. An excerpt follows: After the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, prior to the writing of these Scripture accounts, the Apostles and the early Christian community continued to celebrate the Eucharist, “the breaking of the bread,” in fulfillment of his command at the Last Supper, “Do this in memory of me.”
Marked with the sign of faith "On this solemn Feast of All Saints, the Church invites us to reflect on the great hope that is based on Christ’s Resurrection: Christ is risen and we will also be with him. The Saints and Blesseds are the most authoritative witnesses of Christian hope, because they lived it fully in their lives, amidst joys and sufferings, putting into practice the Beatitudes … that Jesus preached are the path to holiness" (Pope Francis, Angelus Message, Nov. 1, 2020).
"On this solemn Feast of All Saints, the Church invites us to reflect on the great hope that is based on Christ’s Resurrection: Christ is risen and we will also be with him. The Saints and Blesseds are the most authoritative witnesses of Christian hope, because they lived it fully in their lives, amidst joys and sufferings, putting into practice the Beatitudes … that Jesus preached are the path to holiness" (Pope Francis, Angelus Message, Nov. 1, 2020). All Souls’ Day “is a day of memory that takes us back to our roots. It is also a day of hope. It reminds us of what we can expect: the hope of encountering the love of the Father" (Pope Francis, Homily, Nov. 2, 2020).
ON OCT. 25 BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., issued the second installment in his five-part catechetical series on the Eucharist. An excerpt follows: “Belief in the Eucharist may yield different understandings and expectations at different points in their faith experience of the “source and summit of the Christian life.” The Lord Jesus instituted the Eucharist, however, to be a means of unity in every experience and circumstance. “All of you, take this bread and eat of it for this is my Body, given for you.”
In preparation for the 2022 mid-term elections Nov. 8, and the 2023 New Jersey State Senate elections, the New Jersey Catholic Conference offered the webinar, “Faithful Citizenship 101: A guide to understanding Catholics’ responsibility in the Public Square, Oct. 20. Moderated by John Hardiman, NJCC director of public relations, with opening prayer and remarks from Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney, Diocese of Paterson, the webinar drew Catholics from across the state who, said, Hardiman, were “already engaged or who wanted to be more engaged in our democracy.” Read more HERE.
For most of us growing up in the Catholic Church, the “idea” of the “missions” was something that we thought about “at a distance.” Missionaries were priests, brother and sisters who were sent by their religious orders to far away places “to convert, to spread the Gospel and to minister to their populations in ‘missionary lands’.” Unless we felt “called” to this kind of missionary vocation, we never expected to meet or encounter the missions “up close and personal.” Regularly, missionaries come to our parishes, and we take up special collections “for the missions” and over the years, your prayers and contributions have sustained priests, religious and lay pastoral leaders in more than 1,100 mission dioceses in Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and parts of Latin America and Europe as they proclaim the Gospel, build the Church, and serve the poor.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, On October 23, World Mission Sunday, we join Catholics worldwide in this annual Eucharistic celebration for the Missions of the Church.
THE DIOCESAN OBSERVANCE OF WORLD MISSION SUNDAY will take place Oct. 22 at the 4 p.m. Mass to be celebrated in St. Veronica Church, Howell. Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., will be principal celebrant of the Mass and homilist. Concelebrants will include Father Peter James Alindogan, pastor of St. Veronica Parish and diocesan director of missions; Msgr. Kieran Harrington, the National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, and other invited missionary priests.
ON OCT. 18, BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., issued the preface and first installment in his five part catechetical series on the Eucharist. An excerpt follows: “The Holy Eucharist is the “Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity” of the Lord Jesus Christ, Catholics are accustomed to say. It is not a “sign” or “symbol.” The Holy Eucharist IS the Lord Jesus Christ: real, true, entire, and substantial. The bread and wine placed on the altar at every celebration of Holy Mass becomes the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ “through the power of the Holy Spirit and the instrumentality of the priest.” To read the full text, or access this installment in video or audio, visit HERE.
THE BISHOPS OF NEW JERSEY met Oct. 14 in the Chancery of the Diocese for their quarterly meeting of the New Jersey Catholic Conference. James King, executive director of the NJCC, planned the agenda for the gathering along with Cardinal Joseph Tobin, C.SS.R., Metropolitan Archbishop of Newark and chairman of the province’s bishops.
IN A NEW FIVE-PART SERIES ON THE EUCHARIST, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C. M., highlights “many aspects of the inexhaustible gift and mystery of the Holy Eucharist as the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ drawn from Scripture and Tradition.” Titled “Catechetical Series on the Eucharist,” the segments will begin Oct. 18, the Feast of St. Luke. An installment will drop each week in text, video and podcast across all diocesan digital platforms. The entire series will be printed in the November issue of The Monitor Magazine.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” When I was in Catholic school like you, people would ask me and my friends that question all the time. We gave all kinds of answers, depending on our ages and different experiences. We were influenced by our parents, families, and friends. We took some ideas from books we read in Catholic school, by things we studied, our favorite subjects, from people on tv and in movies or athletes in sports we watched. We would change our minds many times as we got older. I wonder what you would say if I asked you right now, “what do you want to be when you grow up?”
In a new five-part series on the Eucharist, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C. M., highlights “many aspects of the inexhaustible gift and mystery of the Holy Eucharist as the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ drawn from Scripture and Tradition.” Titled “Catechetical Series on the Eucharist,” the segments will begin Oct. 18, the Feast of St. Luke. An installment will drop each week in text, video and podcast across all diocesan digital platforms. The entire series will be printed in the November issue of The Monitor Magazine.
Hundreds of elementary and high school students from around the Diocese of Trenton will gather with Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold, Oct. 12 for the return of the annual Catholic Schools Mass. The event will be livestreamed on youtube.com/trentondiocese and can be viewed on all diocesan media platforms.
THE 270 MARRIED COUPLES BEING HONORED THIS MONTH by the Diocese in the Bishop’s Anniversary Blessings will be the focus of a special section The Monitor Magazine’s November issue. In two separate Masses held Oct. 2 and 9, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., will have blessed couples marking one year, 25 years; or 50 or more years.
THE FOLLOWING IS A MESSAGE FROM BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., FOR THE FEAST OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY, OCT. 7 The Catholic Church has been blessed with the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God through the Rosary since the early 13th century when, according to Catholic tradition, she appeared to St. Dominic (1170-1221) in 1214 offering him the idea of the Rosary. There are various legends and stories regarding how the Rosary initially came to be but its current form of 15 mysteries called “decades” – five joyful, five sorrowful, five glorious– was formally established by Pope Pius V (1504-72) in 1569. Pope St. John Paul II added five “luminous” mysteries to the decades of the Rosary in 2002.
A message from Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., for the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Oct. 7 The Catholic Church has been blessed with the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God through the Rosary since the early 13th century when, according to Catholic tradition, she appeared to St. Dominic (1170-1221) in 1214 offering him the idea of the Rosary. There are various legends and stories regarding how the Rosary initially came to be but its current form of 15 mysteries called “decades” – five joyful, five sorrowful, five glorious– was formally established by Pope Pius V (1504-72) in 1569. Pope St. John Paul II added five “luminous” mysteries to the decades of the Rosary in 2002.
ALL YOUNG ADULTS 18 AND OLDER WHO ARE INTERESTED in attending the World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon are invited to attend a virtual information session on Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m. The virtual session is open to anyone in the Dioceses of Trenton and Camden and will be a time to learn about the August 2023 WYD and ask questions. Login information for the meeting will be given at time of registration.