News - June 2023 RSS Feed

In homilies, addresses and countless messages, members of the Class of 2023 have been encouraged to take all that they gained in their Catholic school education, especially their faith in Jesus Christ, and use it to impact the world they are about to enter. This year, diplomas were handed to 1,230 graduates from Catholic high schools in the Diocese of Trenton.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., gave the following homily June 29, 2023 during Mass for a vocations discernment event. It is a happy coincidence today, my brothers, that we gather to think about discerning God’s call on this solemn feast of Saints Peter and Paul, two ordinary, very different men who responded in extraordinary ways to God’s call to follow the Lord Jesus. 

Those wanting to learn more about the priesthood are invited to the annual “Come &See” event on June 29 which will begin with a Mass celebrated by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., at 5:30 p.m. in St. John the Baptist Church, 1282 Yardville-Allentown Rd., Allentown, in which all are welcome to attend and pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood. After Mass, an outdoor barbecue will follow on the parish grounds. Those in attendance will have an opportunity to meet and talk honestly about the priesthood with priests of the Diocese and current seminarians.

GRADUATION SEASON 2023 IN THE DIOCESE OF TRENTON occurred during May and June with diplomas being awarded to more than 1,200 Catholic high school seniors attending diocesan, parish and independent schools as well as some 919 eighth graders. Along with the celebrating and cheering by the graduates, their family members and school faculty members,  members of the Class of 2023 were encouraged to take all that they gained in their Catholic school education, especially their faith in Jesus Christ, and use it to impact the world they are about to enter.

Beginning June 22, 2023, the feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher — saints and English martyrs who fought religious persecution, notably objecting to King Henry VIII's claims to be the supreme head of the Church of England and who were executed for treason in 1635 as a result — until June 29, 2023, the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops invites all Catholics in all the dioceses and parishes of our nation to pray, reflect, and act to promote religious freedom during Religious Freedom Week 2023.

As Bishop of the Diocese of Trenton, I would like to share some thoughts and encouragement as the month of June draws to a close.

BISHOP DAVID M. O'CONNELL, C.M., HAS SHARED THIS MESSAGE FOR FATHER'S DAY A father is neither an anchor to hold us back nor a sail to take us there but a guiding light whose love shows us the way.

THE U.S. CATHOLIC BISHOPS ARE INVITING THE FAITHFUL to pray for challenges to religious liberty both within the United States and abroad during the upcoming Religious Freedom Week. The theme for this year's annual June 22 - 29 event is "Embracing the Divine Gift of Freedom." "Religious freedom allows the Church, and all religious communities, to live out their faith in public and to serve the good of all," the event's website stated. "Beginning June 22, the feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, the USCCB invites Catholics to pray, reflect, and act to promote religious freedom."

BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., HAS SHARED THIS MESSAGE for the “World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests.” Return to the ‘Upper Room’: World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests One of the greatest privileges and most humbling graces in the life and ministry of a bishop is the opportunity to ordain priests, to hand on to them a share in the very priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which he first gave to his own apostles in the Upper Room on the night before he died for us.  And, consequently, one of the most important responsibilities the bishop has is to care for them, as a father cares for his sons. That, too, is a privilege and a grace.

One of the greatest privileges and most humbling graces in the life and ministry of a bishop is the opportunity to ordain priests, to hand on to them a share in the very priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which he first gave to his own apostles in the Upper Room on the night before he died for us.  And, consequently, one of the most important responsibilities the bishop has is to care for them, as a father cares for his sons. That, too, is a privilege and a grace.

Adapted from a homily for the Feast of Corpus Christi, by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M. During his last year as pope, our late Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI reminded us that the feast we will celebrate today in Catholic churches throughout the United States – the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi – “is inseparable from the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, in which the institution of the Eucharist is also celebrated” (June 24, 2011).  A profound and beautiful thought, important for us to keep in mind.

During his last year as pope, our late Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI reminded us that the feast we will celebrate today in Catholic churches throughout the United States – the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi – “is inseparable from the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, in which the institution of the Eucharist is also celebrated” (June 24, 2011).  A profound and beautiful thought, important for us to keep in mind.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., will ordain Rev. Mr. Kevin Hrycenko to the priesthood for the Diocese of Trenton June 3 at 10 a.m. in St. Joseph Church, Toms River.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus can be traced back to the 12th and 13th centuries in the Catholic Church. Inspired by over 500 years of tradition, this devotion became part of the Church’s liturgy in 1670, with Mass and prayers composed by French priest St. John Eudes (1601-1680). Three years later, the Lord Jesus appeared multiple times to a 26-year-old French nun of the Visitation Order, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), revealing the love and mercy for which the popular image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus has become a universal symbol. Pope Pius IX placed the feast in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the Catholic Church’s liturgical calendar in 1856, 19 days after Pentecost. This year it is celebrated on Friday, June 16, 2023.