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CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK begins Sunday, January 29 and concludes Saturday, February 4. Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., has shared this message for Catholic Schools Week 2023. One of the greatest contributions of the Catholic Church in our country remains the establishment of Catholic schools. Millions of young Catholics (and numerous non-Catholics) have been educated in Catholic schools since the very foundation of the United States. In the face of unrelenting obstacles and widespread social opposition, colonial Franciscan missionaries, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and her sisters, St. John Neumann and his co-workers, laid the foundation for the most extensive Catholic school system in the world. It is their legacy that we commemorate during Catholic Schools Week.

In his annual meeting with the worlds’ Vatican diplomatic ambassadors on January 9 of this year, His Holiness Pope Francis spoke powerfully to the gathering representatives about “the defense of life,” threatened as he stated, “by the ‘alleged’ right to abortion.”

THIS WEEKEND, JAN. 21-22, THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, the Catholic Church throughout the world will celebrate the recently established “Word of God Sunday” with the theme “We proclaim what we have seen” (1 John 1:3).

The Church’s annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity takes place Jan. 18-25. This year, the theme is “Do good, seek justice,” which is from Isaiah 1:17. The week itself draws its ecumenical impetus from the prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper, “that they may be one” (John 17: 21). As the week unfolds, I would like to share a few thoughts that are the fruit of my reading and spiritual reflection.

BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., RELEASED AN ADVISORY ON DIOCESE OF TRENTON MEDIA that he had just received Jan. 17 regarding approval by the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See of a plenary indulgence (total remission of temporal punishment for sin) in connection with the 2023 March for Life in Washington and accompanying events Thursday, January 19 and Friday, January 20.

BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., HAS SHARED THE FOLLOWING message in observance of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which is being observed this year Jan. 16: In Harper Lee’s 1960 novel “To Kill A Mockingbird,” Atticus Finch is appointed as defense lawyer for Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a young white girl in Depression-Era Alabama.  Toward the end of Chapter Three, Finch shares his uncompromisingly noble moral philosophy regarding racism and its attendant stereotyping with his six-year-old daughter, Scout.  “You never really understand a person,” Atticus tells her, “Until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

In Harper Lee’s 1960 novel “To Kill A Mockingbird,” Atticus Finch is appointed as defense lawyer for Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a young white girl in Depression-Era Alabama.  Toward the end of Chapter Three, Finch shares his uncompromisingly noble moral philosophy regarding racism and its attendant stereotyping with his six-year-old daughter, Scout.  “You never really understand a person,” Atticus tells her, “Until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO TRULY BUILD A CULTURE OF LIFE ​​​​​​​ and how can the Church come together to make it happen? These topics are addressed by Rachel Hendricks, coordinator of Respect Life Ministry for the Diocese of Trenton, during her interview for Talking Catholic, a podcast of the Diocese of Camden that will be aired beginning Jan. 15.

With the Christmas season behind us now, Catholics enter into a period referred to as “Ordinary Time” in the Church’s liturgy. In our vernacular usage, the word "ordinary" describes what is commonplace, "everyday" or without uniqueness or special distinction.

BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., HAS SHARED the following reflection on the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord For much of contemporary secular society, Christmas is over for another year. For Catholics and Christians, however, there is “still more to come.” This weekend, January 7-8, the Roman Catholic Church in the United States celebrated the Christmas feast of the “Epiphany of the Lord,” traditionally remembered throughout the Western Christian world on January 6. Known by many other names in a number of different cultures – “Little Christmas,” “Three Kings’ Day,” the “Twelfth Day of Christmas,” “Twelfth Night,” etc. – this feast extends the Christmas season by commemorating the visit of the “magi” or “wise men” to the Christ Child. What is the Feast of the Epiphany all about in the Church?

For much of contemporary secular society, Christmas is over for another year.  For Catholics and Christians, however, there is “still more to come.” This weekend, January 7-8, the Roman Catholic Church in the United States celebrated the Christmas feast of the “Epiphany of the Lord,” traditionally remembered throughout the Western Christian world on January 6.  Known by many other names in a number of different cultures – “Little Christmas,” “Three Kings’ Day,” the “Twelfth Day of Christmas,” “Twelfth Night,” etc. – this feast extends the Christmas season by commemorating the visit of the “magi” or “wise men” to the Christ Child.  What is the Feast of the Epiphany all about in the Church?

HAILING FROM ALL CORNERS OF THE DIOCESE, hundreds of clergy, religious and parishioners gathered with Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., to remember, pray and thank God for the life of his servant, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

The faithful of the Diocese of Trenton will gather in prayerful remembrance of the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI when Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., celebrates a Memorial Mass Jan. 5, at noon in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral in Freehold.

BISHOP O'CONNELL HAS ANNOUNCED that there will be a Memorial Mass for the late pope this Thursday, Jan. 5, at noon in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral in Freehold. This will allow an opportunity for the clergy, consecrated religious and faithful in attendance to pray together as a diocesan family. For those who cannot attend the diocesan Mass, it will also be livestreamed at youtube.com/trentondiocese.

THE CHANCERY IN LAWRENCEVILLE will be closed Monday, Jan.2. The office will resume normal operations on Tuesday, Jan 3.

On Dec. 31, 2022, as the world learned of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., of the Diocese of Trenton released a personal reflection about the pontiff who named him a bishop in 2010 and who had visited The Catholic University of America in Washington during then-Father O’Connell’s tenure as president.