St. Therese Parish

Parishioners of St. Therese in Succasunna welcomed Bishop Serratelli, who led a Lenten presentation at the parish on “The Divine Presence in the Holy Eucharist” March 12. About 50 people attended the reflection. Afterward, Bishop Serratelli greeted parishioners at a reception that followed his presentation.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit on Sunday, March 17 to Corpus Christi Parish in Chatham Township where he celebrated Mass for the Second Sunday of Lent. During the Mass, the Bishop officially installed Father T. Kevin Corcoran as Corpus Christi’s new pastor.

St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish in Chester has taken a big step in the past year to help its community of believers grow in spirituality toward a closer relationship with Christ and each other with help from a national initiative. The initiative takes its cue from Jesus’ personal style of ministry — calling together a small group of Twelve Apostles in “missionary friendship” to form them and ultimately to challenge them to spread the Gospel to the world.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Bonaventure Church in Paterson and celebrated Mass for the First Sunday of Lent March 10.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Good Shepherd Church in Andover where he celebrated the vigil Mass for the Second Sunday in Lent on March 16.

Last fall, a caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America heading to the Mexican border with the United States, made headlines in the United States bringing up conversations from both sides of the political spectrum about immigration reform, the border wall and homeland security. Looking beyond the politics to directly meeting with the people affected, Sister Janice Jolin, a Missionary Sister of the Immaculate Conception (SMIC) living here, joined 75 faith leaders on March 18 on a ‘reverse caravan’ to Honduras to discuss the plight of so many around the world who flee homelands riddled by violence, political corruption and other human rights offenses.

Afua Agyekum and Joseph Korab, both sophomores at diocesan Catholic high schools, took time from their studies last week to “dream big” about their future plans — she as a pediatrician and he as a Catholic priest. On March 13, Agyekum, 15, of Pope John XXIII Regional High School, Sparta, and Korab, 16, of Morris Catholic High School, Denville, along with 24 fellow students at their high schools, got to think more about that big question — “What do I want to do with the rest of my life?” — during the “Discovering Your Call” vocations-awareness event at Mallinckrodt Convent in Mendham.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) recently gave the movie, “Unplanned,” which will open in theaters March 29, an R-rating. According to the MPAA, “an R-rated film may depict adult activity, hard language, intense graphic or persistent violence, sexually oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements. Parents are counseled to take this rating very seriously. Children under 17 are not allowed to attend R-rated films unaccompanied by a parent or adult guardian.”