Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Twenty-five years ago today, on Sept. 8, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the Great Jubilee Year of 2000, our Bishop Emeritus, +Arthur J. Serratelli, was ordained a bishop. Today, we wish Bishop Serratelli a very happy 25th anniversary, Ad Multos Annos!! We thank God, especially for Bishop Serratelli’s 16 years of dedicated, faithful, and loving service, from 2004 to 2020, as bishop of our Diocese of Paterson, and we pray that God gives him many, many more happy and healthy years, continuing to serve as bishop emeritus. For a full generation and more, Bishop Serratelli has remained a shepherd of souls, a scholar of the first rank, and a herald of the gospel both in and out of season. May his faithfulness and goodness return to him as a blessing.
As we celebrate with the Church today the Nativity of our Blessed Mother, we prayerfully ask Mary, Mother of Priests, to continue to watch over Bishop Serratelli, drawing him always closer to Jesus, our Lord and we say with St. Paul, remembering Bishop Serratelli’s episcopal motto, “Vivere Christus est,” which means “to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21).
Sincerely in Christ,
Bishop Kevin Sweeney
From one bishop to another: Happy 25th anniversary as bishop!