Cuba, land of faith: The missionary experience of Father Dailon – 
On September 8, 2024, the feast of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, Father Dailon Lisabet began a mission in the Diocese of Holguín, Cuba. Exactly one year later, on September 8, 2025, he concluded that experience in his home parish, once again celebrating the feast of Cuba’s Patroness. “For me, it was a very clear sign that the Blessed Mother accompanied my steps from beginning to end,” he recalls with gratitude. Now back in the United States, Father Dailon serves at Our Lady of the Lakes Parish in Sparta and ministers to the Hispanic community at Our Lady
When it comes to the Coffee with Kupke podcast, Msgr. Raymond Kupke might get all the glory. His name is in the title after all. And he’s the one giving away encyclopedic anecdotes like Halloween candy. But if it weren’t for his co-host and good friend Father Paul Manning, the podcast wouldn’t quite be the same. The magic of their life-long friendship was on full display Wednesday, Sept. 24, during a special live recording of Coffee with Kupke at the St. Paul Inside the Walls evangelization center in Madison. Father Manning and Msgr. Kupke fed off the energy of an
Father Edward M. Davey attributes two essential habits to his miraculously long life as he blows out candles for his 100th birthday today, Oct. 4. A retired priest of the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey, Father Davey doesn’t think it has to do with his diet, family history, or the exercise he did as a younger man. Instead, he credits his longevity to the daytime naps he takes and a practice that has sustained him throughout his priesthood: constant prayer. “Prayer is the answer to most people’s problems. I’m successful because of prayer,” said Father Davey, a priest for
Turning 100 years old today, Oct. 4, Salesian Sister Domenica Di Peri jokes that her biggest worry at her age is that she will quickly wear out her shoes — and the floors of the convent where she lives in Paterson, N.J. That’s because Sister Domenica spends much of her busy days strolling the halls of the three-story convent with the aid of a walker, stopping to chat along the way with fellow Salesian Sisters in residence. In part, the Paterson-born centenarian credits her miraculous longevity to being active and social, as well as inheriting “good genes” from her family.
Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney is continuing his pilgrimage with a group of faithful, including priests and laity of the Diocese of Paterson, to mark the Jubilee Year of Hope in Rome, Italy. The diocesan pilgrims visited Assisi, Italy, where they paid homage to the tomb of the newly canonized saint, St. Carlo Acutis, and walked through the hometown of St. Francis and St. Clare. Then in Rome, they journeyed to St. Peter’s Basilica, St. Mary Major, St. Peter’s Square, the Sistine Chapel and other holy sites. Seminarian Lucas Folan was ordained a deacon in St. Peter’s Basilica. Bishop Sweeney shared
Hispanic Catholics have found a spiritual home at St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish in Chester, N.J., which, in recent years, has welcomed local Spanish speakers with the loving arms of Christ. Having just closed its 75th anniversary celebrations, St. Lawrence has helped area Hispanics create a Spanish-speaking faith community and encouraged them to become more incorporated into the entire parish. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney visited St. Lawrence on Sept. 20 and celebrated a Mass with the 1,100-family parish to help conclude its anniversary observances. For the Hispanic community, St. Lawrence offers a Spanish Mass on Sundays at 12:30 p.m., a
With great joy, the Benedictine monks of St. Mary’s Abbey in Morristown, N.J., marked their resilient community’s 100 years of strong faith, unceasing communal prayer and worship, and devoted service to the local Church on Sept. 21. They held a solemn vespers service in the abbey church on their palatial campus. The abbey’s 15 monks — both priests and brothers — also celebrated their community’s dedication to education as the founder of the Delbarton School for young men from grades 7 to 12, which opened there in 1939. Joining the monks and their abbot, Jonathan Licari, for the service were
Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney, along with a group of pilgrims from the Diocese of Paterson, is currently in Italy visiting sacred sites in Assisi and Rome as part of the 2025 Jubilee Year celebration. Over the course of nine days, the group will walk in the footsteps of saints, celebrate Mass in historic churches, and reflect on the spiritual significance of this Holy Year. While the pilgrimage is taking place thousands of miles away, you’re invited to be part of the journey—virtually. Bishop Sweeney and some of those traveling with him are sharing photos and moments from the trip, and
Filipinos from around the Diocese of Paterson on Sept. 20 gathered in St. Philip the Apostle Church in Clifton, N.J., to honor two martyrs from the Philippines — St. Lorenzo Ruiz and St. Pedro Calungsod — during the annual diocesan Filipino Martyr Mass. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney was the principal celebrant of the liturgy, which was coordinated by the Diocesan Commission for Catholic Filipino Ministries (DCCFM). Several diocesan priests, including several born in the Philippines, concelebrated the Mass. Among them was Father Vidal Gonzales, pastor of Notre Dame of Mount Carmel Parish in the Cedar Knolls neighborhood of Hanover Township,
On Sept. 25, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Diocese of Paterson urged all participating pro-life advocates before the start of the second annual N.J. Rally and March for Life in Trenton to lead with love when witnessing to the dignity of every human life — not judgement. Before the N.J. Rally for Life began, Bishop Sweeney served as the homilist that morning during the second annual N.J. Mass for Life in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Trenton, the New Jersey State capital. Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., of the Trenton Diocese, celebrated the Mass. The hundreds of
The fifth- to eighth-grade girls are intrigued by the striking simplicity of Sister Mary Mia Menke’s floor-length habit and black veil. These junior high girls, who attend the Compostela after-school program at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, N.J., also enjoy asking her probing questions, such as “How did you know you wanted to be a religious sister?” The students’ questions are part of the efforts of the entire St. John’s community to get acquainted with — and welcome — Sister Menke and three of her fellow Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Mich., who arrived in
Veterans Services of the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey and Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney participated in a memorial service on Sept. 20 to honor the brave men and women who served to defend the United States at the traveling Veterans and Athletes United Fallen Heroes Memorial, which visited Passaic County at Rifle Camp Park in Woodland Park, N.J. from Sept. 19 to 23. Bishop Sweeney delivered an opening prayer and made comments to the crowd in front of the memorial, which has been honoring the fallen heroes in the War on Terrorism as well as
Ministers in the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey learned how to leverage their skills with Artificial Intelligence (AI) for parish operations and evangelization on Sept. 10 during a workshop, “AI Tools for Ministry,” at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison, N.J. Six local experts presented on their specific area of expertise with AI. They each demonstrated how AI can be applied daily in their respective fields. The presenters were: Father Alex Nevitt, episcopal delegate for parish leadership development and administrator of St. Bonaventure Parish in Paterson, N.J., who spoke about “AI Tools for Ordained Ministers.” Joseph Ginexi, St.
Last academic year, the seventh-grade literature class at Assumption School in Morristown, N.J., tested their creativity with a fun assignment: making board games based on classic novels. Vanessa Leloia and her small team of students produced a game about “The Hounds of the Baskervilles,” a Sherlock Holmes mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle. “It was great. We made up our own rules. The objective was for players to get back to Baskerville Hall,” said Leloia, now an eighth-grader at Assumption, where she has been a student since fourth grade. She praised their teacher, Maryann Kudlacik, as “funny, sweet, and interactive. She
Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney visited St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison, N.J., on Sept. 7 to celebrate its regularly scheduled 11 a.m. Mass for young adults, which included special prayers for St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati. Pope Leo XIV canonized these two young men as saints that morning in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. They have become models of the Catholic faith, especially for youth and young adults in the Church. Father Paul Manning, vicar for evangelization and vicar for education of the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey, concelebrated the Mass with Bishop Sweeney. Click
Bishop Emeritus Arthur J. Serratelli, 81, is beating back aging one “rep” at a time. An avid weight lifter, he stays in shape by working out three times weekly, like he has done since high school. But recently, Bishop Serratelli, the retired seventh bishop of the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey, stopped lifting heavy weights — doctor’s orders. “My doctor said, ‘Art, it’s time to accept your age,’” Bishop Serratelli, who uses a Bowflex home gym in his residence at Holy Family Parish in Florham Park, N.J. Bishop Serratelli complied with the doctor’s order, but it seems to go
Join Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney to pray peacefully for the unborn during the 2nd Annual N.J. Bishops’ Mass for Life at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25, at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Trenton, N.J. Bishop Sweeney is scheduled to give the homily at the Mass, which will take place before the start of the 2nd Annual N.J. Rally and March for Life at the Statehouse Annex — a short walk from the cathedral. Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., of the Trenton Diocese, will be the principal celebrant of the Mass, which Trenton is hosting. All
The dedication of the newly renovated Holy Spirit Church in Pequannock, N.J., is “an opening of a new chapter in our storybook,” said Father Cesar D. Jaramillo, the parish’s pastor. On Sept. 6, Holy Spirit parishioners and community leaders gathered for Mass for the dedication of the renovations and the consecration of a new altar, as well as the celebration of the parish’s 75th anniversary. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney celebrated the Mass, which was concelebrated by Father Jaramillo and former pastors of Holy Spirit, including Father Stephen Prisk, now pastor at St. Anthony Parish in Hawthorne, N.J. He had envisioned
On Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, the community of Alejandría (Antioquia) gathered at San Pedro Alejandrino Parish in Colombia to bid farewell to Father Rafael Ángel Ciro, priest of the Diocese of Paterson, N.J. The church was filled with family, friends, parishioners, and townspeople who came to offer him their final goodbye. The Eucharist was presided over by Monsignor Juan Manuel Toro Vallejo, Bishop of the Diocese of Girardota, and concelebrated by 14 priests, including six from the Diocese of Paterson. Father Duberney Villamizar, episcopal vicar for Hispanic Affairs, led the delegation and personally accompanied Father Ciro’s body to his native
Above all, Bishop Emeritus Arthur J. Serratelli has considered himself a priest and teacher first — even when his long and varied ministry led him to assume significant leadership roles in the Church as a bishop. Today, Sept. 8, Bishop Serratelli, 81, rejoices as he celebrates the 25th anniversary of his episcopal ordination. He was ordained an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey on Sept. 8, 2000, in the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. Later, Bishop Serratelli moved to the Diocese of Paterson, also in New Jersey, where he was installed as its
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
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The greatest risk in life is to waste it by not seeking to follow God’s plan, Pope Leo XIV said, proclaiming two new saints — two young laymen of the 20th and 21st centuries. “Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upward and make them masterpieces,” the pope said Sept. 7. “The simple but winning formula of their holiness,” he said, is accessible to everyone at any time. “They encourage us with their words: ‘Not I, but
If it weren’t for the late Father Rafael A. Ciro, Claudia Pinillos might not be a practicing Catholic. The approachable personality — and relatable homilies — of this beloved priest from the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey inspired her to “believe in Jesus.” On the morning of Sept. 3, Pinillos joined the faithful from the diocese and beyond in bidding a tearful farewell to the Colombian-born Father Ciro during a Mass of Christian Burial at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, N.J. He died of suicide on Aug. 27. Father Ciro, 45, was pastor of St.
Our Catholic schools in the Paterson Diocese in New Jersey will begin their new school year as the diocese and Universal Church continue to the Jubilee Year of Hope with great excitement and affirmation, affirming their status as schools of academic excellence and discipleship. Our schools are dedicated to the Church’s teaching mission. They honor our mission that provides for the total development of the whole child. As such, we affirm the mission of Catholic schools based on core values which encompass the following: We promote academic excellence rooted in Gospel values. A quality Catholic education produces Church and national
Ninth-grade World History students at Morris Catholic High School in Denville learned more about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 by talking to a U.S. soldier who was there. Well, sort of. Now that Pearl Harbor survivors has dwindled to 16, these students instead conducted a virtual conversation with a fictional soldier during the previous academic year. They used the ChatGPT digital application through SchoolAI.com, asking him questions such as “What was it like seeing the destruction?” The app then formulated answers using vast databases of information across the internet and the specific methodologies it learned
Brian Vohden is going into his second year as president of Morris Catholic High School. On this episode, he shares with Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney and Communications Director Jai Agnish what his first year was like and what he’s looking forward to as a new school year begins. Vohden attended Catholic School in the diocese and worked at Pope John XXIII Regional High School and the Catholic Academy of Sussex County for 19 years, serving in both teaching and administrative roles. Morris Catholic High School is a faith-based, college-prep high school where students are known by name, challenged academically, and
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A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, N.J., for Father Rafael A. Ciro. He died on Aug. 27. He was 45. Father Ciro was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey by Bishop Emeritus Arthur J. Serratelli on May 25, 2013, and was pastor of St. Stephen Parish in Paterson at the time of his passing. He was born on Oct. 29, 1979, in Colombia to the late Rafael Angel Ciro-Rios and Aura Elena Guarín. Father Ciro
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Father Rafael A. Ciro, pastor of St. Stephen Parish in Paterson, died in the Lord on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. Father Ciro was ordained by Bishop Emeritus Arthur J. Serratelli on May 25, 2013, and served the parish families of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, St. Mary in Passaic, St. Nicholas in Passaic, and Sacred Heart and Holy Rosary in Dover before being appointed pastor at St. Stephen in Paterson. Arrangements in the United States: Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025 Visitation: 4 to 7 p.m. St. Stephen Parish 86 Martin Street, Paterson, NJ Vigil Mass: 7 p.m.
“Even though I walk in the dark valley, I fear no evil; for you are at my side with your rod and your staff that give me courage…” – Psalm 23 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, On this past Wednesday, with profound sadness, we shared the news of the sudden death of Father Rafael Ciro, pastor of St. Stephen’s Church, Paterson. We have received official confirmation from the Medical Examiner that Father Rafael died by suicide. We continue to mourn as a diocesan family, and consider our presbyterate, who has lost a brother, the parish community of St. Stephen’s,
9/3 Wed. 11:30 a.m. Mass for diocesan staff – St. Bonaventure Church, Paterson. 9/4 Thu., 9:15 a.m. Mass – Academy of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station; 7 p.m. Diocesan Ministries Appeal Kick-off meeting with pastors and lay appeal chairs – All Saints Academy, Parsippany. 9/5 Fri., 9 a.m. Mass – Assumption School, Morristown, celebrating its 175th anniversary. 9/6 Sat., 8 a.m. Mass for Life & Procession – St. Margaret of Scotland Parish, Morristown; 10:30 a.m. Confirmation – Our Lady of the Magnificat Parish, Kinnelon; 5 p.m. Mass – Holy Spirit Parish, Pequannock, celebrating its 75th anniversary. 9/7 Sun., 11 a.m. Mass
1979 — ordained priest 2013 – 2025 “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” — Saint Augustine The words of Jesus in the gospel in today’s Mass are especially poignant for the Diocese of Paterson as we mourn the sudden passing of our brother and a beloved pastor, Reverend Rafael Ciro. The Lord exhorts us to be attentive to his grace that consoles us with his presence in this fleeting life, “So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of
As we absorb the unfathomable heartbreak at Annunciation in Minneapolis, Minn., we turn to the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, lifting up in prayer those whose lives have been lost or forever changed. Turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Blessed Mother of Sorrows, we ask for her intercession for those whose lives were so tragically taken and for her comfort of the grieving whose lives have been shattered. I invite all of the faithful of our Diocese of Paterson to spend some time in prayer today, particularly with the Holy Rosary, if possible, to lift up all victims of