Shortly after midnight on March 31, a fire drove more than 20 tenants of a three-level home on Main Street in Paterson into the darkness of the night. Several members of these six families — three from Our Lady of Victories (OLV) Parish here — fled so quickly that they escaped into the street without shoes and wearing only pajamas.

On Good Friday, April 14, in the Paterson Diocese and across our nation, the Pontifical Good Friday Collection is to be taken up in every parish in the United States to support ministries and good works in the Holy Land. It will also help to provide humanitarian aid to Christians and others who have been displaced by the war in Syria.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Boonton where he celebrated Mass for the Fifth Sunday of Lent. During the visit he administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to young people from Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Ss. Cyril and Methodius Parish, also in Boonton.

To honor and in thanksgiving for all the religious sisters, priests and brothers, who serve in various ministries in the Diocese of Paterson, a vesper service was held in St. Philip the Apostle Church in Clifton April 2 to mark the diocesan celebration of World Day of Consecrated Life. Pope St. John Paul II instituted this day of prayer for women and men in consecrated life in 1997.

The Diocesan Shrine of St. John Paul II/Holy Rosary Parish in Passaic welcomed Bishop Serratelli April 2. During his visit he was the principal celebrant of Mass for the Fifth Sunday of Lent April 2. During the Mass, the Bishop blessed a new monstrance that will be used during the year as the parish begins to mark its centennial anniversary. The Mass also marked the 12th anniversary of the death of St. John Paul on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 2, 2005, after he had uttered his final audible words, “Let me go to my Father’s house.”

Mission work may be difficult but being able to connect young people to embrace Jesus and his Church makes it all worthwhile, according to a group of young adults who are a part of the National Evangelization Team (NET). For more than two decades, NET has been hosting retreats in the Paterson Diocese reaching thousands of youths. Once again, during the Lenten season, NET has touched the lives of many middle school and high school students by holding retreats in parishes as these young people prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Carrie Lupini’s heart sank, as she saw a police cruiser pulling into the driveway of her Indiana home. She would learn that her eldest son, Anthony, who was home on Christmas break from Purdue University, had suffered a head injury in a car accident — so serious that he had been airlifted to a hospital an hour away.

Last Friday evening, about 80 candles softly lit the altar at St. Patrick Church in Chatham, which held a monstrance that contained the Blessed Sacrament. The soft sounds of songs with titles, such as “I Come to You, Jesus,” filled the inside of the church, sung by more than 50 parishioners who sought the peace and joy of God during Mercy Night: Eucharistic Adoration that had a different style and format.

Gov. Chris Christie’s 2018 budget is not kind when it comes to aid for non-public schools. It proposes a cut of $9 million from non-public school aid, reducing it from $95.5 million to $86.5 million. Included in the cuts are the elimination of the entire Non-public School Security Program, which had been funded at $50 per student and the elimination of increases in nonpublic school nursing services and technology aid.