In communion with Pope Francis, Bishop Serratelli invites the faithful of the Diocese to join with the universal Church around the world in observing “24 Hours for the Lord” — a way to encounter God and his mercy this Lent through Reconciliation and Eucharistic Adoration. Six parishes in the Diocese will host observances of “24 Hours for the Lord” this weekend on Friday, March 9 and Satur­day, March 10.

Spring break. Those two words often bring dread to parents of the college students who will be heading south. Within the next few days, warm spots like Florida will be inundated with thousands of college kids looking to have a good time with not a care in the world.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Our Lady of the Valley (OLV) Parish in Wayne where he served as the main celebrant and homilist of the 5 p.m. vigil Mass on Feb. 24 for the Second Sunday of Lent.

It all started with a $1 cookbook. More than 100,000 cannoli later, the Rosary Society at Our Lady of the Holy Angels Parish here is once again continuing its 46-year-old tradition of the St. Joseph’s Table. It will be held this year on the weekend of March 17-18. Each cannoli will cost $3 and many other sweets and baked goods will also be sold. All proceeds will benefit the parish.

Throughout the Diocese, almost 525 women religious live and serve the faithful sharing their lives, prayers and ministry with the people of God. The presence of these women expresses the reality of a lifelong commitment to the Gospel and the Church’s mission of evangelization. During the week of March 8 to 14, religious sisters across the country will be celebrating in observance of National Catholic Sisters Week, which was created to honor women religious.

Christ the King Parish in New Vernon welcomed Bishop Serratelli, who served as main celebrant and homilist of the 11 a.m. Mass in the church for the Second Sunday of Lent on Feb. 25. Concelebrants of the Mass were: Father Brian Sullivan, pastor; Father Artur Zaba, parochial vicar; and Father Kevin Corcoran, diocesan vice chancellor and the Bishop’s priest-secretary.

The life, ministry and death of Blessed Oscar Romeo of El Salvador — who was gunned down with a single bullet to the heart on March 24, 1980 while celebrating Mass — imitated the Eucharistic sacrifice of Christ in the liturgy that he was presiding over. The late Archbishop of San Salvador poured out his life for God’s people, especially as the champion of the poor in his native Central American country — to the point of allowing himself to be offered up as a martyr. So declared Msgr. George Hundt, pastor of St. Vincent Martyr Parish in Madison, who led the Stations of the Cross based on the teachings of Pope Francis on Feb. 23 in the church, followed by a reflection on Blessed Romero.

Too numb to grieve yet, Raimundo Rivera could not cry. Instead, the high school student stayed focused on a grim task at hand — helping to lower bodies of seven members of his family into a mass grave. Shortly before, rebel extremists gunned down his family, including his mother and father, at their home in northern El Salvador on March 26, 1981. They were victims of the Central American nation’s long and bloody civil war raging at that time.

With the U.S. Supreme Court declining the Trump Administration’s appeal that sought to end the DACA program and the U.S. Senate’s failure to pass a bipartisan bill that would offer protections for immigrants, the clock is still ticking to find a solution for DACA recipients so that they have a pathway for citizenship.