More Good News

For four hours each day, Msgr. Bill Naughton is on the phone. In a time, when everyone is connected to technology, his purpose is much more meaningful. He calls it his “phone ministry” and since the pandemic began, he has been giving blessings and encouragement via phone to the service recipients and even the staff of Straight and Narrow (S&N), an agency of Diocesan Catholic Charities. Straight and Narrow is the largest program of its kind in the nation to help those with substance abuse addictions.

As the preparatory phase has begun for Synod 2023, synodal delegates attended a follow-up meeting in person at the Evangelization Center at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison Jan. 15. This meeting was for parish delegates who went through the online training that is available on the diocesan website.

In October, Dylan Francis Lysaght, six months old, received a cute blue hand-crocheted cap to wear in the cold weather. He also got a cross and set of rosaries they are displayed around his crib and new religious picture book that sits in his library ready for when his parents, Jeff Lysaght and Kristen Magrath, read to him.

Through its upcoming Pentecost Project, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson seeks not only to motivate Catholics to become “missionary disciples” as part of the New Evangelization, but also aims to inspire parishioners to preach the Gospel by reaching to the unchurched in the cathedral community and out in the surrounding neighborhoods in Pater­son and beyond.

Lawmakers in New Jer­sey voted to pass the most pro-­abortion legislation in the state’s history Jan. 10 that expands abortion access in the state and codifies “abortion rights.” On Jan. 6, this last-minute bill was introduced to the lame-duck legislature and bishops of the state immediately called on Catholics to contact their lawmakers. Large numbers of Catholics called their legislators to vote “no” on this legislation. Despite these efforts, lawmakers, along strict party lines with every Dem­ocrat but one voting “yes,” passed the bill on Jan. 10, the last day of the lame-duck legislative session. It was signed into law last week by Gov. Phil Murphy (D), who pushed for its passage.