Working for the missions is a privilege according to Mila Burdeos, diocesan mission coordinator, who has worked in the diocesan Mission Office for 19 years. “When we help the missions we are given the opportunity to help people literally all around the world,” said Burdeos. With that privileged work, Burdeos recently returned from the “eternal city” of Rome, where she attended the National Mission Conference, which was a meeting of directors and coordinators of the Diocesan Mission Offices throughout the United States.

Until recently, Marie O’Connor of Our Lady Queen of Peace (OLQP) Parish in Branchville did not know that St. John Paul II had written a pastoral letter in 1995 to the world’s women. That was until the married mother of two teenagers joined a Wednesday-evening study group of 15 women at the Sussex County church to read aloud and examine in detail the late pontiff’s “Letter to Women.” The study group began April 26 and concludes on June 14.

The Paterson Diocese held its jubilee celebration honoring 66 religious who are marking milestone anniversaries this year. Dedicating their lives to various ministries in the Church and the Diocese, the religious sisters, brothers and priests came together on May 20 for the Diocesan Jubilee for Religious at St. Mary Assumption Church in Passaic.

St. Teresa of Calcutta, the celebrated champion of the world’s poor, once spoke about the Lord’s power and influence in her own life by describing herself simply as “a pencil in the hand of God.” Last week, Deacon and Dr. Brian Beyerl of Assumption Parish, Morristown, a renowned neurosurgeon, took the opportunity to speak publicly about his long, distinguished medical career as a “healing ministry.” This led him to quip, “If that’s so, then I’m a scalpel.”

Five states have assisted-suicide laws, while several others, including New Jersey, are examining such legislation.Supporters argue that assisted suicide gives the terminally ill a “death with dignity.” Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, debunked that argument in an address earlier this month to the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute in St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica in Toronto. He said assisted suicide is “deceptively described as ‘aid in dying.’ This is a fabricated expression whose only rhetorical function is to conceal the very nature of the death-dealing action it describes.”

The multilayered rhythms of the Cuban liturgical music fill the air during a recent Sunday Mass at St. Anthony Parish in Havana. Some of the Franciscan priests, who celebrated the liturgy, noticed what many of the congregants were noticing: the strange presence of a conspicuous man dressed in an inconspicuous suit. But that did not stop the enthusiastic worshipers from expressing their faith by praying, singing and clapping.

When Carol Vargas, received the Sacrament of Confirmation administered by Bishop Serratelli in 2012 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Paterson, it was the start of a constant thirst for Christ in her life. Two years before, Vargas had joined her parish’s Confirmation program, and little did she know that preparing for the sacrament would lead to not only receiving the Holy Spirit but also a call to religious life.

Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. James of the Marches Parish here May 14 on Mother’s Day. During the visit, the Bishop celebrated Mass for the Fifth Sunday of Easter and administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to young people of the parish.