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METUCHEN – The Most Reverend James F. Checchio, JCD, MBA, Bishop of Metuchen, will preside at Holy Week and Easter liturgies and services at the following locations. All are welcome and encouraged to participate, but due to limited seating capacity and to allow for proper distancing, congregants may be required to register with the parish in advance to attend in-person.

In less than a week, we will enter into Holy Week, the most sacred days of the year. Through the liturgical celebrations of the week and as we read the Lord’s Passion, we will reflect on Christ’s triumphal procession into Jerusalem and then follow Him on the way of the cross, where we will witness His agony and suffering.

CLINTON, N.J. – The women housed at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility, the only women’s prison in the state of New Jersey, seem to have the cards stacked against them.

As the bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, I have been blessed to travel throughout the four counties of our diocese, often meeting and praying with so many faithful disciples of Christ, each facing their own circumstances in life. Though my travels have been lessened by the pandemic, among those in the diocese whom I have been fortunate to meet on regular past visits are the women housed at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, situated in Hunterdon County.

So that the Church of Metuchen may be spiritually one in a common observance of Lent, the following days of fast and abstinence are to be observed by all Catholics of the Diocese who enjoy the blessings of good health.

As you may know, the Holy Father is participating in a virtual meeting today with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, with the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, and other leaders, marking the first-ever International Day of Human Fraternity. The meeting can be viewed by visiting the Vatican News website.

PISCATAWAY – In the face of a pandemic, with many people struggling to make ends meet, Bishop James F. Checchio today announced the establishment of a new secretariat in the Diocese of Metuchen – the Secretariat for Charity.

METUCHEN – Fran Johnson is a retired schoolteacher. Frank McCann has years of experience in accounting. Both are parishioners of St. Matthias Parish in Somerset, and both were recently recognized for their efforts to support human life.

We, the Catholic Bishops of New Jersey, ask Catholics and people of good will to join us on Friday January 22, 2021, the 48th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, in a Day of Prayer and Fasting to end abortion. 

METUCHEN – The miracle of Christmas reminds us that Christ was born into this world to save us from spiritual darkness, the Bishop of Metuchen told the faithful of the diocese.

METUCHEN – We can never doubt for one moment that Mary is with us at this time, Bishop James F. Checchio of Metuchen said on the vigil of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Statement on Holy See’s Report on Theodore McCarrick Most Reverend José H. Gomez Archbishop of Los Angeles President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

PISCATAWAY – Like Catholic dioceses across the nation and even around the world, the Diocese of Metuchen eagerly awaited the release of the Holy See’s findings of its investigation into disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick – and the report finally came

In the midst of our presidential election’s contentious campaign, many of our faithful have been telling me about their concern for the future of our country. I, as your bishop, and all of our clergy, too, are being asked to help Catholics form their consciences in accordance with God’s truth.

The Catholic Church believes and teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death. For that reason, we, the Bishops of each of the dioceses in New Jersey, join in voicing the strongest possible opposition to the “Reproductive Freedom Act.”

KENDALL PARK – Daniel Mark Anderl had just celebrated his 20th birthday. A lifelong Catholic and the only child of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas and defense attorney Mark Anderl, Daniel Anderl gave his life to protect his mother and father, taking the shooter’s first bullet directly to the chest, when a man holding a package on their front door step opened fire into the family’s home on July 19.

ASBURY – On the patronal feast day of the Diocese of Metuchen, the Queenship of Mary, and in the open-air National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Bishop James F. Checchio of Metuchen ordained five men for service to the priesthood, the largest group of men to be ordained in the diocese in over 25 years.

BRIDGEWATER – Across the country, college students are packing their cars, preparing to return to campuses this fall in pursuit of academic achievement, community life, and personal growth – and Catholic seminarians are doing the same.

EDISON – St. Thomas Aquinas High School has adopted a new governance model where a president and a principal will work collaboratively with a board of limited jurisdiction.

METUCHEN – More than a year after the Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act took effect in New Jersey, Catholics in the Diocese of Metuchen continue to oppose the law, which allows terminally ill state residents to end their own lives.