by Fr. Jim Chern
Yesterday a friend was describing what a difficult Easter Sunday this was for her. As a faithful Catholic Christian, she was happy with the joy of Easter coming after what probably all of us could…
Over the last few weeks, as this thing went from social distancing, to pretty much being quarantined or under house arrest, to recognizing that this was going to be a really weird Easter - I…
A story was told some years ago that after a forest fire at a National Park, some park rangers made their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno’s damage. As they walked, a ranger…
“What’s the hardest thing about being a priest?” It’s a question that’s come up more times in the last few years than in my earliest years of priesthood – perhaps because of the negativity we’ve…
In the gospels we heard on Monday and Tuesday of this week, in the background (but not too far in the background) has been the betrayal of Judas. St. John in the Gospel we heard…
So many things happen in that Upper Room at the Last Supper that the Church breaks up the accounts of that event. We will hear later this week of those foundational sacramental moments with the…
It dawned on me that I’ve not encountered this Gospel passage at Mass - in at least 25 years. This passage is only proclaimed (I believe) on the Monday of Holy Week. Traditionally in our…
Allow me to state the obvious - this is weird. Live streaming Masses from the Newman Catholic Center here at Montclair State has been weird. Seeing a box of palm branches arrive and remembering our…
In response to some messages, questions (and my apologies if I haven’t responded directly and personally... it’s hard for me to believe that I’ve been busier now with everyone gone than when everyone was around)…
Earlier this week, Mike Lindell, who is the guy who’s commercials are on 24/7 about Pillows was in the news. He was at the White House during one of the daily press briefings about the…