St. Jude Parish

Thanks to a new water-tight tin roof, the hut’s dirt floor no longer turns to mud when it rains. And the beds don’t get soaked at night. That’s what a father reported, delighted with a roof on his family’s shack in Batey Lecheria in the southern Domini­can Republic. Helping install the roof were missioners of Our Lady of Good Counsel (OLGC) Parish in Pequannock, who visited the impoverished village Nov. 6–13.

A history major in college, Father John Calabro didn’t like one career option after graduation: teaching. He laughs when he considers his life today: as a diocesan priest, serving as chaplain and a teacher at Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta. “God works in mysterious ways,” said Father Calabro, ordained a diocesan priest in 2019 — different from his previous life plans of a career and marriage. He spoke as part of a vocations talk and discussion with young adults on Nov. 9 at the Evangelization Center at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison. He told them, “God is with you on the journey. Trust that he will lead you and build you up.”

In an inspired homily at the 22nd annual Respect Life Mass Satur­day, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney said pro-life advocacy is about changing one heart at a time with love and compassion. “We are here because our hearts have been converted to believe and witness to the dignity and value of every human life from the moment of conception,” the leader of the Diocese of Pater­son said to those gathered at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson. “But we must ask ourselves what are we doing — as St. Pope John Paul II inspires us — to build a culture of life, to change not only laws but hearts. One heart at a time if necessary.”