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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has approved the attribution a miraculous healing to the intercession of a young American nun, opening the way to her beatification. Born and raised in New Jersey, Miriam Teresa Demjanovich (1901-1927) entered the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth in 1926 and died one year later, taking her religious vows one month before her death.The miracle that opens the way for the beatification of Miriam Teresa Demjanovich involves the restoration of perfect vision to a boy who had gone legally blind because of macular degeneration. Silvia Correale, the postulator for Sr Teresa’s cause in Rome, said...

RODIMER: PSYCHOLOGIST GAVE ME BAD ADVICE Tuesday, March 4, 2003 By Maya KremenHerald News The Diocese of Paterson is now placing some of the blame for an alleged serial abuser on a spiritual counselor who said he was fit to return to ministry.The Rev. Benedict Groeschel, a prominent New York Franciscan friar and psychologist, treated James T. Hanley, during the 1980s, after Hanley allegedly abused more than 15 boys in a Mendham parish. Groeschel said at the time that Hanley's problem was alcoholism, not a tendency to abuse minors, according to Marianna Thompson, the diocesan spokeswoman.The diocese removed Hanley...

The Paterson Diocese is facing a financial crisis after years of subsidizing struggling parishes, schools and charitable programs, church officials said Wednesday. The diocese said it has accumulated $37 million in debt, and is deciding how to downsize its vast network of urban and suburban ministries that serves 378,000 Catholics in Passaic, Morris and Sussex counties. "Like any family, we cannot afford to live beyond our means," the Rev. James Mahoney, the vicar general, and second-ranking cleric in the diocese, said in a statement. "In the past, the diocese functioned as a safety net for parishes, schools and agencies that...

A deacon formerly associated with the controversial Society of St. John will not be a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Paterson, N.J. Deacon Joseph Levine is still a deacon in the diocese, but will not be ordained to the priesthood, Marianna Thompson, the diocesan communications director, said Tuesday. The diocese announced late last week that Deacon Levine would not be ordained Saturday in Paterson as previously scheduled, but released no other details. Four other men were ordained. Ms. Thompson confirmed Deacon Levine’s ordination is off permanently, a result of the “discernment” process during which the deacon and church officials...

Loving Hispanic woman is a state agency's ideal Thursday, May 13, 2004 "It means so much to them to have a home, to have some stability," says Margaret Quintana, surrounded by four of her five foster children. Margaret Quintana's most prized possessions include the mementos of a typically proud mother: pictures of smiling children, and letters, cards, and poems from them that describe the difference that her love made in their lives.They are not her biological children. They are the dozens of foster children, most of them Hispanic, whom Quintana has taken into her home during the last 16 years.Quintana...

Vatican Announces New Leader For Paterson NJ Diocese For the last quarter century, Bishop Frank Rodimer has been the head of the Paterson Diocese. He has been a popular bishop. However, there have been some recent sex abuse scandals involving priests. Today, he will be replaced. The Paterson Diocese serves 377,000 Catholics in Morris, Sussex and Passaic counties. For 26 years, it has been run by Bishop Frank Rodimer. But today, he is expected to be replaced by Arthur Serratelli, currently Vicar General, the number two position, in the Newark Archdiocese. The 60-year old Serratelli is highly regarded as smart,...

LOVE MAKES A FAMILY?Jon and Michael Galluccio In 1995, Michael Galluccio and Jon Holden, who had been partners for 16 years, decided they would like to adopt a child through the NJ Division of Youth and Family Services.While on the10 year long waiting list for a healthy child, they became foster parents to an HIV+ infant.  After they nursed him through many years, their desire to adopt him was thwarted by state law that did not allow gay couples to co-adopt.  They took their case to the NJ Supreme Court.  The story of how they won their case is one...

Response to Brooks Egerton’s Article of March 2, 2003 in the Dallas Morning News The headline of this article claiming that I played down the abuse crisis is an absolute untruth. Anyone reading my books or listening to my talks on this subject knows that this is utterly untrue, that it is a smear. I must respond carefully to the rest of Egerton’s article because of professional confidentiality. I cannot even acknowledge that I spoke to certain people because of their right to privacy. A few obvious points: Egerton says that according to me the sexual abuse scandal is “largely...