Parish Life

God Bless Jill

Announcements, Parish Life, PNCC /

The Sacrament of Baptism was administered to Jill Chirag Taylor, daughter of Chirag and Aarti Taylor. Congratulations and abundant blessings!

As God made the covenant with his people in their passage through the sea, so Jesus makes a new and everlasting covenant with his followers which we enter into through the waters of Baptism.

As Jesus won new life for us on the cross, with the sign of the cross Jill was marked to receive the new life in the Lord.

As the waters of the Red Sea led the people of Israel to freedom, so the water of Baptism gave new life to Jill leading to salvation. Her parents, godparents, and all members of our parish pledge to help this child to grow in Christian faith.

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Ś+P Sophie Barnes

Parish Life, PNCC /

On Saturday, April 22nd a Funeral Mass was celebrated for Sophie Barnes. 

We paid our final respects to a wonderful person, a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and a lifelong member of Holy Cross parish. The oldest parishioner probably in the history of this parish, she was 104. In 1926 she remembered when the first church of our parish was dedicated by Bishop Francis Hodur in Paterson. She was an active member of the parish singing in the church choir. 

Sophie had a great heart. The daughter of Polish immigrants, she was able to cultivate Polish traditions with parishioners of Holy Cross. When the parish moved from Paterson to Woodland Park (formerly West Paterson), she remained an active member of this parish until the end. I had the privilege to see her many times including a few days before Easter administering her Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Unction.  In our prayers we remember her late husband Emmett E. Barnes as well as the late son Emmett G. Barnes and Audrey Barnes. Other deceased – late Alfred Spiro and her deceased parents John and Constance Mosiewicz as well as deceased relatives and friends.

We express our sympathies to her daughter, Patricia Barnes, MD and Roger Dorband, Carolyn Spiro, grandchildren Christopher Spiro, Joyce Barnes and Darron Burke, Lorraine Barnes and Sarah Eversole, Sophie was a  great-grandmother to Jack Barnes-Eversole. Sophie is also survived by cherished nephews, nieces, godchildren, and cousins.  May she Rest in Peace. Amen. 

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St. Patrick’s Day Luncheon Thank You

Events, Parish Life /

ur parish held its annual St Patrick’s Day Luncheon on Sunday, March 12th in the parish hall. The menu consisted of Corned Beef, Cabbage, Irish Red Potatoes, Carrots, Baked Chicken – Variety of Vegetables, Assorted Breads, Irish Soda Bread, Homemade Desserts, soft drinks with Irish coffee. The green grab bags were part of the celebration giving an occasion for laughter and fun. Parishioners, friends and neighbors attended. We thank parishioner David Obssuth who headed the kitchen with a staff of church volunteers. We had good food, Irish music and a fun time for all.

Upcoming events are Agape celebration on Sunday, March 26th at 3:30 pm, A Picnic on June 4th (Woodland Park residents are welcome), and our Annual Tricky Tray on Saturday, October 21st.

Check our website and Facebook page regularly for updates or send us an E-mail for information on upcoming events. We thank everyone for coming to our annual celebration. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone! 

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A Portion of Fr. Joseph’s Christmas 2022 Homily

Parish Life, PNCC /

My Dear Brothers and Sisters

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We celebrated the greatest gift God ever gave us and all humanity His precious son, Baby Jesus, our Lord and Savior. With Christians around the world, we celebrated the reason for the season – The birth of Jesus born in the stable in Bethlehem. We listened to the Holy Scripture, especially the Gospel about what happened over two thousand years ago. 

In Christmas time to continue to reflect about the mystery of God’s incarnation. It is a remarkable story that God’s Word became flesh in the womb of the Blessed Mother Mary through the divine intervention of the Holy Spirit and the message of the Angel Gabriel. The truth is that the Spirit of the Lord lives in us.  

Mary was chosen to be the mother of Jesus, because she was humble and holy. With her trust, she accepted that noble role of the Mother of the Baby Jesus, our Lord and King. She is the Spiritual Mother of all of us. She accepted that special role with the remarkable and great support of St. Joseph the earthly guardian of Jesus, person of holiness. He didn’t say much in the Gospel but he did a lot. He followed the message of the angels, he listened to Mary and fulfilled God’s will in his life. 

The Christmas message reminds us to suppress our selfishness and to think about others. We look for the opportunities to give rather than to receive. This is the truth, that happiness comes from serving others. 

Wouldn’t it be that great that all mankind were made up of kind women and warmhearted men? The mystery of humanity is that we have more extreme thinking but shorter tempers, bigger ambitions but smaller families, larger houses but more broken homes. We have multiplied our possessions but diminished our values. We buy more but enjoy less. We have added years to life but not life to years. We have become more educated but lack common sense.

If we take the Christmas message into our hearts, we can change it. We need to be willing to accept the values which Jesus brought to earth for us. Jesus wants us to follow his example. How can we do so? Simply by doing good deeds in our life. He wants us to enrich others by serving others in His name.  We are called to love and worship our God at least on Sundays, love our neighbors as ourselves, love tenderly and walk humbly with God.

Children and everyone are called to fulfill our daily tasks to the best of our ability, honestly and conscientiously. Why is it so important?  Simply because the church members are the foundation of our society……

A Christmas Prayer

Come, Lord Jesus, Prince of peace and Beloved Savior; come into our hearts this Christmas and fill us with Your gifts of love and joy. With Mary and Joseph, we rejoice and thank God for You. With the angels and saints in heaven we sing, “Glory to God in the highest.” With the Magi and the shepherds, we bow before You with hearts full of wonder. Help us to follow You faithfully and to share the good news of Your coming with everyone we meet, this Christmas season and always.  Amen.

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