Cardinal Joseph Tobin distressed by murder of local Iman

 

Newark cardinal ‘deeply distressed’ by violent death of local imam

By John Lavenburg

Jan 5, 2024

NEW YORK – In response to the violent death of a local imam, Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark has said he is “deeply distressed by the loss of a “revered faith and community leader.”

Imam Hassan Sharif of the Masjid Muhammed Mosque in Newark died Jan. 3 after he was shot multiple times outside of the mosque that morning. Sharif was transported to University Hospital in critical condition, but succumbed to his injuries in the early afternoon.

“I join with the people of Newark and surrounding communities deeply distressed by the tragic loss of Imam Hassan Sharif of Masjid Muhammed Mosque,” Tobin said in a Jan. 4 statement. “Imam Sharif was a revered faith and community leader in our city who spoke out against violence in our streets and neighborhoods.”

According to local authorities, the shooting occurred just after 6:00 a.m., with Sharif incurring multiple bullet wounds to his abdomen and left arm. He was found by police who reported to the scene, and promptly transported to the hospital.

A suspect or motive for the shooting has not been determined at this point. Authorities have said there is no evidence so far that suggests the shooting was a hate crime.

Sharif had been a transportation officer at Newark Liberty International Airport since 2006. He had been imam at the mosque for five years, and was remembered as a community leader.

“I share the grief of all who mourn the death of this faithful leader and join my prayers with those of his family and friends and our sisters and brothers in the Muslim community,” Tobin said. “May the God of peace grace our hearts and minds and make His home in our city.”

In a Jan. 3 statement, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka condemned the violence, and said that “Sharif stood with the people of this city, and we will stand with him and his family.

“I mourn the death of Imam Hassan Sharif and know any expression of condolence and comfort for his family and loved ones is inadequate. Our hearts are broken,” Baraka said.

“As a city, we mourn so much today, but we must refuse to mourn our capacity to love each other and to embody our ideals for tolerance and understanding, acceptance, and equality,” Baraka continued. “We must continue to build a Newark that serves as a safe refuge for all – and where justice is served to those who act out in violence.”

Saving a parish church by designation of Oratory

 

In rare move, Catholic officials give dying N.J. church new life

By 

• Brianna Kudisch | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Mass was held at at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Montclair last weekend. The priest offered Communion and the congregation recited the Lord’s Prayer, as they have for generations at the towering brick church.

But a regular Mass was not always guaranteed at Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Six years ago, the Archdiocese of Newark combined the historic church with a nearby parish in Montclair. As Masses dwindled and the church closed for a time, it appeared Our Lady of Mount Carmel might be permanently shuttered.

But parishioners rallied and fought to save their beloved church. They included siblings Marialena and Raffaele Marzullo, who grew up going to the church and taking part in its community. They appealed directly to the College of Cardinals at the Vatican to keep the church open.

Last month, the church’s supporters scored a major victory when the Archdiocese of Newark unexpectedly announced Our Lady of Mount Carmel will continue to serve the community as an “oratory.” The rare classification means the church can continue to hold Masses and remain a place of worship even if it is no longer its own parish.

“It’s a miracle, all by itself,” Raffaele Marzullo said of the surprise announcement.

An oratory is still a church — it just doesn’t have the organizational structure that goes along with being a parish, said Maria Margiotta, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Newark.

“Small parishes that may be struggling with viability can retain use of the church building through the classification of ‘oratory,’” she said.

The word oratory comes from the Latin verb for “to pray.”

The designation respects “the strong bonds people develop with their faith communities and church buildings,” Margiotta said.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church will be designated as a worship place for daily prayer, the celebration of Mass and sacraments, the diocese said. Masses will be held on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8:30 a.m.; Saturdays at 4:30 p.m.; and Sundays at 11 a.m.

A special Mass to celebrate the installation of the newly appointed rector, the Rev. Giandomenico Flora, will be held in the fall, the diocese said.

The church, built in 1937, has always welcomed new people, especially immigrant families from Italy who created a tight knit community over the years, said Marialena Marzullo. However, the neighborhood of Italian immigrants near the Bay Street train station on the Montclair-Glen Ridge border gradually changed and became more diverse as church attendance dwindled.

“Although our doors were closed, we never left the building,” Marialena Marzullo said of the period the church remained shuttered.

As for the new designation of an oratory, “that’s absolutely fine,” she added.

“As long as people can continue to (worship and feel a sense of community),” she said, “people can continue to receive their sacraments, and have their marriages and their children grow up in that church, that’s all that really matters.”

Our Lady of Mount Carmel remains under the Archdiocese of Newark, operating fully and independently, officials said. It will remain in the parish community of St. Teresa of Calcutta in Montclair, which also includes the larger Immaculate Conception Church in downtown Montclair.

More than $300,000 in repairs have been made to the Our Lady of Mount Carmel church building, diocese officials said.

An additional $55,000 in grant funding provided by the archdiocese will fund other renewal and furnishing costs. A pastoral council and finance council will oversee the oratory’s administration and work with the new rector and community to “sustain success and viability,” the diocese said.

Attendance, finances and other benchmarks will be “monitored and reviewed within a designated period of time to ensure the endurance and continuation of the oratory’s self-reliance,” according to the diocese.

The Archdiocese of Newark, which is led by Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, serves 1.3 million Catholics in 212 parishes and more than 70 schools in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties.

“This is a joyous occasion,” said Flora, the oratory’s new rector. “We recognize that many parishioners have yearned for the opportunity to come together and celebrate weekday and weekend Masses.”

“The pandemic reminded us of the difficulties of not being able to worship as a community,” he added. “We now depend on the active participation of our faith community to help Our Lady of Mount Carmel Oratory thrive and grow.”

From Newark; just one of many dioceses welcoming new Catholics despite the pandemic

 

Joining Catholic Church amid pandemic is ‘courageous choice,’ says priest

Jai Agnish April 1, 2021

Catechumens are seen during a Rite of Election ceremony at Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, N.J., Feb. 21, 2021. At the Easter Vigil April 3 in parishes around the Newark Archdiocese, a total of 270 adult catechumens will enter the fullness of the Catholic Church through the sacraments of initiation -- baptism, confirmation and first Communion. (CNS photo/Alexandra Pais, Jersey Catholic)

NEWARK, N.J. (CNS) — At parishes across the Archdiocese of Newark, the Easter Vigil will mark a significant milestone for catechumens ready to enter the fullness of the Catholic Church through the sacraments of initiation.

In all, 270 adults will be baptized and confirmed and will receive their first Communion April 3.

“The fact that there are this many people is truly a testament to the power of God’s call in our lives,” said Father Armand Mantia, archdiocesan director of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

“In the midst of this pandemic, we still have 270 people who have heard God’s call and have made the courageous choice to answer it at this unbelievable time in human history,” he said.

Close to 400 adults typically receive through the sacraments of initiation in a normal year, Father Mantia said.

The faith journey of this year’s group began last year and accelerated in February when the catechumens, in the presence of Newark Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, took part in the Rite of Election ceremony at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark.

“The Rite of Election starts this extremely powerful and extremely important Lenten season for these adults,” Father Mantia told JerseyCatholic.org, the archdiocesan news site.

The rite is the liturgy through which the catechumens get the official approval to advance to the Easter sacraments. With the bishop’s blessing, they become known as “the Elect.” Catechumens inscribe their names in the Book of the Elect as a pledge of fidelity.

Usually, in a nonpandemic year, there are two Rite of Election ceremonies for all adults in the Newark Archdiocese preparing for their initiation into the Church. Because of pandemic restrictions again this year, four smaller liturgies were held over one weekend at the cathedral.

Because the RCIA process takes place at a parishioner’s local parish, the Rite of Election ceremony was the first time the entire group was together in one space. That makes it a special occasion for the catechumens, Father Mantia said.

“When they come together and hear all those names called, they realize they are not alone,” he said. “That God is really at work in the world.”

After the Rite of Election, the Elect experience a ritual known as the scrutinies during Mass at their local parish during Lent.

“Now, scrutiny is not as the name would apply,” Father Mantia explained. “It’s not an intensive examination or a three-week final exam.”

Instead, scrutinies are three powerful prayer services, which take place after the homily at Sunday Mass where the Elect are prayed for, asked to be strengthened, and asked to be purified of anything holding them back from accepting this new life.

“It’s not absolution,” he said. “It’s not confession. It’s to ask for a stronger and more powerful ongoing conversion to prepare for the Easter sacraments.”

Following the scrutinies, the Elect participate in the Palm Sunday and Holy Week liturgies. At the Easter Vigil, they celebrate all three initiation sacraments in the local parish where they have been preparing and will worship following their baptism.

Father Mantia said he appreciated the hard work of parishes and members of the RCIA ministry who adapted their programs to meet the needs of the catechumens.

“It really does speak to the power of God’s call, and also to the dedication of the people involved in this ministry who are willing to reinvent the wheel this year to be of service,” he said.

Now Cardinal Tobin will skip the Synod on youth in Rome

Cardinal Tobin will not attend Oct. Vatican synod

September 21, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Newark, N.J., Sep 21, 2018 / 09:21 am (CNA).- The Archbishop of Newark has announced that he will not attend an October gathering of bishops slated to discuss young adults and vocational discernment. The archbishop cited his pastoral obligations in the archdiocese amid the U.S. Church’s ongoing sexual abuse crisis.

“This Synod is a uniquely important moment in the life of the Church, and I was honored to have been named by the Holy Father as a member of this special gathering whose topic, Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment, is of vital concern to the Church today and in the future,” Cardinal Joseph Tobin wrote in a Sept. 21 letter to Newark’s Catholics.

“However, as you are aware, the Archdiocese of Newark suffers greatly as a result of the crisis that continues to unfold. After the revelations of the past summer, I could not see myself absent for a month from our archdiocese and from you, the people entrusted to my care. After prayer and consultation, I wrote to Pope Francis, asking that he dispense me from attending, but assuring him that I strongly support the objectives of the Synod and that I would obey whatever he decided.”

“The Holy Father responded the next day with a beautiful pastoral and compassionate message. He told me that he understands why I need to stay close to home, and he released me from the obligation to attend the Synod next month,” Tobin added.

Tobin was a personal appointment of Pope Francis for attendance at the synod of bishops, which will take place Oct. 3-28 in Rome.

Other U.S. bishops who will attend are Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, who was also appointed by Pope Francis to attend, along with Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop José H. Gomez, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Bishop Frank J. Caggiano, and Bishop Robert E. Barron, who were elected as delegates by the U.S. bishops’ conference, and Archbishop William Skurla, leader of the Ruthenian Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh, will participate as an ex officio member of the synod.

Tobin’s Archdiocese of Newark has been the subject of controversy in recent months. In June, retired Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, formerly of Newark, was revealed to have been credibly accused of serially sexually abusing a teenage boy in the 1970s. McCarrick was subsequently accused of serially sexually abusing another teenage boy, and of sexually coercing and assaulting numerous priests and seminarians for decades.

Tobin told a journalist in late August that he had heard rumors shortly after his 2017 arrival in the Archdiocese of Newark about McCarrick’s sexual misconduct. He said he did not investigate those rumors because he found them unbelievable.

In August, after reports emerged about homosexual behavior among some Newark priests, and allegations were made public regarding the conduct of a former seminary administrator, Tobin told Newark priests that no priest had “ever spoken to me about a gay subculture in the Archdiocese of Newark.”

Later that month, Seton Hall University announced an independent investigation into allegations of misconduct at Newark’s Immaculate Conception Seminary, which is connected to the university.

In his Sept. 21 letter, Tobin said that during a Sept. 14 prayer service at Newark’s cathedral, “I promised that we will act decisively to address the sins and injustices that have been committed against our most vulnerable sisters and brothers and to ensure that victims receive justice. I also acknowledged that rebuilding trust in the leadership of our Church at all levels will require authentic and measurable change.”

“I am keenly aware that words alone are not enough. We must show by our actions that justice will be done. Never again will we permit the horrific abuses that occurred here and in too many other places in our Church. Never again will we return to ‘business as usual,’ allowing human wickedness, sin or hypocrisy to blind us from the truth or prevent us from doing God’s work.”

Tobin asked that Newark’s Catholics pray for Pope Francis and the synod, saying that “during the month of October, and throughout the months and years ahead, I will do everything in my power to lead this Archdiocese through processes of renewal and change that break down structures and systems that permit or foster abuse in any form.”

“I will work for justice, healing and compassion for all.”