New Jersey Priest commits suicide; mourners include his Bishop

 New Jersey bishop mourns for priest who committed suicide

Father Rafael Ciro, pictured above, served in the Diocese of Paterson New Jersey. | Credit: Courtesy of Diocese of Paterson

By Walter Sánchez Silva

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 2, 2025 / 14:53 pm

The bishop of Paterson, New Jersey, Kevin Sweeney, mourned the suicide of Father Rafael Ciro, a Colombian-born priest who served as pastor of St. Stephen's Church. The prelate said he is praying for him and asked for prayers, entrusting him to God's mercy.

In a statement Sweeney noted that the priest, born in 1979 in Colombia, had been "faithful, joyful, and dedicated" since his ordination on May 25, 2013.

The deceased priest served at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Paterson, St. Mary's in Passaic, St. Nicholas in Passaic, and Sacred Heart and Holy Rosary in Dover before being appointed pastor of St. Stephen's in Paterson.

Speaking to Univision, María Rodríguez said that Ciro "was a very good priest. He was very well-loved; he had many people who loved him, even though he is no longer with us. We miss him."

A priest ‘is not exempt from illness’

In his statement, the bishop pointed out that “A priest is a human being, and none of us is immune to illness. Though most of us realize that physical illness can be fatal, we may not always realize that the same is true of other illnesses.”

“Father Rafael fought the good fight in his struggles with mental illness with the support and care of friends, counselors, and brother priests,” he emphasized.

Sweeney also noted that "profound desperation that insidiously led a person of deep faith to this earthly conclusion is impossible to comprehend. Therefore, we lift Father Rafael and his grieving loved ones and colleagues up in prayer for the consolation that only God gives.”

A call to hope

“Shaken to the core by this tragedy, our faith in eternal life through Christ is our light in darkness,” the bishop affirmed.

“No one of us can – nor will we ever – have complete understanding of Father Rafael’s fears and struggles. We do know that he fought with courage to find equilibrium and tranquility that would allow him to live with the peaceful heart for which he longed. The long shadow of this moment does not diminish the bright light of his spirit,” he pointed out.

“Grant him, Lord, eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace,” the prelate prayed.

Funeral services for Father Rafael Ciro

The wake for the priest was scheduled for Sept. 2 at St. Stephen's Parish. The funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, Sept. 3, at St. John the Baptist Cathedral, located at 387-389 Grand Street, Paterson. The Eucharist can be followed at this link.

A private funeral service will be held for the family in Colombia.

In the announcement regarding the funeral service, the Diocese of Paterson asked for continued prayers for Ciro, "his mother, Doña Elena Guarín, his siblings, the priests of Paterson, and his many friends."

Condolences may be sent to the Clergy Personnel Office, St. Paul Inside the Walls, 205 Madison Avenue, Madison, New Jersey 07940.

What does the Catholic Church say about suicide?

The Church's teaching on suicide is found in Nos. 2280-2283 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In his statement, the bishop quoted 2283 which says: "We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.”

Furthermore, although suicide "is contrary to love for the living God," the catechism also establishes in No. 2282 that "Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide."

"With this certainty, we entrust Father Raphael to the infinite mercy of God, rich in compassion," the bishop of Paterson added.

Seek help

If you or someone you know is experiencing an emotional crisis or suicidal thoughts, remember that the Catholic Church offers spiritual guidance, prayer, and someone to talk to and encourages seeking professional help.

You can contact helplines, such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (988 in the U.S.) for your country, or go to your parish, where you will find pastoral support and resources.

The Catholic Church teaches that life is a gift from God. The Church accompanies those who suffer with compassion and without judgment, offering hope, prayer, and consolation to the affected families.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Federal government rule changes could be devastating for dioceses dependent on foreign-born Priests; a New Jersey diocese fights back

 

NJ diocese, priests

sue federal government 

over religious worker visa

rule change

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of Paterson, N.J., is seen participating in the Via Crucis, or the Way of the Cross, near the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson on Good Friday, April 7, 2023. The Paterson Diocese and five of its diocesan priests filed a lawsuit against federal agencies Aug. 8, 2024, in the U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., arguing a rule change in religious worker visas means the foreign-born priests are in the position of having to "count the days until they have no lawful choice but to abandon their congregations" in the U.S. (OSV News

(OSV News) — A New Jersey diocese and several priests are suing the federal government over a rule change in religious worker visas, in a case that highlights the perfect storm created by the nation’s shifting immigration policies and the Catholic Church in the United States’ increased reliance on foreign-born clergy amid a downward trend of domestic vocations to the priesthood.

The Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, and five of its diocesan priests filed the lawsuit Aug. 8 in the U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey. Four of the priests — Father Regin Nico Dela Cruz Quintos, Father Joemin Kharlo Chong Parinas, Father Armando Diaz Vizcara Jr. and Father Joseph Anthony Aguila Mactal — are citizens of the Philippines. The fifth priest, Father Manuel Alejandro Cuellar Ceballos, is a Colombian national.

Named in the suit as defendants are the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, along with their respective heads, Secretary Antony Blinken, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Director Ur Mendoza Jaddou.

The suit alleges that the agencies and their leaders have placed the priests in the position of having to “count the days until they have no lawful choice but to abandon their congregations” in the U.S.

At issue is what the diocese’s legal counsel described in an Aug. 16 statement as an unlawful and unconstitutional alteration of how visa availability is calculated for certain noncitizens, which creates “profound immigration delays for noncitizen religious workers.”

Under U.S. immigration law, two types of visas are available for religious workers. The employment-based EB-4, or special immigrant religious worker, visa permits qualified religious workers to immigrate to the U.S on a permanent basis and to potentially become citizens. The R-1 visa, by contrast, allows religious workers to enter the country on a temporary basis and to perform services for up to five years.

However, in March 2023, the State Department announced a sudden change in the allocation of EB-4 visas, thereby significantly lengthening for most applicants the time required to qualify.

In an explanatory note about the revision on its website, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops observed, “One indirect impact of this change is that many more religious workers on a nonimmigrant religious worker (R-1) visa, who might otherwise have sought adjustment of status under the EB-4 category, will be forced to leave the United States upon reaching the maximum five-year period of stay allowed for an R-1 visa.”

In March, President Joe Biden extended the EB-4 non-minister special immigrant religious worker program through Sept. 30, although those entering the U.S. solely as ministers, along with their spouses and children, are not affected by the sunset date.

In its legal filing, the diocese noted that the R-1 visas for four of the priests will expire in May 2025, while that of a fifth will lapse in April 2026.

The diocese alleges the rule change by the federal government was “arbitrary, capricious, misguided, unlawful, conducted without notice or comment and … an incorrect interpretation of the Immigration and Nationality Act.”

The complaint also holds that the federal government’s “implementation of immigration law discriminates against religious employers and favors nonreligious employers,” explained the diocese in its Aug. 16 statement.

Violations of the Administrative Procedures Act, the Congressional Review Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the free exercise clause of the First Amendment, and the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fifth Amendment are all alleged in the lawsuit.

“Our Catholic communities rely on our international clergy to shepherd our flocks and nourish their spiritual journey,” said Paterson Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney in the diocese’s statement. “The State Department’s change to the regulations threatens our mission to serve our communities.”

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, who chairs the USCCB’s Committee on Migration, said during the U.S. bishops’ spring 2024 general assembly in Louisville, Kentucky, that the religious worker visa issue “is only expected to worsen with time, if not addressed” — especially since close to 90% of the nation’s Catholic dioceses rely on foreign-born clergy and religious.

“This is simply not sustainable for our ministries — and it is especially devastating for parishes that will be left without a pastor when he is forced to depart the country at the end of his R-1 visa,” Bishop Seitz told the assembly.

A new Bishop for the Diocese of Paterson NJ

Update: Paterson bishop retires; pope names Brooklyn priest as successor

By Catholic News Service

4.15.2020 11:50 AM ET

 

CNS photo/courtesy DeSales Media

Father Kevin J. Sweeney, pastor of St. Michael's Catholic Church the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., is seen in this undated photo. Pope Francis appointed him bishop of the Diocese of Paterson, N.J., April 15, 2020, after accepting the resignation of Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli. (CNS photo/courtesy DeSales Media Group) See APPOINT-PATERSON April 15, 2020.

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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, New Jersey, and named Father Kevin J. Sweeney, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, as his successor.

Bishop Serratelli is 75, the age at which canon requires bishops to turn in their resignation to the pope. Bishop-designate Sweeney, 50, will be the eighth bishop of Paterson.

The resignation and appointment were announced in Washington April 15 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio issued a congratulatory statement about Bishop-designate Sullivan's appointment, saying, "I could not think of a better choice."

As a priest, he has served the diocese for 22 years, Bishop DiMarzio said, "and is an outstanding example of a parish priest. I know he is a man of prayer and is a zealous advocate of vocations to the priesthood."

Bishop-designate Sweeney is fluent in Spanish, having studied the language extensively in programs in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.

He is expected to begin his ministry in the Diocese of Paterson later this year. The date for his episcopal ordination has not been scheduled due to the pandemic.

Until that time, Bishop Serratelli will serve as apostolic administrator of the diocese. A native of Newark, New Jersey, the now-retired bishop was named to head the Paterson Diocese in 2004. Before that, he was an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark for four years.

A native of the New York borough of Queens, Kevin J. Sweeney was born Jan. 10, 1970, to the late James and Agnes (Blewitt) Sweeney. He has a sister, Marie Shanahan, a brother-in-law, Kevin, a brother, Brendan, and a sister-in-law, Tara, and five nieces and nephews.

He grew up in St. Luke's Parish in Whitestone, New York, and attended Cathedral Prep from 1984 to 1988 and was a star on the high school seminary's baseball team, excelling as an infielder, outfielder and pitcher. While his dream of playing professional baseball never materialized, he was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 2013.

After high school graduation, he entered the Cathedral Seminary House of Formation in Douglaston, New York, and studied at St. John's University in New York, where he earned a bachelor of arts in philosophy in 1992. He then entered the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York, where he received a master of divinity degree in theology. During his time at the seminary in Huntington, he spent a pastoral year at St. Agatha's Parish in Brooklyn.

On June 28, 1997, he was ordained for the Brooklyn Diocese by the late Bishop Thomas V. Daily. Then-Father Sweeney's first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Parish in Jamaica, New York, from 1997 to 2003. He was then assigned to Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Corona, New York, serving there from 2003 to 2004.

In 2004, Bishop DiMarzio named Father Sweeney diocesan vocations director, a position he held until 2010. During this time, he also served as the first director of the Pope John Paul II House of Discernment.

In January 2010, Bishop-designate Sweeney was appointed to his current assignment, as pastor of St. Michael's Parish in Brooklyn's Sunset Park section.

"This is a proud day for the Diocese of Brooklyn that the Holy Father would have chosen one of our priests to be a bishop in our tri-state area," Bishop DiMarzio said in his statement.