Thousands pay respects to fallen trooper at St. Veronica Church
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Traffic came to a standstill around St. Veronica Church in Howell June 12 as scores of area residents lined Route 9 and spilled over onto a nearby overpass just miles from where the man they’d come to honor – Trooper Marc Castellano – had been struck and killed the week before.
The roadways were as close as they could come to the Mass of Christian Burial for Castellano celebrated by Bishop John M. Smith and witnessed by some 2,500 New Jersey State Troopers and police officers from around the country, hundreds of whom crowded into the gymnasium at St. Veronica School to watch the service on a movie screen.
The troopers listened in mournful silence as Msgr. Phillip A. Lowery, state police chaplain and pastor of St. James Parish, Red Bank, spoke movingly of the life and untimely death of the 29-year-old trooper who left behind his wife, Stephanie and two small children, Juliana 4, and Vincent, 1.
“He was the finest of the finest,” said Msgr. Lowery in his homily. He described the loss felt by Castellano’s family, friends and fellow troopers following the fatal accident as an ache that may never subside.
“Since Sunday, life has been lived one hour at a time and now, finally, one minute at a time as we pray to the Lord to stop the full ache that we feel,” Msgr. Lowery said.
At what he termed “this most difficult moment,” Msgr. Lowery urged the mourners to rely on faith which “gets us through.”
He noted that the entire law enforcement community and so many community members and friends were among those “opening their arms” to the Castellano family, members of St. Veronica Parish. “You’ve been there for each other this week. You heard the words of Jesus, ‘well done good and faithful servant.’”
Msgr. Lowery said he was certain Castellano, who would be laid to rest at St. Rose of Lima Cemetery in nearby Freehold, was “greeted by those words” as he “came to the heavenly table.”
He remembered Castellano, who just last month received his master’s degree from Fairleigh Dickenson University, as a man of character and special grace and likened him to a “beacon of light shining very brightly. “For many here, this is the most difficult moment in time but he leaves a legacy that can never be forgotten by all who knew and loved and worked with him.”
In remarks at the end of the Mass, Bishop Smith encouraged everyone to consider that while “Marc’s all too short life on earth is over,” this is not the end of the trooper’s eternal life but a new beginning in Christ. He offered words of comfort, saying “this good man loved God and we are going to miss him and weep for him.
“But Marc has gone on to a new and wonderful life.”
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Traffic came to a standstill around St. Veronica Church in Howell June 12 as scores of area residents lined Route 9 and spilled over onto a nearby overpass just miles from where the man they’d come to honor – Trooper Marc Castellano – had been struck and killed the week before.
The roadways were as close as they could come to the Mass of Christian Burial for Castellano celebrated by Bishop John M. Smith and witnessed by some 2,500 New Jersey State Troopers and police officers from around the country, hundreds of whom crowded into the gymnasium at St. Veronica School to watch the service on a movie screen.
The troopers listened in mournful silence as Msgr. Phillip A. Lowery, state police chaplain and pastor of St. James Parish, Red Bank, spoke movingly of the life and untimely death of the 29-year-old trooper who left behind his wife, Stephanie and two small children, Juliana 4, and Vincent, 1.
“He was the finest of the finest,” said Msgr. Lowery in his homily. He described the loss felt by Castellano’s family, friends and fellow troopers following the fatal accident as an ache that may never subside.
“Since Sunday, life has been lived one hour at a time and now, finally, one minute at a time as we pray to the Lord to stop the full ache that we feel,” Msgr. Lowery said.
At what he termed “this most difficult moment,” Msgr. Lowery urged the mourners to rely on faith which “gets us through.”
He noted that the entire law enforcement community and so many community members and friends were among those “opening their arms” to the Castellano family, members of St. Veronica Parish. “You’ve been there for each other this week. You heard the words of Jesus, ‘well done good and faithful servant.’”
Msgr. Lowery said he was certain Castellano, who would be laid to rest at St. Rose of Lima Cemetery in nearby Freehold, was “greeted by those words” as he “came to the heavenly table.”
He remembered Castellano, who just last month received his master’s degree from Fairleigh Dickenson University, as a man of character and special grace and likened him to a “beacon of light shining very brightly. “For many here, this is the most difficult moment in time but he leaves a legacy that can never be forgotten by all who knew and loved and worked with him.”
In remarks at the end of the Mass, Bishop Smith encouraged everyone to consider that while “Marc’s all too short life on earth is over,” this is not the end of the trooper’s eternal life but a new beginning in Christ. He offered words of comfort, saying “this good man loved God and we are going to miss him and weep for him.
“But Marc has gone on to a new and wonderful life.”