There is so much more to say
February 11, 2025 at 3:44 p.m.
If you have been a reader of The Monitor, or a follower of any of our diocesan media, you likely know that Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., is a prolific writer. As bishop, he is the Chief Teacher of the Diocese, and he takes this responsibility very seriously.
Actually, the Bishop’s facility with the written word – be they the substance of homilies; essays; messages or presentations – preceded his assignment to the Diocese of Trenton and can be traced back to his many years as an educational leader. With writing, some people are born with the gift and I am convinced that is the case with our Bishop.
What is it like to be the group that works with the Bishop’s writing and is responsible for publishing, posting and disseminating in a multitude of ways? In a word, BUSY! He never stops thinking; he never stops writing and he does so with lightning speed.
Take this issue of the magazine, for instance. You will note that Bishop has graced these pages with a message for 1) National Marriage Week and World Marriage Day; 2) The value of Catholic schools, and 3) Lenten inspiration and guidelines as the penitential season approaches. Add to that the homilies he gave while visiting six Catholic schools in six days during Catholic Schools Week and for the Mass he celebrated at the Annual Meeting for the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in Washington. You can find the coverage of these visits and events in this issue.
But his writing in the past few weeks did not end there. There are two other messages which we could not squeeze into this issue – one on World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life and one on World Day of the Sick. Thankfully, they are available on our website and I encourage you to access them there because they offer both information and insight.
Here are a few excerpts:
For World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life – observed Feb. 2 each year – he wrote: “Here in the United States, throughout its history, the Catholic Church has depended upon these consecrated women and men for so many of the essential ministries that have enabled the Catholic Church to grow, flourish and thrive. They are the Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries who labored in Colonial times, as well as the countless numbers of dedicated religious women who built and taught in Catholic schools, served in hospitals, reached out to comfort and serve the poor through social services and parish ministry or devoted themselves to prayer in a cloister. They include the many who have faithfully served in our own Diocese: the Religious Teachers Filippini, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Sisters of Mercy, the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Sisters of St. Francis, the Missionaries of Charity, the Resurrection Sisters, the Poor Clares, and many others.”
In anticipation of World Day of the Sick on Feb. 11, the Bishop wrote: “(This) is not merely a commemoration. It is an opportunity to extend the Lord Jesus’ own compassion to our fragile sisters and brothers, suffering in body, mind and soul. We all know someone who is suffering in those ways.
“World Day of the Sick is also an opportunity for the sick themselves to look at the Lord Jesus on the Cross and to ask him to join their pain and suffering to his own. Yes, it is a reminder to the sick of our human mortality, not as an end but as a means to the immortality he promises to those who believe in him, who trust in him, who hope in him, who love him.”
This is just a small sampling of the body or work that he continues to build upon. Bishop O’Connell might grow weary of all the “World of Days” and “National Weeks”, but he rarely passes up the opportunity to build a new teaching around them.
I challenge our readers to check in regularly with the Bishop at trentonmonitor.com/news/bishops-corner. See if you can keep up with him!
Related Stories
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
E-Editions
Events
If you have been a reader of The Monitor, or a follower of any of our diocesan media, you likely know that Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., is a prolific writer. As bishop, he is the Chief Teacher of the Diocese, and he takes this responsibility very seriously.
Actually, the Bishop’s facility with the written word – be they the substance of homilies; essays; messages or presentations – preceded his assignment to the Diocese of Trenton and can be traced back to his many years as an educational leader. With writing, some people are born with the gift and I am convinced that is the case with our Bishop.
What is it like to be the group that works with the Bishop’s writing and is responsible for publishing, posting and disseminating in a multitude of ways? In a word, BUSY! He never stops thinking; he never stops writing and he does so with lightning speed.
Take this issue of the magazine, for instance. You will note that Bishop has graced these pages with a message for 1) National Marriage Week and World Marriage Day; 2) The value of Catholic schools, and 3) Lenten inspiration and guidelines as the penitential season approaches. Add to that the homilies he gave while visiting six Catholic schools in six days during Catholic Schools Week and for the Mass he celebrated at the Annual Meeting for the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in Washington. You can find the coverage of these visits and events in this issue.
But his writing in the past few weeks did not end there. There are two other messages which we could not squeeze into this issue – one on World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life and one on World Day of the Sick. Thankfully, they are available on our website and I encourage you to access them there because they offer both information and insight.
Here are a few excerpts:
For World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life – observed Feb. 2 each year – he wrote: “Here in the United States, throughout its history, the Catholic Church has depended upon these consecrated women and men for so many of the essential ministries that have enabled the Catholic Church to grow, flourish and thrive. They are the Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries who labored in Colonial times, as well as the countless numbers of dedicated religious women who built and taught in Catholic schools, served in hospitals, reached out to comfort and serve the poor through social services and parish ministry or devoted themselves to prayer in a cloister. They include the many who have faithfully served in our own Diocese: the Religious Teachers Filippini, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Sisters of Mercy, the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Sisters of St. Francis, the Missionaries of Charity, the Resurrection Sisters, the Poor Clares, and many others.”
In anticipation of World Day of the Sick on Feb. 11, the Bishop wrote: “(This) is not merely a commemoration. It is an opportunity to extend the Lord Jesus’ own compassion to our fragile sisters and brothers, suffering in body, mind and soul. We all know someone who is suffering in those ways.
“World Day of the Sick is also an opportunity for the sick themselves to look at the Lord Jesus on the Cross and to ask him to join their pain and suffering to his own. Yes, it is a reminder to the sick of our human mortality, not as an end but as a means to the immortality he promises to those who believe in him, who trust in him, who hope in him, who love him.”
This is just a small sampling of the body or work that he continues to build upon. Bishop O’Connell might grow weary of all the “World of Days” and “National Weeks”, but he rarely passes up the opportunity to build a new teaching around them.
I challenge our readers to check in regularly with the Bishop at trentonmonitor.com/news/bishops-corner. See if you can keep up with him!