The Diocese of Paterson () is a

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ecclesiastical territory, or

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

, of the Catholic Church in northern

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. It is a

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandr ...

in the

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of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Newark. The patrons of the diocese are

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...

and

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

. Its proper feasts are the Feast of St. Patrick (March 17), the

Nativity of John the Baptist Nativity or The Nativity may refer to: Birth of Jesus Christ * Nativity of Jesus, the Gospel stories of the birth of Jesus Christ * Nativity of Jesus in art, any depiction of the nativity scene ** ''Nativity'' (Barocci), a 1597 painting by Fed ...

(June 24) and the anniversary of the dedication of the cathedral church (June 30). As of 2025, the current bishop of Paterson is Kevin J. Sweeney.

Statistics

As of 2023, the Diocese of Paterson had the following staff: * 219 active diocesan priests * 77 religious priests * 196

permanent deacons A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Catholi ...

* 106 male religious * 522 female religious The diocese in 2023 contained approximately 440,000 Catholics out of a total population of 1,800,000,

History

1700 to 1800

Although the British Provinces of East New Jersey and West New Jersey were not officially welcoming to Catholics, they tended to ignore their presence. During the mid 1700s, priests would periodically visit German Catholic workers at the iron mills in Passaic County. The first parish in New Jersey, Saint Joseph’s, was established in West Milford in 1765. The assistance of Catholic French troops during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

helped to abate anti-Catholic sentiment in all of the 13 original colonies. In 1784,

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI (; born Count Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio called Giovanni Angelo or Giannangelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to hi ...

erected the Apostolic Prefecture of United States of America, including all of the new United States. In 1789, the same pope raised this prefecture to the Diocese of Baltimore.

1800 to 1900

As the population of the United States grew, the Vatican in 1808 established the Dioceses of Philadelphia and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. In 1820, Bishop John Connolly of New York sent Reverend Richard Bulger to Paterson to serve as first resident priest in New Jersey. In 1821, Bulger established St. John the Baptist Church, the first church of any denomination in Paterson. Waves of Irish and German Catholic immigrants flooded into the area during the mid-1800s. In 1853, the Vatican erected the Diocese of Newark from the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Philadelphia. The Paterson area would remain part of the Diocese of Newark for the next 84 years. In 1867, the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth founded St. Joseph's Hospital in Paterson. Sacred Heart Church, the first Catholic church in Clifton, was dedicated in 1897. That same year, St. Mary's Hospital opened in

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 16th-most-populous municipality,College of Saint Elizabeth Saint Elizabeth University (SEU) (formerly College of Saint Elizabeth, CSE) is a private Catholic university in Morris Township, New Jersey, United States. Portions of the campus are also in Florham Park. SEU offer 25 undergraduate degree pr ...

in Morris Township was founded in 1899 by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth. It was one of the first Catholic colleges in the United States to award degrees to women. It is today Saint Elizabeth University.

1900 to 2000

The Diocese of Paterson was established by

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...

on December 9, 1937, taking its territory from Diocese of Newark. The pope named Auxiliary Bishop Thomas H. McLaughlin of Newark as the first bishop of Paterson. St. John the Baptist in Paterson was designated as the diocesan cathedral. In 1938, McLaughlin established Associated Catholic Charities in the diocese. Following the death of McLaughlin in 1947,

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

that same year appointed Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Boland of Newark as the second bishop of Paterson. Boland served in Paterson for five years before being appointed archbishop of Newark in 1952. Boland was succeeded by Auxiliary Bishop James A. McNulty of Newark, named by Pius XII in 1953. During his tenure, he established thirteen new parishes. In 1963, McNulty became bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo. To succeed McNulty, that same year

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

appointed Bishop James Navagh from the Diocese of Ogdensburg as the fourth bishop of the diocese of Paterson. He died suddenly in 1965.

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

in 1966 appointed Auxiliary Bishop Lawrence B. Casey from the

Diocese of Rochester The Diocese of Rochester is a Church of England diocese in the English county of Kent and the Province of Canterbury. The cathedral church of the diocese is Rochester Cathedral in the former city of Rochester. The bishop's Latin episcopal si ...

as Navagh's replacement in Paterson. Casey died in 1977. Frank Rodimer of Paterson was named by Paul VI as the next bishop of Paterson, the first native of the diocese to serve that role. As bishop, Rodimer wrote a weekly column for the diocesan newspaper, ''The Beacon''. He also established a $7 million diocesan endowment to support Catholic schools, parishes and other diocesan ministries through fundraising. With corporate leaders, Rodimer established the Tri-County Scholarship fund to provide scholarships to needy students attending Catholic schools."Bishop Frank J. Rodimer, JCD, DD", Diocese of Paterson
/ref> During his tenure, Rodimer expressed his opposition to

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

and to permanent replacements for striking workers.The Catholic Advocate
Bishop Serratelli to be seventh head of Paterson Diocese
June 16, 2004

2000 to present

After Rodimer retired in 2004,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed Auxiliary Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Newark as his successor. After Serratelli retired in 2020, Pope Francis named Kevin J. Sweeney of the Diocese of Brooklyn as the next bishop of Paterson.As of 2023, Sweeney is the bishop of Paterson. In August 2024, the diocese, along with its Colombian and Filipino priests filed an immigration case with the D.N.J. against the

US Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

, the US Department Homeland Security, and the

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that administers the country's naturalization and Immigration to the United States, immigration system. History ...

. The action stemmed from policy changes in EB-4 worker visa procedures for foreign-born clergy.

Sexual abuse

In 1985, Mark Serrano reported to the Diocese of Paterson that he was sexually abused as a child by Reverend James Hanley, a pastor of St. Joseph's Parish. The abuse started when Serrano was age nine in 1974 and continued until he was age 16. It included

sodomy Sodomy (), also called buggery in British English, principally refers to either anal sex (but occasionally also oral sex) between people, or any Human sexual activity, sexual activity between a human and another animal (Zoophilia, bestiality). I ...

, oral sex and forced maturbation. The diocese removed Hanley from ministry in 1986 and paid a $241,000 financial settlement to Serrano and his family. Hanley was laicized by the Vatican at his own request in 2003. Timothy J. Brennan pleaded guilty in 1987 to aggravated sexual contact in 1984 with a 15-year-old student while teaching at Delbarton High School in Morris County. Receiving a one-year suspended sentence, his religious order, St. Mary’s Abbey, sent him to treatment. Brennan then went to work in the

, which was not alerted to his conviction. In 2002, St. Mary’s Abbey permanently removed Brennan from ministry. The Diocese of Paterson in May 1987 received allegations of

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is re ...

against Reverend Jose Alonso, rector of St. Joseph Cathedral. He was accused of abusing two teenage brothers. The diocese sent Alonso to the Servants of the Paraclete facility in

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

for treatment and immediately notified local authorities. Earlier in the 1980s, the diocese had received complaints about Alonso. After receiving reports supporting Alonso from two priests who worked with him, Bishop Rodimer had dismissed the accusations. Later in 1987, Alonso was charged with sexual abuse of the two brothers. He was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. In 2004, the diocese settled lawsuits from 27 victims of sexual abuse by Hanley, Alonso and several other clerics. In February 2019, the diocese released the names of 28 clergy with credible accusations of sexually abusing children since 1940. In December 2019, more accusers of Hanley filed new lawsuits against the diocese. By 2020, the names of 40 accused clergy listed were made public. On February 9, 2020, it was reported that all five Catholic dioceses across the state of New Jersey, including the Diocese of Paterson, had paid over $11 million to compensate 105 claims of sex abuse committed by Catholic clergy. Of these 105 claims, 98 were compensated through financial settlements. On August 10, 2020, former Bishop Rodimer's decision to approve of the Vatican naming Bishop Arthur Serratelli as his successor came under criticism. This was due to revelations that he had learned about sex abuse allegations facing Serratelli's former Newark superior, then Cardinal

Theodore McCarrick Theodore Edgar McCarrick (July 7, 1930 – April 3, 2025) was an American Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal who was Archbishop of Newark from 1986 to 2000 and Archbishop of Washington from 2001 to 2006. In 2019, McCarrick was defrocked by Po ...

. It was also revealed that a Diocese of Paterson official had informed Rodimer at the time of allegations that McCarrick had sexually abused boys at his beach house and that Rodimer then claimed to the official that he would contact the Vatican's U.S. representatives.

Bishops

Bishops of Paterson

# Thomas Henry McLaughlin (1937–1947) # Thomas Aloysius Boland (1947–1952), appointed Archbishop of Newark # James A. McNulty (1953–1963), appointed Bishop of Buffalo # James Johnston Navagh (1963–1965) # Lawrence B. Casey (1966–1977) # Frank Joseph Rodimer (1978–2004) # Arthur J. Serratelli (2004–2020) # Kevin J. Sweeney (2020–present)

Leadership

* Bishop: Kevin J. Sweeney *

Vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

and moderator of the curia: ** T. Mark Condon ** Michael Parisi *

Judicial vicar In the Roman Catholic Church, a judicial vicar or episcopal official () is an officer of the diocese who has ordinary power to judge cases in the diocesan ecclesiastical court. Although the diocesan bishop can reserve certain cases to himself, ...

s: **Marc A. Mancini, judicial vicar **Joseph Anginoli, adjutant judicial vicar *

Episcopal vicar Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United States ...

s: **Stanley Barron, vicar for education **Hernan Arias, vicar for pastoral administration **Paul Manning, vicar for evangelization *

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

and delegate for religious: Joan Healy * Vice chancellor and priest-secretary to the bishop: Stephen Prisk * Vice chancellor for urban ministry and planning: Catherine McDonnell

Deaneries and parishes

The 109

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

of the Diocese of Paterson are split into twelve deaneries spanning the three counties. Our Lady of Fatima Traditional Latin Mass Chapel, located in Pequannock, is not considered a parish of the Diocese of Paterson. Instead, it is a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

administered by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.

Education

Higher education

* Assumption College for Sisters – Mendham (operated by the Sisters of Christian Charity) * Saint Elizabeth University – Convent Station (operated by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth)

Diocesan high schools

* DePaul Catholic High School – Wayne * Morris Catholic High School – Denville * Pope John XXIII Regional High School – Sparta

Other Catholic high schools

* Academy of Saint Elizabeth – Convent Station (operated by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth) * Delbarton School – Morristown (operated by the

Benedictine monks The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, the ...

of Saint Mary's Abbey) * Mary Help of Christians Academy – North Haledon (operated by the Salesian Sisters) * Villa Walsh Academy – Morristown (operated by the Religious Teachers Filippini)

Former diocesan high schools

* Neumann Preparatory School – Wayne (closed 1990) * Paterson Catholic High School – Paterson (closed 2010) * Paul VI Regional High School – Clifton (closed 1990) * Pope Pius XII High School –

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 16th-most-populous municipality,Catholic Health Initiatives: * St. Clare's Hospital – Boonton (formerly Riverside Hospital) *St. Clare's Hospital – Denville *St. Clare's Hospital –

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

(formerly Dover General Hospital) *St. Clare's Hospital –

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

(formerly Wallkill Valley Hospital) St. Joseph's Healthcare System, operated by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth: * St. Joseph's Children's Hospital – Paterson * St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center – Paterson * St. Joseph's Wayne Hospital – Wayne (formerly Wayne General Hospital) * St. Mary's Hospital – Passaic

Geography

The Diocese of Paterson is bordered by four other dioceses: * Archdiocese of Newark (east) * Diocese of Metuchen (south) * Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania (west) *

Archdiocese of New York The Archdiocese of New York () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the New York (state), State of New York. It encompasses the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in New York ...

(north)

References

External links

*
Official websiteNew Jersey Provincial Directory
{{authority control Paterson, New Jersey Christian organizations established in 1937 Paterson Paterson 1937 establishments in New Jersey