Cathedral Family,
Next Saturday, we will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving and Farewell for Bishop James Checchio. As you know, Pope Leo XIV has appointed our bishop to be the Co-Adjutor Archbishop of New Orleans. This title simply means that he will join the current Archbishop Gregory Aymond, and they will serve together for a period of time to transition the Archdiocese to Archbishop Chechio’s responsibility. He will be, for all intents and purposes, the Archbishop when he arrives in New Orleans for welcome and Mass on November 18th.
I will go to be present for his welcome in New Orleans as a sign of respect and gratitude for his service to our diocese for the past 9 ½ years. Bishop Checchio has done many things to care for so many aspects of our diocese. One of the most obvious is his presence. You may know that he typically visits three parishes every weekend to make a pastoral visit, celebrate Mass, encourage the clergy and greet the people. The Diocese of Metuchen has 90 parishes that cover the four counties of central New Jersey and require his pastoral care. He has shown a great love for Catholic schools; being present for all the high school graduations in the diocese each year. He has shown a great desire to encourage priests and religious and promote vocations to the priesthood. I am grateful to Bishop Checchio for inviting me to serve with him for five years as his Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese. I learned a great deal about our diocese and the universal Church. During my time serving with Bishop Checchio I attended his ad limina visit to the Vatican and was able, along with a delegation of other priests and seminarians from our diocese, to greet Pope Francis personally.
At this time, we do not know the timeline for us to receive a new bishop of our diocese. The process includes extensive consultation among those who have knowledge of our diocese.
Ultimately, the Apostolic Nuncio in Washington DC, Archbishop Christoff Pierre, will facilitate a process with the Dicastry for Bishops in Rome. The final decision will be that of Pope Leo XIV himself, once he has received the information and recommendation from the appropriate offices charged with vetting the prospects of new bishops for dioceses.We could receive a priest from another diocese who is not a bishop yet. This is how Bishop Checchio came to us. He was a priest of Camden serving in Rome at the North American College. However, our previous Bishop Bootkoski was already an auxiliary bishop who was serving in the
Archdiocese of Newark. Almost always a bishop of a diocese is appointed from another diocese and not locally from the priests of the local Church in need of a bishop. While we do not know who our next bishop will be, we must intensely pray to Our Heavenly Father to guide the church to bring us a holy bishop. One who can build upon the good work of Bishop Checchio and can lead us into God’s future. We face many challenges all around us with an increasingly secular world. At this time, when so many people are looking at the Catholic Church again, or for the first time, we need a strong, vibrant and faithful church to be who we say we are---the Bride of Christ.
Please keep Archbishop Checchio in your prayers as he assumes greater responsibility in theChurch, and pray for our diocese that we will be poised and ready to be led by our next Shepherd who God appoints.
Also, please plan to come to the Mass on November 1st at 11:00 am. It is a way we can show gratitude for Bishop Checchio’s service for these past 9 ½ years.
In Jesus,
Father Christy