The Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen ( la, Dioecesis Metuchenis) is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

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, pro ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, centered in the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Metuchen Metuchen ( ) is a suburban Borough (New Jersey), borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The borough is a commuter town of New York City, located in the heart of the Raritan River, Raritan Valley reg ...

. It was established on November 19, 1981, from the territory of the Diocese of Trenton. The diocese encompasses the New Jersey counties of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, Hunterdon and

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...

. The Bishop of Metuchen presides from the Saint Francis of Assisi Cathedral in Metuchen. The diocese counts more than 600,000 Catholics within its purview, distributed across more than 90 parishes, ministered to by over 160 priests residing in the diocese, with 100 non-resident priests and 150 deacons assisting. Six hundred religious serve the schools and various organizations throughout the diocese.

History

On November 19, 2021, the Diocese of Metuchen began its year-long 40th anniversary celebration. It was four decades ago that Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, decided to create the Diocese of Metuchen. It was when the Diocese of Trenton completed its centennial celebration in 1981, that the pope carved out four counties -

, Hunterdon and

- to create the Church's newest diocese. The year 1983 saw the development of the Diocesan Mission Statement. To serve the spiritual needs of the people in the new diocese, the campaign "Forward in Faith," was established. Today it is known as the Bishop's Annual Appeal. During its first decade, the Church of Metuchen added new parishes in Perth Amboy, Califon, Skillman, Old Bridge and Three Bridges, and 11 new church buildings were erected. To welcome new members into the Catholic faith and meet the needs of new immigrants to the United States, the Office of Evangelization was established. The First Eucharistic Procession was held, as well as the first Respect Life Mass to honor

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

advocates. At the end of the decade, the Life Chain was established to protest abortion. All three continue today. At the beginning of its second decade, the Diocese of Metuchen celebrated its 10th Anniversary by awarding its first Regina Nostra medals to outstanding lay leaders. Since then, several hundred men and women have received this honor on significant diocesan anniversaries. On Feb. 29, 1996, the first issue of "The Catholic Spirit," the diocese's official newspaper was published. Over the past 25 years, the paper has served to inform its readers about the important issues facing the Church and the diocese and relate stories about how individuals witness their faith and inspirational columns. To increase the visibility and accessibility of the diocese, in February 1998, a diocesan website was launched. It was a tool which enabled the diocese to reach out to Catholics to inform them of the services and ministries available. In the ensuing years, the website was updated and expanded and today is a valuable resource for catechesis, community, and communication. To position the diocese and its many outreaches for the 21st century, in September 1999, the diocese launched a diocesan capital campaign, "In Service to the Kingdom." In September 2001, a groundbreaking took place for the diocese's first Catholic school building in Hunterdon County. That year, Immaculate Conception School in Annandale, opened for students in pre-K through fourth grade. The following school year, with the completion of its new school building, the school expanded enrollment through eighth grade. During its first two decades, some of the Diocese of Metuchen's administrative offices were housed in a building in Iselin and many were scattered throughout the diocese. At the end of November 2001, however, that situation changed completely with the dedication of the diocese's St. John Neumann Pastoral Center in Piscataway. The center was created through a two year renovation of the diocese's St. Pius X High School which had previously closed and was only used periodically for workshops and programs. With its opening, the center provided ample room for offices and ministries and had a chapel plus a large conference room. Beginning in January 2002, a major challenge faced the diocese with news of clergy sexual abuse. Immediately addressing the crisis, the diocese reviewed all clergy files, and in 2003, the bishop established the Office of Child and Youth Protection, and the Protecting God's Children program was implemented. The diocese's Annual Blue Mass, which is still held, was re-established in 2003. Two years later the Diocesan Youth Day was established, a full-time vocations director appointed, and the House of Discernment for men considering the priesthood opened. At the end of 2005, the diocese began the celebration of its 25th Anniversary. During 2006, the diocese's first Synod was launched, papal and diocesan honors bestowed and pilgrimages held. To help increase vocations, in 2008 more than 2,000 pilgrims traveled to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Then in January 2010, a new Catholic Center at Rutgers opened for more than 13,000 Catholic students.

Sexual abuse

On September 26, 2018, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops announced an investigation of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Metuchen and three other dioceses American dioceses in which

Theodore McCarrick Theodore Edgar McCarrick (born July 7, 1930) is a laicized American bishop and former cardinal of the Catholic Church. Ordained a priest in 1958, he became an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York in 1977, then became Bishop of Metuch ...

, formerly a cardinal and the first bishop of the diocese, had served. On February 13, 2019, all of the Catholic Dioceses based in New Jersey released the names of clergy who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing children since 1940. Of the 188 listed, 11 were based in the Diocese of Metuchen. Cardinal

Joseph Tobin Joseph Tobin (born 1950) is the Elizabeth Garrard Hall Professor of Education in the College of Education at the University of Georgia. Biography Tobin received his B.A. Degree from Earlham College and his PhD in Human Development at the Univer ...

, Archbishop of Newark and metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province to which the Diocese of Metuchen belongs, also acknowledged that the alleged acts of abuse committed by the clergy in the list had been reported to law enforcement agencies. In December 2019, a new law allowing for more victims of sexual abuse to file lawsuits took effect. As a result, McCarrick and convicted priest Romano Ferrero were named in separate lawsuits filed against the Diocese of Metuchen. Ferraro was laicized by the Vatican and is serving a life sentence in prison. In his lawsuit, James Grien, one of McCarrick's alleged New York victims, accused the Diocese of Metuchen of committing gross negligence by allowing McCarrick, who Grien claimed was a friend of his family, to sexually abuse him after he moved to the area as an adult. By 2020, the names of 18 accused clergy who served in the Diocese of Metuchen had become public. On February 9, 2020, it was reported that all five Catholic dioceses across the state of New Jersey, which includes the Diocese of Metuchen, had paid over $11 million to compensate 105 claims of sexual abuse committed by Catholic clergy. Of these 105 claims, 98 were compensated through settlements. The payments did not involve 459 additional cases of sexual abuse in these dioceses which remained unresolved. The same month, it became public that the Diocese of Metuchen had worked with the Archdiocese of Newark and Diocese of Trenton in a scheme which involved secretly paying victims of McCarrick since 2005. On July 23, 2020, it was revealed that, in a new lawsuit which had been against the Diocese of Metuchen, Archdiocese of Newark and Catholic schools, an alleged victim claimed that McCarrick owned a beach house which had served as common place that priests and others under the control of McCarrick engaged in “open and obvious criminal sexual conduct” that was kept cloaked by the church. Though it did claim whether or not McCarrick asked the other priests to bring boys to the beach house, the lawsuit did also that allege that some of his priests served as “procurers” who agreed to bring victims to McCarrick when he was Bishop of Metuchen. The alleged victim, who attended a Catholic school belonging to the Archdiocese of Newark, maintained that McCarrick abused him with the assistance of other priests beginning in 1982 when he was 14. The lawsuit stated that boys were assigned different rooms in the house and paired with adult clergymen. The lawsuit also named three other priests of the Diocese of Metuchen as sexual abusers. On September 8, 2020, it was revealed that a new lawsuit against McCarrick alleged he had a second beach house which he also used as a sex ring. At some point, McCarrick sold the beach house to the Diocese of Metuchen. However, the beach house was eventually sold to the Archdiocese of Newark in 1997. This came after the Archdiocese, where McCarrick was at this point serving as Archbishop, purchased the other beach house from the Diocese of Metuchen. The Archdiocese would sell this beach house just four months after purchase of the other beach house. On September 9, 2020, it was revealed that two new lawsuits for sexual abuse against the Diocese of Metuchen named two priests who the Diocese of Metuchen had not included in the previous list as sex abusers. On December 1, 2020, it was revealed that the Diocese of Metuchen was among more than 230 sex abuse lawsuits filed within a period of one year against New Jersey Catholic Dioceses.

Facts about the Diocese of Metuchen

* Formation of the Diocese - Nov. 19, 1981 * Counties - Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren * Population - Estimated Number of Catholics - 620,438 * Households - 134,349 * Overall Population - 1,410,087 * Parishes - 90 (there are 15 Eastern Church parishes under the jurisdiction of their own bishops) * Schools - 27 (23 Elementary; 4 High Schools) * Catholic School Enrollment - 6,962 (2020) * Religious Education Enrollment - 18,725 (2020)

Personnel

* Priests - 221 (169 Diocesan; 16 Extern; 36 Religious) * Seminarians - 22 * Permanent Deacons - 159 * Women Religious - 208 * Men Religious - 8

Reception into the Church (12/31/2020)

* Baptisms - 2,288 * First Communions - 3,440 * Confirmations - 3,856 * Marriages - 441 * RCIA Candidates - 260

Healthcare & Social Institutions

*Hospitals - 1 -

Saint Peter's University Hospital Saint Peter's University Hospital (SPUH) is a Roman Catholic hospital on Easton Avenue in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The hospital is a member of the Saint Peter's Healthcare System, Inc., a New Jersey nonprofit corporation sponsored by the Roman ...

, New Brunswick, A member of the

Saint Peter's Healthcare System Saint Peter's Healthcare System (SPHCS) is a Roman Catholic healthcare system on Easton Avenue in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Overview Saint Peter's Healthcare System was formed in 2007. Besides Saint Peter's University Hospital, the system inc ...

*Health Care Clinics - 4 *Day Care and Extended Care - 1 *Homes for the Aged, Chronically Ill and Handicapped - 5 *Half-way Homes - 5 *Social Service Centers - 9

Ecclesiastical province

Coat of Arms

The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vis ...

of the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

, shown in the right sidebar at the top of this article, is ''Quarterly, Or and Argent, in dexter chief a tongue of fire Gules; in sinister base the letter "M" Azure, crowned Argent; overall a cross Moline Azure''. The cross is taken from the coat arms of the See of Trenton from which the diocese was formed. The tongue of fire refers both to "''metachen'',"

Lenni Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...

for firewood, and the

descent Descent may refer to: As a noun Genealogy and inheritance * Common descent, concept in evolutionary biology * Kinship, one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology **Pedigree chart or family tree ** Ancestry ** Lineal descendant **Heritag ...

of the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

. The crowned "M" refers to the queenship of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

, the principal patroness of the diocese, and also appears on the arms of Theodore McCarrick, the first bishop of the diocese, and

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, the pope who erected it. Its four quarters represent the four counties spanned by the diocese.

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen Official SiteSynodal home pageNew Jersey Provincial Directory
website {{authority control Metuchen, New Jersey

1981 establishments in New Jersey