October 15, 2014 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMario’s column in The Tablet:

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

As we continue our reflection on family life, coinciding with the Synod of the Family, the definition of family is probably most important for us to understand. Pope Francis recently said, “There is no future without children.”

In his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, St. John Paul II said, “When they become parents, spouses receive from God the gift of a new responsibility. Their parental love is called to become for the children the visible sign of the very love of God, ‘from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.’”

Spouses becoming parents presents new challenges for married life. The shared responsibility for child rearing today is much different than it was in the past. Thank God that our culture has changed so that both mothers and fathers take responsibility for the care and rearing of their children.

I have two nieces and one nephew who are married, and between them there are nine children. Both of my nieces have a set of twins, one boy and one girl each. So I have been able to observe the development of these children having baptized my own five nieces and nephews and now these nine great-nieces and nephews.

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.

October 1, 2014 – Excerpted from Put Out Into The Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

“A Saint in New Jersey?” is the title of one article written on Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, S.C., who will be beatified on Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, N.J. Sister Miriam was a member of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station, N.J. Born as a Byzantine Ruthenian in Bayonne, N.J., she joined the Sisters of Charity in 1925 after a brief career in business. The brilliant young sister became the Mistress of Novices for her community, which was practically unheard of in those days. Sister Miriam died at only 26 years of age from untreated appendicitis.

I feel particularly close to Sister Miriam Teresa because as a young student through my eight years of grammar school taught by the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, we prayed almost daily for her canonization. The step of beatification is the last step before canonization. Little did I know that in my own lifetime, I would see this come to fruition.

The progress of Sister Miriam from venerable to blessed is taking place because of a miracle attributed through her intercession. A young boy who was declared legally blind due to juvenile bi-lateral macular degeneration regained his sight through prayer to and the intercession of Sister Miriam Teresa.

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.