Year of Awakening
December 2018-  Decemeber 2019

Hundreds of worshipers filled the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi Dec. 12 for the official launch of a “Year of Awakening” for Catholics in the Diocese of Metuchen.

Bishop James F. Checchio presided at the evening liturgy, which marked the start of a yearlong intentional preparation that lead to a consecration of the Diocese of Metuchen to Jesus through Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12, 2019.

The chosen date for the diocesan-wide observance marked the traditional Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who is known as the Patroness of the Americas and the Star of the New Evangelization. In explaining the initiative, Bishop Checchio spoke of the importance of a unified effort among Catholics of the four-county diocese to embark on a journey of spiritual renewal.

“It’s been a joy to get to know the people of the diocese since I first arrived here; and what I picked up during my pastoral visits over the past two-and-a-half years is the need for a renewal of our commitment to God and to our Church. While we have been planning this consecration for over a year, recent events have made this need for renewal more urgent in my mind. This is a perfect time to begin.

Bishop Checchio expressed his overwhelming desire is to renew and awaken the faith in each and every heart and, in doing so, to begin a new great wave of evangelization in parishes and institutions. The prayerful witness of the Year of Awakening concluded on Decemeber 12, 2019 where Bishop Checchio consecrated the Diocese of Metuchen to Jesus through Our Lady of Guadalupe and marked a new journey for the Church of Metuchen.