CAMDEN – Bishop Joseph Williams celebrated a Mass of Remembrance on Nov. 3, honoring the priests and deacons of the Diocese who died in the past year.
“We thank God for them, that they accepted the call to be God’s servants and go to the highways and the byways,” he said, reflecting on their faithful service to the Church.
The deceased clergy remembered were Rev. Lewis A. Battisti; Rev. Msgr. James P. Curran; Rev. John A. DelDuca; Rev. Thomas S. Donio; Rev. Albert E. Harshaw; Rev. Edward F. Heintzelman; Rev. Richard T. Kunzman; Deacon Joseph Loungo Sr.; Rev. Msgr. Martin J. Mannion; Rev. David V. Minniti; Deacon William Rumaker Jr.; Deacon Ismael Tavarez, and Rev. Peter M. Saporito.
Nearly two dozen deacons joined parishioners, diocesan staff and community members at the Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. About three dozen priests of the Diocese concelebrated. Father Heintzelman’s siblings, Linda Gesell and Richard Heintzelman, presented the gifts.
During his homily, Bishop Williams preached on the day’s Gospel reading from Luke 14 and the parable of the great banquet.
“The banquet is one of the most powerful images we have for the kingdom of heaven,” he said. “Jesus uses this image … to ask a very important question: ‘How many of us really want to be at that banquet in the kingdom of heaven?’”
“We are invited,” he said. However, many make the decision every Sunday that they have “better things to do.”
Bishop Williams went on to explain that there are about 400,000 Catholics in South Jersey.
“What percentage of baptized Catholics in South Jersey will be at Mass on Sunday?” he asked. “[About] 13% of those invited to the banquet, which is just a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, accept that invitation each Sunday.”
Calling on all to be evangelizers, he said to “challenge our brother and sister Catholics to wake up on Sunday and to realize what’s awaiting them in every Catholic church in this Diocese.”
The kingdom of heaven, Bishop Williams said, “has a claim on each one of us. It’s the Good News of the Good News.”
The Mass, celebrated in this Month of Remembrance, took place on the heels of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, Nov. 1 and Nov. 2, respectively.
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