Blessed Sacrament

Shirō Nakagawa had had enough. A young samurai and Catholic in 17th century Japan, he watched as the lord of his region in the south, called a daimyō, cracked down on his growing Christian community — closing churches, expelling missionaries, levying crushing taxes, banning religious practices and images, even torturing and killing people. The tipping point came when a regional tax collector drowned a pregnant woman. Filled with righteous anger, Shirō put on his samurai uniform and clutched his sword, ready to lead what is now known as the Shimabara Rebellion — a failed deadly uprising by these Christians from December 1637 to April 1638.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney celebrated Mass at the Shrine of St. John Paul II/Holy Rosary Church in Passaic Oct. 17 to start weeklong celebrations in honor of St. John Paul II, whose feast day is on Friday, Oct. 22. The Shrine of St. John Paul II at Holy Rosary Parish is the Diocese’s shrine to the late pope, who visited Holy Rosary Parish in August 1976 when he was then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla. Two years later, he was elected Pope on Oct. 16, 1978.

For many young adults, their college years are a time of searching and figuring out what the future holds. For Lucas Folan, a diocesan seminarian, it was a time when he seriously began to discern a priesthood vocation, which began near the end of his freshman year at Hofstra University in Long Island, N.Y., where he was studying music education.