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Fr. Thomas Wisniewski
Pastor
 |
Fr. Tom is a New Jersey guy; his
entire life spent in NJ. He was born and raised in Jersey
City
before his family moved to Hasbrouck Heights
in
1976. His undergrad
degree was in accounting from
Saint Peter’s College and he later received degrees from Seton
Hall and Drew
Universities. Over the last 28 years of
ministry he has worked
mostly in parishes including a six year stint as pastor of Saint Joseph Church
in Maplewood. In addition, he has worked
in a residential
rehab for addicts as well as teaching in high school and at the College
of Saint Elizabeth
and as a parochial vicar in Corpus Christi Hasbrouck
Heights.
Besides
ministry, he is a huge sports fan and loves to go to the movies. His parents still live in Hasbrouck Heights
and he also has a sister, Judy, who lives with her two children in
River Edge. |
Fr. William Benedetto
Parochial
Vicar
|
Fr. Benedetto was
born in Belleville but raised in North Arlington at the
south end of Bergen County. He is the second of two children (one
older sister, now deceased). From a very young age, they were
instilled with a deep love for the Catholic Faith by their father, a
permanent deacon of the Archdiocese of Newark, and their mother, a
teacher in the Catholic elementary school. He was educated in the
public school system and would eventually graduate cum laude from
Stevens Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree
majoring in Chemical Biology (Pre-Med) and minoring in both History and
Social Sciences. Carefully discerning his vocation to the
priesthood, he opted for the seminary instead of medical school.
He graduated from Immaculate Conception Seminary with a Master of
Divinity degree in Pastoral Theology and a Master of Theology degree in
Systematic Theology. He was ordained to the Roman Catholic
priesthood on May 26, 2007 and assigned directly to St.
Catharine.. |
Fr. Joseph Kwiatkowski
Parochial
Vicar
 |
Father Joseph
Kwiatkowski, our newest Parochial Vicar, joined St. Catharine Parish on
January 20th. Most recently assigned to Annunciation Parish in
Paramus, Fr. Joe is no stranger to Bergen County. Born and raised
in Wallington, he attended Most Sacred Heart School and Don Bosco
Prep, then on to Montclair State eventually working in
Medical Supply Sales until 2001. Fr. Joe entered Immaculate Conception
as a late vocation and was ordained in May of 2006 by Archbishop Myers.
His hobbies are walking and watching minor league baseball.
Fr. Joe has a great sense of humor and has really jumped in
getting to know everyone here at St. Catharine.
|
Fr.
Sebastian Fernando
In Residence
 |
Fr. Sebastian was
born in India,
spent his childhood in Sri Lanka
and has served as a priest in India,
Australia,
Newfoundland
and Long Island. He traveled
extensively
in Europe during a 1996 sabbatical year, which included continuing
studies in Dublin. He was ordained in India in 1970
and served on temporary assignments from July
1999 to May 2000 in Long Island before returning to Kottar in South India. He
is a citizen of India
but also holds an Australian passport. He
has four brothers and a sister in India, Saudi
Arabia and Australia.
His main interest as a priest is in hospital
ministry and he serves as chaplain at Bergen Regional Medical
Center.
.
|
Deacon
Len Minichino Permanent Deacon
 |
Deacon
Len was born and raised in Newark,
NJ. He has been married for over 44 years and has three
children. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon for the
Archdiocese of Newark in 1976 and has been assigned to St. Catharine
Parish the entire time. He retired after a twenty-six year
career in Law Enforcement and fourteen years in the Financial Industry. |
Deacon
Jim Mueller
Permanent Deacon
 |
Deacon Jim is a
professor (and professor emeritus) in the Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering at Manhattan College
where he taught from
1969 to 2001 and most recently in 2009. He is also an
alumnus. He
received his PhD from U. Wisconsin
in 1966 after which he served in the USAF as a Bioenvironmental
Engineer
finishing
as a Captain in 1969.
He is married to
MaryBeth for over 45 years, they have 3 children and 5 grandchildren
all
in
the area - which keeps both of them very active with family.
They moved to Glen Rock in 1974 and have been active in St.
Catharine parish and school since that time. Ordained a deacon in
1998, he enjoys serving at St. Catharine parish. Together
with
other parishioners, he has helped develop the Welcoming committee
and our
religious
service at the Eastern Christian Children’s Retreat.
|
Deacon
John Sarno
Permanent Deacon
 |
Info coming soon.... |
Joe
Castoro
RCIA
 |
Info coming soon.... |
Annette Gallagher
Parish & Family Life
 |
Annette was born and
raised in NYC, then moved to River Vale in Bergen County in 2002.
She is married with two sons who attend St. John's Academy where
she is the PTA President and sits on the Advisory Board. Before having
her children, she worked on Wall Street for JP Morgan Chase for
eighteen years and left as a Vice President in Executive Development
and Organizational Capability. She has a BA in Mathematics with a
Business minor and an MBA in Information Systems. She spent
much of her career as a manager of systems development efforts in
international funds transfer systems. She volunteers
at her home parish of St. John the Baptist in Hillsdale as a
lector, on the Women's Cornerstone Too and Technology ministries,
leader of the altar servers and does
the parish ministry schedules.
|
Patricia Keenaghan
Principal
- Academy of our Lady
 |
Mrs.
Keenaghan was the third child of four born in Flushing,
NY,
then on to Connecticut
and Long Island.
She received her
undergraduate degree from York
College
and two Masters degrees (one from Queens
College and
one from Fordham
University). She taught 7th
and 8th
grade at various schools before getting married, having four children
and
moving to Bergen
County. Herr children are now grown
and pursing their own careers. She
volunteers in her parish as a Eucharistic Minister to the homebound,
CROP
walk,
St. Patrick’s soup kitchen, St. Cecilia’s Overflow
Shelter, and assists as
needed whenever possible. She is also a proud grandma! |
Roberta Maguire
Director of
Religious Education
 |
Mrs.
Maguire came to St. Catharine’s as Director of Religious
Education
twenty-five years ago. She had been DRE at St.
Paul’s
in Clifton
for seven years. She graduated from Mount Saint Mary, Newburg,
NY and from Seton Hall Univ., S. Orange, NJ. She
became a primary grade teacher for several years and then entered the
ministry of Religious Education. She and her husband Joe live
in Fair
Lawn
and are parishioners of St. Catharine’s Parish. They have
three sons, John, Kevin and Brian. Kevin was married
to a young woman Maureen McAlister from Ridgewood
in October of 2007.
|
Rosemary Miller,
Youth Ministry
 |
Mrs. Miller grew up
in Glen Rock and has been a member of St. Catharine's parish
for 57 years. She attended St. Catharine's grammar school, Glen
Rock High and Duquesne University. She stayed home for many
years raising her three (now adult) children, Janelle, Danny and
Matt. She works at St. Nicholas Cemetery in
Lodi as the superintendent of the Cemetery. She has always
volunteered her time at St. Catharine's, first with 10 years in the CCD
program and then with the CYO program. Four years ago, she
readily accepted the offer to run the youth program. She loves
the age group and has learned so much from them. |
Sally Trahan, Music Ministry
 |
Sally has
been a parishioner for 30 years and a
resident of Glen Rock for the same.
She lives with her husband, Bob, and their two children Brendan and
Katie in town. She completed her studies of Music
Education at William
Paterson College
with a major in
piano and minors in both organ and voice. As
a sophomore in college, she was
hired as choir director for the First
Reformed Church in Hawthorne
and later became the music director and co-organist for the church. She left the First
Reformed Church after 18
years to become the music director for St. Catharine.
She has over 20
years experience in
working with children’s theater and directing/choreographing
musicals for all
ages. |
