Kevin J. Sweeney
Kevin James Sweeney was born in Elmhurst, Queens, on January 17, 1970, son of James and Agnes (Blewitt) Sweeney, Mayo immigrants, and raised in Whitestone's St. Luke's Parish, where the after-dinner family rosary was sacred time — children at the door waited, or joined in. A standout baseball player at Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in Elmhurst — infielder, outfielder, pitcher — he dreamed of professional baseball and was inducted into the Prep's Hall of Fame in 2013.
After a philosophy degree from St. John's University (1992) and divinity studies at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, he was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn on June 28, 1997. Parishes in Jamaica and Corona; then six years as Brooklyn's vocation director (2004-2010), founding its house of discernment; then a decade as pastor of St. Michael's in Sunset Park (2010-2020) — ministry in Spanish as much as English, a language he studied in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.
Pope Francis named him Paterson's eighth bishop on April 15, 2020; he was ordained and installed on July 1, 2020, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist under pandemic limits — 'elbow bumps' with well-wishers outside. His motto is 'Dios es amor,' God is love. He still holds the see in October 2026: a vocations-first pastor who leads a Mass and rosary procession for life in Morristown and, since March 2023, hosts 'Beyond The Beacon,' the diocese's first podcast.
- 2021-07-16The Catholic News Agency / National Catholic Register diocese-by-diocese tracker of episcopal responses to Traditionis Custodes, as consulted for this draft, records 'Diocese of Paterson: N/A' - no response. The tracker evidently never caught up with the July 21, 2021 diocesan statement; the statement itself is the primary record and controls. ↗
- 2021-07-21Five days after Traditionis Custodes, Bishop Sweeney published a signed statement announcing a period of careful study and prayer, and directing: the Roman Missal of 1962 may be used for the coming period, and perhaps for some time beyond this initial period, by those who have already been using it for the celebration of holy Mass on a regular basis. No site was closed, moved or designated; no priest was named or removed. The statement was reprinted in the diocesan newspaper, The Beacon, on July 29, 2021. This is a dated act of the bishop's own in the TC era, in directive language, authorizing continuation of all existing 1962-Missal provision in the diocese. ↗
- 2022-02-27The Sacred Heart Parish, Clifton, bulletin of February 27, 2022 lists among its standing Mass times 'Sunday: 8:00a.m. (EF: Latin)' - the parish's weekly Extraordinary Form Mass continuing on schedule in the first year of the TC era, under the bishop's July 2021 directive. ↗
- 2025-07-24A sung traditional Latin Mass was celebrated at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, Rockaway, on July 24, 2025, in remembrance of St. Christopher, announced in the St. Cecilia, Rockaway, bulletin of July 13, 2025 - evidence that occasional traditional Latin Masses continued at Rockaway well into the TC era, even after the parish's pre-TC monthly Extraordinary Form Mass disappeared from its regular published schedule. ↗
- 2026-01-11The Sacred Heart Parish, Clifton, bulletin of January 11, 2026 still lists 'Sunday: 8:00a.m. (EF: Latin)' among its standing Mass times - the weekly 1962-Missal Mass documented in 2026 at the same hour as before Traditionis Custodes. ↗
- 2026-01-13A sung traditional Latin Mass was announced for Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, Rockaway, on January 13, 2026, in remembrance of the Baptism of the Lord, in the St. Cecilia bulletin of January 11, 2026. ↗
- 2026-10-23As-of check: the Our Lady of Fatima Chapel website, fetched on the as-of date, still presents the chapel as an FSSP apostolate in the diocese since 1994 offering its Masses and sacraments in Latin, with a Sunday High Mass at 11 a.m.; the diocesan parish finder likewise still lists Sacred Heart, Clifton, with a Sunday 8 a.m. Latin Mass. No decree, norms, revocation or further statement by Bishop Sweeney on Traditionis Custodes was found in any source consulted, at any date after July 21, 2021. ↗
Paterson's answer to Traditionis Custodes came fast and, on paper, interim. Five days after the motu proprio, on July 21, 2021, Bishop Sweeney announced a period of prayerful study — and directed, in so many words, that 'Roman Missal of 1962 may be used for the coming period, and perhaps for some time beyond this initial period, by those who have already been using it for the celebration of holy Mass on a regular basis.' That is a dated act of the bishop's own, in directive language, letting every existing old-Mass provision in his diocese continue. (The Catholic News Agency tracker, oddly, recorded Paterson as 'N/A'; the diocesan statement itself, reprinted in The Beacon of July 29, 2021, is the primary document.) No decree, norms, designated-site list or closure order followed in any source consulted.
And the provision the directive protected is still there. The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter's Our Lady of Fatima Chapel in Pequannock — a chapel of ease staffed by the Fraternity since 1994, with daily Masses and a Sunday High Mass — operates today as it did in 2021. Sacred Heart Parish in Clifton still lists its weekly Sunday 8 a.m. Mass as 'EF: Latin' in its January 2026 bulletin, as it did in February 2022. Sacred Heart of Jesus in Rockaway, which before the motu proprio had a monthly Extraordinary Form Mass, no longer carries a regular Latin Mass on its parish schedule, though sung traditional Latin Masses were still being announced there in July 2025 and January 2026 — change at parish level, with no act of the bishop's found behind it. Nothing was expanded on his initiative; nothing was suppressed by his hand.
The limits keep the verdict quiet rather than warm. His permission was framed as temporary — a study period — and he has never publicly revisited, regularized or defended it; since the February 2023 rescript reserved parish-church traditional Masses to Rome, the canonical footing of the Clifton and Rockaway parish Masses is nowhere documented in public sources. On his podcast he has fielded listeners' questions about the Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo, but no answer of his on the subject was found in print. Judged by deeds: the old Mass in Paterson survived the TC era entire because its bishop, at the one moment that required his signature, signed for continuation. A quiet preserver.