Dear Friend,

Reflection by Msgr. James Turro, S.T.L, S.S.L., Ph.D., Faculty Emeritus ICSST

He Passed By

The story of Jesus

can be summarized in just three words:

He passed by!

He passed by-

and what a dynamic passing it was!

He passed by a blind man,

and the man began to see;

he passed by a paralytic,

and the paralytic got up and walked;

he passed by a woman of easy virtue,

and the woman became a saint;

he passed by me ...

and I cannot tell you the difference

that passing has made in my life.

Are you passing through life

in the same way Jesus did,

doing good on all sides,

making people and places better

for your having been there?

When your story is being told,

will people be able to say of you-

as they did of Jesus,

even if in a smaller way-

that you passed by?

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Rev. Msgr. James Turro, S.T.L., S.S.L., Ph.D., Faculty Emeritus ICSST from the Archdiocese of Newark. 

On May 22, 1948, Father James Turro was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Thomas J. Walsh in St. Patrick’s Pro-Cathedral in Newark, as Sacred Heart Cathedral was still in the process of being completed.

Msgr. Turro started teaching at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in 1959 and he remained on staff for 60 years.

As a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, Monsignor Turro has served as retreat master, providing spiritual guidance to thousands of priests, religious men and women, and laity.  He also has led numerous pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Greece, and Turkey. As a shepherd of the Church, he began serving the parishioners of Holy Trinity Church in Hackensack in 1959. Subsequently, his assignment as a weekend assistant at Our Lady of Mercy in Park Ridge, a parish family with whom he has continued to celebrate Mass for more than 50 years. In service to his parish and the Seminary, Monsignor Turro has been renowned for concise homilies that skillfully motivate deep meditation on the message of God’s Word.