Reverend Michael D. Lombardo

 ​I was born on November 25, 1952 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson and lived in a three family house on Madison Avenue in Paterson. My family is a very close knit family with three Italian-born grandparents and a maternal grandmother who was “Jersey Dutch",  with roots extending almost back to the Mayflower. Growing up in an extended family, we all got to spend a great deal of time in the company of our grandparents and cousins. I attended St. Therese’s Grammar School on East 33rd St. in Paterson, then, after my family moved to Totowa, I went to Neumann Preparatory High School, which was then a minor seminary.   

After high school, I attended Kings College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. and graduated in 1974 with a BA in History and a minor in Education. I then spent the next four years at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore and was ordained to the priesthood on October 8, 1978. After a brief parish assignment at St. Clare’s in Clifton, I had the privilege of teaching all grade levels at Neumann Prep High in Wayne and served the school community in a variety of roles, over the next ten years.

I began serving as hospital chaplain for both Chilton Hospital in Pompton Plains and the former Wayne General Hospital in Wayne in 1989. I concluded my hospital ministry in June of 2001 and have since served as your Pastor at Our Lady of Consolation Church, here in Wayne.

My life in the priesthood stemmed from my very close and loving family, who took care of each other no matter what the cost. Other factors in my life were my wonderful experience in a Catholic grammar school where the priests and nuns were very warm and caring and a similarly great experience in Neumann Prep High School, where the priests were young, enthusiastic, and also very caring. The clergy and religious at those schools served as inspiring role models for serving the people of God.

All of us accomplish things in our lives, no matter how small we think they are. But our clergy is in a special position to help many people. What would you say are the accomplishments you’re most proud of, or that have made you the happiest? How can we, as parishioners, experience that same type of joy, through stewardship?

The accomplishments that I am most proud of are not singular ones, but rather all three ministries that I’ve had, during my 40 years as a priest. I feel blessed, because of the variety of settings in which I served, each one very different from the others, and each one very fulfilling. Parishioners can experience this same type of fulfillment through Stewardship, by using various parish ministries to open their lives to the Spirit and where the Spirit is leading them.