Deacon Stephen Kern

Deacon Stephen Kern grew up in a loving Catholic family in “North Jersey.”  After graduating from the University of Notre Dame and Villanova University School of Law, he and his wife moved to Edison.  Eventually, they moved their young family to Flemington where they have been parishioners at St. Magdalen’s since 1991.

Dcn. Stephen married his beautiful bride Rosemary on October 21, 1978 at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana where they had met and fallen in love.   They have been involved in marriage and family-related ministries for over 40 years and are currently active in Catholic Engaged Encounter, Natural Family Planning instruction, and parish-based Marriage Ministry. They have also presented talks at God’s Plan for a Joy-Filled Marriage and many Pre-Canas.  They are blessed to be the parents of two daughters, Stephanie and Kristen, and son Kevin - and are proud grandparents of Eden, Augustine and Noah.

Dcn. Stephen worked as an attorney for 34 years at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  The Port Authority’s headquarters – including Dcn. Stephen’s office – were located on the 61^st to 74^th floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center (“WTC”).  He was in his office at the time of - and is a survivor of - both the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 and the attacks of September 11, 2001.  He was awarded a medal for bravery from the Port Authority for his actions on 9/11.  There is a cross made of WTC steel in the church which was donated by Dcn. Stephen to the parish.  Until 2022, when they ended due to the residual effects of the pandemic, he frequently returned to lower Manhattan to give tours of the 9/11 Memorial and talks on behalf of the 9/11 Families Association.  He is still available for this service on request.

Entering diaconate formation in 2005, Dcn. Stephen was ordained a deacon in 2010.  It has been his privilege to be assigned to serve the people of God at St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi parish since that time.  Upon retiring from the Port Authority in 2016, he also assumed the position of Director of the Office of the Diaconate for the Diocese of Metuchen.