Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Scenes from a Church's Rededication Mass

Rose Window
Rose Window


Blessed Sacrament Church
The interior of the beautiful Blessed Sacrament Church

Altar Servers
Blessed Sacrament Altar Servers

Bishop Rodimer
Bishop Rodimer in the Processional

Bishop during Processional
Bishop Serratelli in the Processional

Father Patrick
Father Patrick

Fr. Heriberto Gospel
Associate Pastor Fr. Heriberto Guerra and the Gospel Reading

Homily
Bishop's Homily

Bishop Serratelli Holy Communion
Bishop Serratelli Giving Holy Communion to the Faithful

Gift
Gift presented to the Bishop by the Blessed Sacrament parishioners

Recessional LofC
Legionaries of Christ in the Recessional

Bishop Serratelli Greeting People
Bishop Serratelli greeting the faithful after Mass. I got to kiss the Bishop's ring

This past Divine Mercy Sunday, Bishop Arthur Serratelli of the Diocese of Paterson, celebrated the rededication Mass of Blessed Sacrament Church in Paterson, New Jersey.

This is the church that I remember as a little girl of 4 or 5. The huge edifice and marble interior used to intimidate me. Actually, I used to be afraid to go into the Church. This was supposed to be our parish church.

We were parishioners there during my early youth. Then we attended Our Lady of Victories Church for a few years. When we were enrolled at St. John's Cathedral school, (I was in 8th grade then), we attended Mass at the beautiful Cathedral in downtown Paterson.

In our early adult years, nearby Our Lady of Lourdes Church became our church home.

Now over 20 years later, my mother, sister and her husband are back home at Blessed Sacrament Church.

This rededication Mass was very beautiful and fitting for a glorious Divine Mercy Sunday.

It was standing room only. My brother in law who was an usher that day said there were over 100 people standing in the back. There were many invited guests too. A few notables were past pastors like Fr. Trapasso, Monsignor Vincent Puma, former bishop of Paterson, Frank Rodimer, Father Eugene Palumbo, the Legionaries of Christ priests, brothers and seminarians, civic leaders, the Sheriff of Passaic County, etc. We felt privileged to be among the many faithful that day.

The day before was Bishop Serratelli's birthday. We all sang Happy Birthday to him at Father Patrick's prompting.

Credit for this successful and very special occasion has to go to the pastor Fr. Patrick Ryan. He really did a spectacular job in ensuring that everything went well.

Here are some photos from the Mass.

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5 comments:

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

Beautiful photos!

Father Trapasso...that name rings a bell but I cannot think why. I'll have to ask my mom. He might have been pastor at one of the schools where she taught.

Oh, and I wanted to get a Mass card for your dad. I have the Paterson address from the time you won the magazine subscription. Can you email me--how long will you be in NJ or can you send me the HI address? Thanks :)

Alexandra said...

Wonderful pictures! Thanks for sharing. :)

ukok said...

Beutiful images. I'm so glad you shared them :-)

Therese said...

I love the pictures too Esther.

EC Gefroh said...

Glad you enjoyed the photos ladies!