Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Our Lady of the Mountain Parish in Long Valley July 30 where he celebrated the vigil Mass for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Bishop Serratelli consecrated and blessed the new altar in Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Church in Dover July 31 where he celebrated Mass for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Call them teens with heart as 50 young people and their chaperones traveled to Hartford, Conn. to volunteer for a week of service with Catholic Heart Workcamp from July 10 to 16. For more than 10 years, the youth group at St. Michael Parish in Netcong has been traveling to states such as West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and making a difference to help those in need. This is the first time St. Michael’s got involved with the mission of Catholic Heart Workcamp.

During his senior year at DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne, Frank Lennie thought that Uncle Sam wanted him as a new recruit for the U.S. Marine Corps. But it was two priests on DePaul’s staff who helped this young parishioner of St. Pius X in Montville consider that, instead, God might be calling him to a priestly vocation.

Parishioners have been filling St. Luke Church in Long Valley with a lot more singing and praying in recent years, encouraged by digital devises such as the video projectors outfitted in this rural Morris County house of worship. Today, the dynamic congregation of St. Luke’s has been participating more at Masses because now they can read the text of prayers and Scripture readings and lyrics of the hymns that are projected on either side of the altar.

How well do you know the patron saint of your parish? At St. Peter the Apostle Church in Parsippany, through a week of Bible study and a museum-inspired exhibit, the parish gave its community the opportunity to learn about its patron St. Peter, chosen by Jesus Christ as “the rock” upon which he built his Church.

Imagine being in church for Mass when Islamic State terrorists burst in, take hostages, charge toward the altar and slit the throat of the priest celebrant right in front of your eyes. This horrible scene, once incomprehensible, is now our sad reality in this most troubled world. No one is safe, not even at Mass.