Ash Wednesday Mass in Passaic

PASSAIC  Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Joseph Church here on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 26, where he celebrated 6 p.m. Mass and distributed ashes. Ash Wednesday began the holy season of Lent, a 40-day time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Concelebrants of the Mass included Msgr. Stanley Lesniowski, St. Joseph’s pastor, and Father Hubert Jurjewicz of the Psychology Center for Clergy and Religious in Denville, who resides at St. Joseph rectory.

The mother church of the Polish parishes in the Diocese was organized in Passaic in 1892. A frame building was purchased on Quincy Street. So quickly did the parish grow that a new church was built on Monroe and Parker Streets in 1901. St. Joseph’s was instrumental in the founding of new Polish parishes in Passaic, Garfield and Clifton.