Bishop makes pastoral visit to Our Lady of Fatima Parish Highland Lakes

HIGHLAND LAKES  Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney made a pastoral visit to Our Lady of Fatima Parish here July 18 where he celebrated Mass marking the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The history of Our Lady of Fatima Parish began when St. Monica Parish in Sussex developed a summer mission in Vernon Township in the Highland Lakes section in 1949. Those first Masses were celebrated at the Highland Lakes clubhouse. A church was built on Breakneck Road in 1954 and Bishop James Navagh formally established Our Lady of Fatima as a parish in 1965. The parish also took over responsibility for a mission in the McAfee section of Vernon Township, which is now St. Francis De Sales Parish.