WEST MILFORD Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney made a pastoral visit to St. Joseph Parish here Aug. 8. During the Bishop’s visit, a coronation of statues of the Holy Family was held as part of the celebration of the Year of St. Joseph.
St. Joseph Parish is the oldest faith community in the state. Its history begins in 1764, when Peter Hasenclever, a German merchant, began working for an English mining company in the area of Ringwood and Greenwood Lake. He invited workers from his homeland to come and settle there and soon they and their families followed. These families became the founders of what would become St. Joseph Parish.