Hungarian bishop visits St. Stephen Magyar Parish in Passaic

PASSAIC  Bishop Zsolt Marton of the Diocese of Vac in Hungary was main celebrant and homilist at a Mass in St. Stephen Magyar Church here on Aug. 28 in honor of the Feast of King St. Stephen of Hungary. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney was a concelebrant of the Mass.

Also concelebrating the Mass in Hungarian with parts in English was Father Laszlo Balogh, St. Stephen’s pastor, and Father Ivan Csete, a retired Hungarian priest, of St. Stephen Parish in New York City. After Mass, the parish held a feast day celebration with Hungarian favorites on church grounds. This feast is different from the Feast of St. Stephen Martyr, the parish’s patron, on Dec. 26.

While in Passaic, Bishop Marton visited other Hungarian parishes and places in the area, and toured New York City. He was invited by Father Balogh, who was ordained a priest in 1997 in his native Hungary and came to the United States to serve St. Stephen’s in 2018, at the request of Bishop Emeritus Arthur Serratelli.