Pastoral visit to Paterson parish

PATERSON   Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit on July 28 to Our Lady of Victories (OLV) Parish and the Shrine of St. Jude here where he served as main celebrant and homilist for the 5 p.m. vigil Mass for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. During his visit, the Bishop blessed a new and as-yet-unnamed chapel in the church.

Concelebrating the Mass were: Father Raimundo Rivera, OLV’s administrator; Father Hector Melendez, OLV’s parochial vicar; and Father Kevin Corcoran, diocesan vice chancellor and the Bishop’s priest-secretary. Deacon Raul Pamplona assisted with the Mass.

OLV was established to serve the needs of the French-speaking immigrants who settled in Paterson to work in the silk mills. Newark Bishop Thomas Joseph Walsh assigned Father Christian A. Pfister as pastor of OLV in 1933.

Today, OLV is a strong and vibrant faith community with a rich divergence of African-American, Hispanic, Asian and Anglo parishioners.