PATERSON Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit Dec. 22 and celebrated Mass in Spanish for the Fourth Sunday of Advent at St. Anthony of Padua Church here. At the Mass, the Bishop blessed a new statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Father Eider Reyes, pastor, concelebrated the Mass.
St. Anthony’s serves the spiritual, social and material needs of many generations of newcomers including immigrants from the Caribbean, Central and South America and Portugal as well as English speakers and older Italians. Salesian priests founded St. Anthony’s located in the “Sandy Hill” section of Paterson in 1909. A former Protestant church on Beech Street was purchased and renovated for use as St. Anthony’s Mission that same year. The mission was raised to parish status in 1911 and a new church was built in 1941. In 2008, the Salesians withdrew from the parish and turned the administration of the parish over to the Diocese.