St. Stephen Magyar Parish in Passaic celebrated its 110th anniversary with Bishop Serratelli as main celebrant of an anniversary Mass Sept. 20. Concelebrating the Mass with the Bishop was Father Laszlo Vas, St. Stephen’s administrator; Father Kevin Corcoran, the bishop’s priest/secretary; Father Stefan Las, pastor of Holy Rosary, Passaic; Msgr. Stanley Lesniowski, pastor of St. Joseph’s, Passaic; Father John Connolly, pastor of Sacred Heart and administrator of Ss. Cyril & Methodius, both in Clifton; Msgr. John Demkovich, diocesan mission director; and Father Steven Kaznica of Ss. Peter & Paul Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Passaic.
The 110-year old parish community was founded when Hungarians of the Roman rite became a growing presence in the city of Passaic along with immigrants from Poland and Slovakia, who had flocked here to work in the flourishing textile mills. It was in March 1903, when the parish was incorporated and named for the first Christian King of Hungary.