Blessing, dedication of new school

NEW SCHOOL  Students pray during Mass as Bishop Serratelli visited the new Divine Mercy Academy in Rockaway Sept. 20. The new school merges the former St. Cecilia’s and Sacred Heart schools.

ROCKAWAY  Bishop Serratelli visited the classrooms of the new Divine Mercy Academy (DMA) here Sept. 20 for the first time, after serving as main celebrant and homilist of the 8 a.m. Mass in Hayes Hall of St. Cecilia Church, also in Rockaway, as the church building undergoes renovations.

That morning, Bishop Serratelli visited each class at DMA, spoke to students and blessed the classrooms. Accompanying him were: Father Sigmund Peplowski, pastor of St. Cecilia’s and Sacred Heart parishes; Father Kevin Corcoran, the Bishop’s priest-secretary; Father Mateusz Jasniewicz, parochial vicar of St. Cecilia’s and Sacred Heart, who also serves as the school’s webmaster and tech administrator; and Father Marcin Michalowski, also parochial vicar of St. Cecilia’s and Sacred Heart, who serves as DMA’s chaplain.

On the evening of Sept. 7, DMA opened during a blessing and dedication service and ribbon cutting, attended by the school community. The new school merges the former St. Cecilia’s and Sacred Heart schools. This summer, the building of the former St. Cecilia School on Halsey Avenue was refurbished to house Divine Mercy Academy, which both St. Cecilia and Sacred Heart parishes support financially.