New pastor at Highland Lakes parish

HIGHLAND LAKES  Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Our Lady of Fatima Church here Nov. 3 where he celebrated Mass for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time. During his celebration of Mass there, he named Father Julio Barrios as pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish. Father Barrios had been serving as administrator of the parish.

The history of Our Lady of Fatima Parish began when St. Monica Parish in Sussex developed a summer mission in Vernon Township in the Highland Lakes section in 1949. Those first Masses were celebrated at the Highland Lakes clubhouse. A church was built on Breakneck Road in 1954 and Bishop Navagh formally established Our Lady of Fatima as a parish in 1965. The parish also took over responsibility for the mission at McAfee in Vernon Township, now St. Francis De Sales Parish.