Passaic parish celebrates feast day of St. John Paul II with Mass, procession

The community of the Shrine of St. John Paul II/Holy Rosary Parish in Passaic honored St. John Paul II with a Mass on his feast day, Oct. 22. The Mass was followed by a procession.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney celebrated the liturgy, concelebrated by priests of the parish, which has a large Polish population.

The Shrine of St. John Paul II at Holy Rosary Parish is the diocese’s shrine to the late pope, who visited Holy Rosary Parish in August 1976 when he was then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla. Two years later, he was elected pope on Oct. 16, 1978.

The shrine was designated by Bishop Emeritus Arthur J. Serratelli, and on July 1, 2012, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Pope John Paul II’s personal secretary, came from Poland to celebrate Mass at the shrine.