Pastoral visit to Passaic parish

MASS IN GERMAN  Altar servers pose for a picture with the Bishop after a Mass in German during his pastoral visit to Holy Trinity Parish in Passaic Sept. 11.

PASSAIC  Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to Holy Trinity Church here Sept. 11, the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time. During his visit, the Bishop celebrated the 10 a.m. Mass with Father Antonio Rodriguez, pastor, who is fluent in German, Spanish and English. For more than 100 years at Holy Trinity, the 10 a.m. Sunday Mass has been said in German. Holy Trinity is the only parish in the state of New Jersey with a Sunday German-language Mass. According to the parish history, German-speaking Catholics in Passaic organized on Trinity Sunday in 1900 and petitioned Bishop Wigger for a national parish. The bishop agreed and the first church was built in 1903 on Jackson Street. A new church was built on the corner of Hope Avenue and Harrison Street in 1923-24.