Pastoral visit to Passaic parish

PASSAIC  The parish community of St. Nicholas Church here welcomed Bishop Sweeney, who celebrated the vigil Mass for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time during his visit Jan. 30.

The parish’s history began in the early 1860s, when Franciscan friars from the former St. Boniface Parish in Paterson, began attending to the Catholics who lived in the city of Passaic. In 1868, Bishop Bayley appointed a pastor for the Passaic parish and a combination church and school was built on Prospect Street. After a fire destroyed the building in 1875, the church was rebuilt on the same site. The present church was built on Washington Place in 1885. The parish also organized the first St. Mary’s Hospital. The rectory building now houses the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women.