Pastoral visit to Ringwood parish

RINGWOOD  The faith community of St. Catherine of Bologna Parish here welcomed Bishop Sweeney on his pastoral visit on Oct. 10 where he was the main celebrant and homilist for the 5 p.m. vigil Mass for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Concelebrating the Mass with Bishop Sweeney were Father Pawel Szurek, St. Catherine’s pastor, and Father Stephen Prisk, the Bishop’s priest-secretary.

St. Catherine’s was a large mission site in the 18th century. It was committed to the care of the Franciscan friars in 1880 and a church was erected in 1917 on property provided by the Ringwood Mining Company. The mission was raised to parish status in 1945. A parish hall, built in 1954, was converted to use as a church in 1955. The Franciscans withdrew from the parish and turned over the administration of the parish to the Diocese in 1990.