Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney made a pastoral visit to Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Highland Lakes July 18 where he celebrated Mass marking the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

On the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 16, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney was main celebrant of Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Middletown, N.Y. The shrine is operated by the Carmelite Friars of the St. Elias Province. It is located 20 miles north from the Paterson Diocese in New York state. In welcoming those in attendance, the Bishop said, “What a joy and privilege it is to be at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to celebrate the beautiful feast day of our Blessed Mother under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Congregants sang “Ave Maria” at the vigil Mass on July 17 in Notre Dame of Mount Carmel Church in Cedar Knolls, as they delighted taking in a historic sight for the parish that evening: a procession of a statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, their patron, around the worship space at the end of the liturgy. Churchgoers snapped photos with their cell phones, prayed, or watched the Our Lady of Mount Carmel statue during the procession — like the many such devotions to her held around the world and in parishes in the Diocese, including those named after her, on or around her July 16 feast day.