Hispanic Catholics have found a spiritual home at St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish in Chester, N.J., which, in recent years, has welcomed local Spanish speakers with the loving arms of Christ.
Having just closed its 75th anniversary celebrations, St. Lawrence has helped area Hispanics create a Spanish-speaking faith community and encouraged them to become more incorporated into the entire parish. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney visited St. Lawrence on Sept. 20 and celebrated a Mass with the 1,100-family parish to help conclude its anniversary observances.
For the Hispanic community, St. Lawrence offers a Spanish Mass on Sundays at 12:30 p.m., a Spanish Mass on Mondays at 7 p.m. with opportunities for confession, adoration with Spanish guidance monthly on Wednesdays, a gathering of members of the Order of the Rite of Christian Initiation on Tuesday nights, a Mystagogia meeting on Thursday nights, and Lectio Divina on Friday nights.
The Hispanic community also hosts guest speakers on a Saturday night each month to discuss issues in married life as part of its marriage ministry. From May 13 to Oct. 13, the parish holds a bilingual rosary in honor of the monthly apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima in 1917.
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
“St. Lawrence is a multicultural parish. Some of the Hispanic parishioners have been engaging with the entire parish, offering socials for the entire parish from time to time. Their music and food are wonderful,” said Father Nicholas Bozza, St. Lawrence’s pastor for the past 12 years.
Father Bozza and Father Castillo, St. Lawrence’s parochial vicar, originally from Colombia, both speak Spanish. They concelebrated the 75th anniversary Mass with Bishop Sweeney, along with Msgr. Kevin Flanagan, a retired diocesan priest and a former St. Lawrence pastor, and Father Paul Manning, vicar for evangelization of the Paterson Diocese in New Jersey, and vicar for education. Father Manning was baptized at the parish.
At the Mass, St. Lawrence was also presented with an anniversary proclamation from the Township of Chester. Bishop Sweeney also blessed parish catechists in observance of Catechetical Sunday.
After the liturgy, Bishop Sweeney visited the parish center to bless the classrooms and catechists for the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program. An anniversary gala followed.
St. Lawrence’s story starts in 1941, when it was a mission of St. Joseph Parish in Mendham, N.J. Masses in Chester started in Mrs. Serbe’s home parlor. The first Mass in the first church was celebrated in 1950. Later, the parish accommodated the growing faith community by building a larger 800-seat church in 1963.
Four parishes grew from St. Lawrence: Our Lady of the Mountain, St. Luke, and St. Mark the Evangelist, all in the Long Valley neighborhood of Washington Township, N.J., and St. Matthew in Randolph, N.J.
St. Lawrence offers additional opportunities for the entire parish, including a Moms and Tots group, a 10-week course twice a year for parishioners designed to deepen their prayer lives and learn to evangelize, and Men’s and Women’s Cornerstone programs.
“This parish is vibrant. It has had good pastors. It has many ministries that are good ways for parishioners to engage with others and bond with the parish,” Father Bozza said. He added that many young families with “lots of kids” are joining St. Lawrence. “It’s nice to see children running around. Also, the older parishioners are generous and loving. They help each other in a crisis, and when offered something spiritual, they respond.”
For information about St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish, visit www.stlchester.org.
