It’s now official!
With great joy, St. Bonaventure and Our Lady of Pompei (OLP) parishes in the Stoney Road section of Paterson and Woodland Park, N.J., were merged to become one parish, officially named for St. Pio of Pietrelcina, also known as “Padre Pio,” on the sunny afternoon of April 12, Divine Mercy Sunday.
Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney led hundreds from both parishes — Anglos and Hispanics — in an outdoor Eucharistic procession from OLP on Murray Avenue to St. Bonaventure’s on Ramsey Street, just three blocks away. The event began with a bilingual Divine Mercy Chaplet at OLP and ended with Benediction at St. Bonaventure’s, where the merger degree was read. New St. Pio parishioners smiled throughout the day, becoming more united spiritually, personally, and canonically.
Earlier, Bishop Sweeney delivered a reflection at OLP, where he thanked God for “the gift of faith that has been celebrated in Our Lady of Pompei and St. Bonventure’s, which today becomes this new parish of St. Padre Pio. The faith will continue to live here.”
“In walking this journey [in the merger process], parish leaders, you have been listening and responding to one another and praying together. Now we go walking together with Jesus as one church. ‘Vámonos’ [in Spanish] — ‘let’s go,’” Bishop Sweeney told the congregation.
That day, Father Manuel Cuellar was also smiling as he became the pastor of St. Pio’s. With the merger streamlining the administration of St. Bonaventure’s and OLP parishes, each with its own histories and traditions, both churches are remaining open with adjusted Mass schedules to ensure the parish continues to meet people’s spiritual and pastoral needs. Also, St. Pio’s is working to unite the former parishes’ English- and growing Spanish-speaking communities.
This historic celebration on April 12 began as Bishop Sweeney and Father Cuellar expressed their trust in God’s providence, inspired by the message of the Divine Mercy image: “Jesus, I trust in you.” After prayer and consultation, Bishop Sweeney approved the merger and remained involved, guiding parishioners with prayerful discernment and collaboration.
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After Msgr. George Hundt, pastor of St. Gerard’s and former OLP pastor, read the merger decree in St. Bonaventure’s, Father Cuellar said, “Well, it seems like it’s official now.” The congregation responded with applause.
“That is now our mission, my brothers and sisters: to love this parish,” said Father Cuellar in his bilingual reflection. The pastor noted that building up St. Pio’s means “not holding on to our differences, but instead recognizing the gift of one another and moving forward with the Holy Spirit as guidance. Let’s work and be patient with one another; let our parish be a place of welcome, healing, and mercy.”
During the event, Bishop Sweeney thanked the priests who helped shepherd the merger: Father Cuellar, Msgr. Hundt, and Father Alex Nevitt, diocesan delegate for parish leadership and former St. Bonaventure’s administrator. He also thanked members of both former parishes for their help. Father Frank Agresti, OLP, native and former pastor, was present that day to offer support.
That day, Nancelly Baez, 19, called the merger a “historic moment.” Baez, now a student at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., recently completed the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults at OLP and received her sacraments at the Easter Vigil.
Reflecting the unified spirit, Baez said, “This is truly beautiful and moving. We are doing this [merger] together as one community.”
Under Father Cuellar’s leadership, OLP has expanded its outreach to the Hispanic community, adding the parish’s first Spanish Mass at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday in September 2024 — which continues to grow — and encouraging religious devotions from various Spanish-speaking cultures. St. Bonaventure’s recently established a young adult ministry that has become the largest in the diocese. St. Bonaventure Church has a Spanish Mass at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Currently, St. Pio’s staff work from St. Bonaventure’s offices, and clergy reside in the rectory. In the future, OLP’s rectory will become St. Pio’s offices, and St. Bonaventure’s rectory will become St. Pio’s rectory.
Last year, parishioners voted to name the new faith community St. Pio of Pietrelcina. Padre Pio (1887–1968). He was an Italian Capuchin priest renowned for his intense prayer, stigmatization, and service to the suffering.
The two parishes represent more than 260 years of service to the area—150 at St. Bonaventure’s and 110 at OLP. The diocese’s second-oldest parish, St. Bonaventure’s, was founded when Franciscan Friars arrived in Paterson from Germany in 1876. In 2024, following the Franciscan Friars’ departure due to manpower shortages, Bishop Sweeney assigned Father Nevitt to guide St. Bonaventure’s transition to a diocesan parish, leading to the merger with OLP on April 12, 2024.
In 1916, OLP was started as a mission of St. Michael Parish in Paterson to serve the Italian community. Msgr. Hundt took on the simultaneous pastorate of OLP and St. Gerard’s in July 2024, shortly before the Franciscans left St. Bonaventure’s. Leading up to the merger, both OLP and St. Bonaventure’s populations declined, and OLP faced financial challenges.
After Benediction, parishioners gathered in St. Bonaventure’s parish hall for a reception, including Thomas Uzzalino, a 50-year OLP parishioner from Woodland Park and extraordinary minister of Holy Communion.
“At Our Lady of Pompei, everybody welcomed us from the first day,” said Uzzalino, who attended the event with his wife, Ginny. Together, they have three children. “This [merger] needed to happen. The population of Pompeii was declining. I’m happy that both churches are staying open. We’re from different cultures but are working together [to build the new parish],” he said.
For Mass times and other information, visit piopaterson.org.
