Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

As heavy rains pelted Rockaway and the rest of northern New Jersey last weekend, the love and mercy of God came pouring down on faithful in St. Cecilia Church, Rockaway, who had taken the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the message of and the devotion to Divine Mercy, during a “Mercy and Mary Retreat” here from Friday, Aug. 10 to Saturday, Aug. 11. The 380 Catholics from St. Cecilia’s and beyond gave a celebrity welcome to the leader of the retreat, Marian Father of the Immaculate Conception Michael E. Gaitley, a noted author, who encouraged them to spread the Divine Mercy message far and wide to a world filled with suffering and sin.

Bishop Serratelli has issued a decree that brings together and strengthens two distinct and dynamic parishes in Dover by canonically merging Sacred Heart Parish, an Anglo population, and Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, a Spanish-speaking faith community, into one parish, which took effect yesterday, Aug. 15, on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The new unified parish is now called “Sacred Heart and Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church,” although each individual church building will retain its original respective name.

Most of us know that the crime of human trafficking is rampant around the globe, but think it’s not so much of a problem in the United States. But that’s just not the case. A new global report has found much higher rates of modern-day slavery here than previously believed — with the report stating that as many as 1 in 800 Americans is currently a victim of human trafficking.