Italian Heritage Mass Draws Record Crowd In Essex County

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — An Italian Heritage Mass recently drew a record number of attendees in Essex County for a celebration of culture and faith.

The Archdiocese of Newark held its third annual Italian Heritage Mass on Oct. 3 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. This year, 500 people attended the event – twice last year’s total.

Those attending included Italian American priests and parishioners from throughout New Jersey. The congregation also featured people of other cultural and religious backgrounds, including Methodists and Episcopalians.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, offered a homily at the event.

“When I think of the primary fruit that an Italian American identity offers, it includes a unique witness to family and community,” Tobin said, pointing to family dinners and church festivals as examples of how Italian American Catholics share their faith.

Eric Lavin, business manager of Newark’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish, organized the Mass in his role as director of the archdiocesan Italian Apostolate.

Several Essex County priests concelebrated the occasion, including the Rev. Thomas Nicastro of St. Mary’s Parish in Nutley, the Rev. Leo Joseph Camurato of OLMC in Newark, and the Rev. Matthew Gonzalez of the Cathedral Basilica.

Following the liturgy, the Italian Apostolate hosted a reception with food and music at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center. The reception honored the Filippini Sisters—a religious congregation founded in Italy and dedicated to education—for their decades of service to the archdiocese. The event raised $5,000 to support the sisters’ construction of a school in Ethiopia and an additional $1,000 for sisters receiving care at St. Joseph’s Hall in Morristown.

Watch video footage from the Mass below, or view it online here.

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