Religion

by Deborah Ann Tripoldi tripoldi@montclairlocal.news The longest day of the year — and no, it’s not a Monday or Black Friday — falls on Wednesday, June 21. Summer begins that day at exactly 12:24 a.m. EDT. The first day of summer for the Northern Hemisphere is known by many names: the summer solstice, Midsummer, Alban Hefin (or “light of the summer”) to the Druids, or Litha to most pagans. It is o

By GWEN OREL and ANTOINETTE MARTIN orel@montclairlocal.news It’s very hot on the third floor of Glenfield Middle School. That makes the fast of Ramadan just that little bit harder for Frances Aboushi, who teaches there, and students Rafid Khayum, 13, and Amir Carter, 12. D...

By ERIN ROLL roll@montclairlocal.news A refugee assistance project involving a Montclair parish is moving ahead. St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish — which includes Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Mount Carmel churches — has embarked on a project, through Catholic Charities, to assist refugee families arriving in the United States. Catherine...

Bnai Keshet is holding two events honoring social justice in the coming week. On Saturday morning, June 3, Steve Ellmann will speak about South Africa’s late Chief Justice, Arthur Chaskalson, and what role his Jewishness may have played in his opposition to apartheid at Bnai Keshet’s Kaplan Minyan. The Kaplan...

Temple Ner Tamid will host this year’s Tikkun for Erev Shavuot on Tuesday evening, May 30. For more than 20 years, four synagogues — Bnai Keshet and Shomrei Emunah in Montclair, Temple Sholom of West Essex in Cedar Grove, and Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield — have gathered together for an evening of study, meditation and song. This year’s v...

By GWEN OREL orel@montclairlocal.news Not eating during the day is not the hardest thing about Ramadan, for Kevin Dawud Amin, of the Masjid Ul Wadud mosque on Bloomfield Avenue. It’s reading the entire Quran. Many people know that during Ramadan, which will probably start in the evening of Friday, May 26, and continue through the evening of Saturday, June 24, Muslims do not eat from sunrise to sun

By LINDA MOSS moss@montclairlocal.news The pastor of St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish, which was formed last year by the rocky merger of two Montclair churches, is being transferred to a parish in Bergen County. The Rev. Joseph Scarangella effective July 1 will be leaving Montclair to go the Church of St...

By LINDA MOSS moss@montclairlocal.news With the future of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in his hands, Cardinal Joseph Tobin this week said he plans to visit Montclair to hear the concerns of parishioners fighting to keep their house of worship open ...

By LINDA MOSS moss@montclairlocal.news Parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church said that earlier this week they met with representatives of the Archdiocese of Newark to make the case for the survival of their parish, with the fate of the church now directly in the hands of Cardinal Joseph Tobin...

The Township Council on Tuesday night swore in nine chaplains, representing various faiths, as part of a new Montclair Police Department program. The police chaplains, clergymen and -women, represent houses of worship throughout Montclair...