St. Stephen’s parish picnic held Sept. 8

WARWICK — This year’s St. Stephen’s parish picnic was held on Sunday, Sept. 8, on the church grounds.

Although a few dark clouds that morning threatened to force the event indoors, they soon passed and everyone enjoyed mostly sunny skies, mild temperatures and a gentle breeze.

After attending the outdoor Mass, everyone had an opportunity to enjoy traditional picnic fare including hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob and watermelon, all courtesy of individual donors, along with DJ music and children’s amusements.

Seven years ago, after being rained out two years in a row, the Rev. Michael McLoughlin, pastor of Warwick’s Church of St. Stephen, the First Martyr, decided to move the annual event from the town park to the church grounds.

The idea was to have indoor facilities available so that the popular family event would not have to be canceled because of weather. But as generally happens when other options are available, the weather has not been a serious problem.

However, last year the plan paid off as potentially dangerous thunderstorms had picnic-goers rushing indoors to the safety of the cafeteria. But everyone was grateful that the storms held off until that moment and that the weather was good during the visit of a distinguished guest, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York.

The 2013 parish picnic was again organized by Tom Fitzgerald, Stephen Mandracchia and Glenn Miller assisted by the Warwick Valley Knights of Columbus, St. Stephen Sodality, the Catholic Daughters of America and parish volunteers.

- Roger Gavan