More than 130 Catholics celebrated their devotion to St. Jude Thaddeus with a special Mass on the evening of Oct. 28, followed by food and fellowship at St. Mary’s Church in Kingston.

“Building on last year’s cooperation between St. Mary-Sacred Heart parish and our sodality of St. Jude Thaddeus, we were pleased to double the number of children at tonight’s liturgical and social events,” observed Fr. Arthur Rojas, pastor of St. Mary-Sacred Heart parish in Kingston-Esopus.

Coordinated by Mirella Rosas, the owner of Alma Latina grocery on Broadway in Kingston, the sodality of St. Jude Thaddeus maintains and shares the devotion of Mexicans and other Latin Americans to the apostle known as an intercessor for hopeless causes.

“As a parish sodality, we are fortunate to have its cooperation to help form a Catholic imagination of our children by encouraging boys to dress as St. Jude Thaddeus, per Hispanic custom, and girls also to dress as Mother Mary, in anticipation of our Catholic alternative to Halloween on Oct. 31, that is, our second annual Vigil of All Saints at St. Mary’s Church, Kingston,” explained Fr. Rojas.

The Vigil of All Saints is open to all children and their families of good will on Saturday, Oct. 31, with a Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of All Saints at 7 p.m., followed by refreshments for all and some prizes for children.

“Children and teens are welcome to come in costume but only as saints, angels, nuns, clerics, and other positive figures. Being made in the image and likeness of God, human children are neither ghosts, devils, witches, bums, nor should they dress that way at any time,” insisted Fr. Rojas. 

In cooperation with the parish’s Religious Education Program and the Hispanic charismatic prayer group, St. Mary-Sacred Heart Parish aims to shape local children’s tastes and imagination in a Christian way.

St. Mary-Sacred Heart Parish serves lower Kingston and the town of Esopus, located in Ulster County. In addition to St. Mary’s Church in Kingston, the parish includes Sacred Heart Church in Esopus and Presentation of the B.V.M. Church in Port Ewen, home to the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Hudson. The parish is served by Fr. Arthur Rojas, Dcns. John Carr and Timothy Dean, and Veronica Baide as coordinator of religious education.