Tucked into the hillside streets of Boonton, New Jersey, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church has been a Roman Catholic presence in this Morris County town since 1847, making it the third oldest parish in the county. The parish's own description of itself sums up the spirit that has carried it through more than 175 years: "We exist to be a light to the world, and we live out Christ's call on our lives by worship and witness. In prayer and sacrament God enkindles our hearts that we might bring the fire of his love to everyone we encounter." From its white-steepled church on Birch Street to its parish school down the block, OLMC has grown into a busy community that takes seriously its calling to be, as the parish motto phrases it, "a city built on a hill" that cannot be hid.
A Parish Rooted in Place, Founded in 1847
OLMC's story begins in the mid-nineteenth century, when a growing Catholic population in northern New Jersey needed its own parish home. The parish's boundaries today cover all of Boonton and nearly all of Boonton Township, with a perimeter that traces Boonton's municipal lines and the Rockaway River, set by the boundary proclamations of neighboring parishes over the last sixty to seventy years. The church's own framing of that geography is mission-minded rather than bureaucratic: rather than seeing parish boundaries as a way to assign people to churches, the parish describes itself as a "mission outpost" responsible for everyone in its territory, whether or not they are formally registered.
That sense of rootedness shows up in the parish's calendar. Each July, OLMC celebrates its patronal feast, the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, with a candlelit procession through the streets of Boonton and a parish picnic with food, games, and fellowship. In 2022, the parish marked its 175th anniversary with a special commemorative ornament and an extended celebration. The anniversary ornaments have become something of a tradition in their own right: each year OLMC releases a stained-glass window ornament featuring a different scene from the liturgical life of the Church.
Mass, the Sacraments, and a Weekly Rhythm of Prayer
The center of life at OLMC is the Sunday Eucharist, celebrated in the parish church on Birch Street. The Saturday Vigil Mass is offered at 5:15 p.m. in English, and a second Vigil Mass in Spanish follows at 7:00 p.m. On Sundays, Mass is celebrated at 7:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m., and 11:00 a.m. Daily Mass is offered Monday through Saturday at 8:00 a.m. The parish has continued to livestream its liturgies, with recordings archived on Vimeo and homilies distributed through the parish's podcast, Father Daniel's Homilies, which has logged more than 50,000 downloads.
The Sacrament of Penance is offered on Saturday mornings from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. (after the 8:00 a.m. Mass) and on Saturday afternoons from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. (before the Vigil Mass). Confessions are heard in the regular confessional in the church, either behind the screen or face to face. For those who cannot make those times, appointments can be made by emailing the pastor.
Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament is one of the defining practices of the parish. The Eucharist is exposed every Friday after the 8:00 a.m. Mass and continues through the night, with adoration running until 7:45 a.m. on Saturday, just before the 8:00 a.m. daily Mass. The parish makes a particular point of recruiting regular adorers to fill every hour of that vigil; it is, in the words of the parish, the practice that "enkindles our hearts and keeps the fire of his love burning within us."
A Welcoming Bilingual Community
OLMC is a bilingual parish. The Saturday evening Spanish Mass is a long-standing part of the schedule, and the parish maintains a Spanish Bible study as part of its community offerings. English as a Second Language classes are held twice a month in the Hinds Room, with Beginning ESL, Advanced ESL, and homework help for children; these classes are open to all and supported by parish volunteers.
For adults seeking full initiation into the Catholic Church, the parish runs the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, or OCIA (the updated name for the long-familiar RCIA). Classes meet on Wednesday evenings from September through Easter, when candidates are received into the Church at the Easter Vigil. OCIA is open to anyone unbaptized as well as to baptized Christians who have not yet received Confirmation or Eucharist; the parish also accommodates teens who have aged out of the religious education program.
Baptism, Marriage, and the Funeral Rites
Infant baptisms are scheduled on the first and third Sundays of the month, or at any regular Sunday Mass. The parish asks that baptisms be arranged at least eight weeks in advance and that parents meet with the Director of Religious Education during the pregnancy as part of the preparation. The parish grounds this practice in the Catechism's teaching that the newly baptized, having received the Word, has been "enlightened" and becomes "light" himself (CCC, 1216).
Marriage preparation at OLMC runs for a full year. During that time, couples work with a team of planners and mentors to deepen their understanding of the Sacrament of Matrimony, evaluate their readiness for married life, and grow in their knowledge of themselves as individuals and as a couple. The parish frames this commitment with the well-worn adage: "Your wedding lasts a day, but your marriage lasts a lifetime." Resources recommended for engaged and married couples include the USCCB's For Your Marriage and Marriage: Unique for a Reason sites, Karol Wojtyla's Love and Responsibility, Pope John Paul II's Man and Woman He Created Them, Christopher West's Theology of the Body for Beginners, Gary Chapman's The 5 Love Languages, and Art and Laraine Bennett's The Temperament God Gave You.
The parish also accompanies families through the funeral rites, drawing on the Order of Christian Funerals. The funeral liturgy is described as "an act of worship, and not merely an expression of grief"; families and friends gather to commend the deceased to God, give thanks for Christ's victory over sin and death, and find strength in the Paschal Mystery. The parish keeps an extensive online archive of funeral programs and obituaries, and funeral livestreams are made available for those unable to attend in person. A parish Funeral Team of lay volunteers assists at funeral Masses as a ministry of mercy.
Religious Education for Children
OLMC's religious education program is built around the parish's conviction that parents are the "primary and principal educators" of their children in the faith, a duty drawn from the Second Vatican Council's Declaration on Christian Education. To support families, the parish offers two parallel tracks: a Classroom Catechesis track and a Family Faith Formation track.
The Classroom Catechesis track meets on Sundays after the 9:00 a.m. Mass and runs twenty-five half-hour sessions per year from first grade through Confirmation. It uses a developmentally appropriate, current curriculum, with a per-child fee structured to make registration affordable. The Family Faith Formation track, also for first grade through Confirmation, is designed to support parents in fostering faith conversations at home. It gathers the family for three parent meetings per year and is offered at no cost. Both tracks are open to registered parishioners. Children typically prepare for First Holy Communion in second grade and receive Confirmation in eighth grade, although the parish also accommodates older students and homeschooled children.
The Parish School and the High School Academy
Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, the parish's K-8 elementary school, sits on the same campus as the church and has been educating children in the Boonton area for more than 150 years. The school describes itself as dedicated to forming "the scholars, citizens, and saints of tomorrow" in an atmosphere of Christian charity and joyful inquiry, in which students grow in their love for God, the Church, one another, and their studies. The curriculum is classical in orientation, and the school frequently hosts tours and open houses for prospective families.
In 2020, OLMC parishioners launched a high school to extend that classical Catholic approach to secondary education. Lumen Gentium Academy, founded in the midst of the pandemic, now offers a high school program for families seeking a faith-centered continuation of the OLMC educational experience. The two schools share faculty, families, and a common mission, and OLMC hosts a major annual fundraiser, the Light of the World Gala, to support them both.
Faith Formation for Every Age and Stage
Beyond the parish school and sacramental preparation, OLMC runs a broad program of ongoing formation. The parish's "Simple Plan of Life" frames the Christian life around five ordinary but essential practices: Sunday Mass, monthly Confession, daily prayer, service to others, and tithing. A team of trained spiritual directors and mentors is available to walk with parishioners one on one as they work to put that plan into practice.
Bible study is offered throughout the year, drawing on both Catholic and Protestant material. Recent series have included Bishop Barron's The Mass, the Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist study, the ACTS series from Ascension Press, and studies on the Book of Revelation and the Early Church. A women's evening Bible study on biblical rest meets weekly, and book studies are scheduled for Advent and Lent. The parish's director of women's formation, Catherine Porter, also organizes an annual women's retreat at St. Mary's Abbey in Morristown.
Vacation Bible School is offered each summer for children in Pre-K4 through fifth grade, with programs built around a different theme each year, from "Marvelous Mystery: The Mass Comes Alive" to a journey through the Church year. A Story Time program for children from infants through age five gathers in Gordon Hall on Monday or Wednesday mornings during select seasons. The parish also runs a Giving Tree at Christmas to support Boonton families in need.
Men, Women, Youth, and Young Adults
OLMC maintains separate men's, women's, youth, and young adult groups, each with its own character. The men's group, more than sixty men strong, meets on the first and third Saturday mornings at 6:30 a.m. in Gordon Hall for coffee, breakfast, and fellowship. The women's group meets on Tuesday evenings, sometimes in the church for prayer, sometimes at a movie theater or special event, and runs the annual Advent by Candlelight evening for the women of the parish. A young adult group (ages 18-39) gathers on Friday evenings for Eucharistic Adoration followed by fellowship in Gordon Hall or the school courtyard.
Youth Ministry is divided into middle school and high school tracks. Teens in grades 8 through 12 meet on Friday evenings, with high schoolers in Gordon Hall and middle schoolers in the school gym, for prayer, games, and small group faith sharing. The program takes students to the annual Franciscan University of Ohio Youth Conference each summer, and a youth retreat is offered each spring. Two chartered groups round out the youth offerings: Trail Life Troop 514, a Christ-centered outdoor adventure and character program for boys in kindergarten through twelfth grade, and American Heritage Girls, the parallel program for girls.
The parish also runs a Stephen Ministry, in which trained lay men and women provide one-on-one, Christ-centered care to parishioners facing grief, divorce, job loss, chronic illness, relocation, and other life difficulties. A Meal Train Ministry coordinates home-cooked meals for parishioners welcoming a new baby, recovering from surgery, or going through a difficult time.
Stewardship, Tithing, and Charitable Outreach
OLMC is a tithing parish. Rather than running second collections, the parish designates one weekend's collection each month to a diocesan-facilitated cause, including the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, the Holy Land, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Peter's Pence, Catholic Relief Services, the Catholic Communications Campaign, the Black and Indian Missions, Catholic University of America, World Mission Sunday, Catholic Home Missions, the Retirement Fund for Religious, and Seminarian Education.
The parish also invites its members to go "beyond the tithe" each month to a particular local or global cause. Recent beneficiaries have included Nourish.NJ, the Boonton Food Pantry, Several Sources, the Missionary Cooperation Plan, Imago Dei Behavioral Health (a counseling initiative launched by OLMC itself), and Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. The parish supports the annual diocesan Corpus Christi food drive, which collects pasta, sauce, and toothpaste from each parish in the diocese for local food pantries.
Financial giving is managed through DonorBox, with options for PayPal, Apple Pay, and Stripe as well as traditional envelopes and checks. A proportional giving calculator on the parish site helps parishioners plan their giving, and a regular Financial Peace University course is offered as a nine-week small group study for those who want to address debt and budgeting from a Christian perspective. Estate planning and stewardship seminars are held periodically through the year.
Communications and the Parish's Wider Reach
OLMC maintains an active presence across multiple platforms. Father Daniel's weekly bulletin columns and a regular blog, the Pastor's Note, are published in print and online; the homily podcast is carried on Apple Podcasts and Podbean and is also posted to YouTube. The parish livestreams Masses, funerals, and other services on Vimeo, with overflow to YouTube and Facebook Live for major feasts. An automated robocall system keeps parishioners informed about weather-related cancellations and other urgent news.
The parish store carries an annually redesigned stained-glass Christmas ornament, parish crest and "Heart Aflame" pins and cufflinks, and a range of parish apparel. The annual ornament series has become its own small tradition, with windows depicting scenes from the Annunciation and the Visitation, the Nativity, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the saints, and a special 175th anniversary edition of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel window.
Clergy, Staff, and Parish Life
The parish is led by Father Daniel O'Mullane, who has served as pastor and who writes the weekly Pastor's Note and records the homily podcast. He is assisted by two parochial vicars: Father Lucas Folan, ordained in June 2026 after a diaconal ordination at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and Father John Calabro, who came to OLMC most recently from Pope John XXIII Regional High School. Father Wade Trainor, ordained in 2022, served at the parish before being assigned elsewhere. The Director of Religious Education and Youth Ministry is Faith Rose; Catherine Porter coordinates OCIA and women's formation; Ali Arnold coordinates Eucharistic Adoration; Ivan Arocho serves as Director of Stewardship.
The parish office, at 910 Birch Street, is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and closed Friday through Sunday. A Parishioner Portal on the parish site gives registered parishioners access to announcements, ministry schedules, giving history, and Mass intention requests. For newcomers interested in formally joining the parish, the membership page on the parish site offers a simple online form.
A Parish That Sees Itself as a Mission Outpost
What ties all of this together, from the seven-day-a-week Mass schedule to the Spanish-language outreach, the Trail Life troop, the school, the adoration chapel, and the food drives, is the parish's understanding of itself not as a quiet chapel for a settled community but as an active mission outpost in the middle of Boonton. The parish's own description of its geography captures that spirit: a parish, it says, has "a responsibility to the people of its geography" and exists to "animate" the Church's outreach, with the work of the parish including "people from outside of the mission field" whenever the Spirit brings them through the door. The current geographic boundaries, set by decades of quiet negotiation with neighboring parishes, encompass all of Boonton and nearly all of Boonton Township, and the parish welcomes anyone who wishes to join it on that mission.
Whether a visitor comes to a Sunday Mass, slides into a pew during a weekday adoration hour, brings a child to Vacation Bible School, or signs up for a Bible study, the invitation is the same: to take part in a community that has been gathering, praying, and serving in the hills of northern New Jersey since 1847, and that still sees itself, in Father Daniel's words from a recent pastor's note, as people "called to be part of his light-bearing mission to the world."