An outdoor Mass will be celebrated by Roman Catholic Bishop Matthew Clark on Sunday, September 14, at 11:00 am, at the Hickories Park Band Shell in Owego. The Mass will be the first one for the new regional Blessed Trinity Parish which has been formed in Tioga County.

 After Mass, there will be a catered chicken BBQ picnic. Tickets for the picnic are on sale and sign-up sheets are available after all regular Saturday and Sunday Masses on September 6 and 7. Everyone must have a ticket for the picnic. Suggested donation is $5 per person with a maximum of $20 per family. Please sign up even if you are just coming to the Mass to help planning. Transportation from each worship site to the Hickories will also be available. When you sign up for the picnic you can also sign up for transportation. 

 In the event of inclement weather, a rain site will be determined. On Sunday morning, you may call three parishes for updates: Central Office-Owego 687-1068, Waverly Office 565-2014, Apalachin Office 625-3191, or www.tiogaregion.org. Radio and television stations will be updated.

 The merger of five of the churches – St. Francis of Catatonk, St John the Evangelist of Newark Valley, St. James of Waverly, St Pius X of Van Etten and St. Margaret Mary of Apalachin –  into Blessed Trinity Parish began on July 1, 2003. St. Patrick's Church in Owego will join the new parish at a later date. there are 2,162 registered families in the six parishes.

 In April 2001, Bishop Clark of the Rochester Diocese approved the Pastoral Plan submitted by the six Roman Catholic Churches of the Tioga Region. The plan called for the July 1, 2003, merger of the six churches into a new regional parish – with six worship sites.

 Over the past two years, the parishes have undertaken a series of steps to assist in the transition to a new parish. These steps have included a new Mass schedule, the rotation of priests throughout the six churches, the creation of a single Sunday Bulletin, and the adoption of plans for the administration, staffing and financing of the new parish.

 Recently, parishioners of the six churches chose Blessed Trinity Parish as the name of the name of the new regional parish. The names of the churches (sites) making up the new parish will remain. 

 Bishop Clark has appointed Father William Moorby as the pastor of both Blessed Trinity and St. Patrick's parishes. Father Patrick Van Durme and Father Symon-Peter Ntaiyia have been assigned as Parochial Vicars (parish priests) at both Blessed Trinity and St. Patrick's. Blessed Trinity and St. Patrick's will also benefit from the sacramental assistance of Father Thomas Watts, the retired former pastor of St. James in Waverly.