The parish of St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church opened its year offering best wishes to Monsignor Robert Weiss. “Father Bob” retired from his administrative duties after nearly 25 years in Newtown, and more than 50 years since his ordination, on January 31.

Father Peter Cipriani was welcomed as the new pastor for the town’s Roman Catholic community.

John Revell did not set out to become a chaplain for multiple police departments. In January, however, the recent Newtown transplant became the new chaplain for Newtown Police Department. The local PD announced the addition to its staff in late January.

In other local faith-based news of 2024, Lent began this year with a new offering: Newtown United Methodist Church Pastor Stephen Volpe introduced a Drive-Thru Ash Wednesday Ministry, and was ecstatic when 18 people visited him on the very chilly morning of February 14 in the church parking lot.

In early May, members of Newtown Christian Church said farewell to the late Jack Tanner. The longtime leader of Newtown Christian Church, Reverend Tanner died in April. His celebration of life was held a few weeks later and nearly 300 people joined the last minister’s family to pay their respects.

A member of Newtown Choral Society, Rev Tanner was celebrated through the singing of “Silent Night” and also celebrated by several players from the 10U Hawks baseball team. With one of the minister’s grandsons on that team, the ball players gave a “loud and proud” cheer during the eulogy.

Newtown Ecumenical Workcamp Servants sent 31 campers and nine chaperones to Biloxi, Miss., where they again worked with Back Bay Mission for this year’s workcamp mission trip. During the June 29-July 7 trip, the group worked on two homes, primarily doing carpentry work, re-siding, and painting each home. The campers also spent a day at Back Bay Mission, working at the food pantry stocking shelves there; Loaves and Fishes, preparing meals and serving breakfast and lunch; and Micah Day Center, assisting the unsheltered with many services that were offered including showers, job hunting and social services.

Love Has A Home Here hosted “Unite in the Light: Become a Sanctuary of Peace” on July 28. The two-day event at the nondenominational community’s Huntingtown Road location offered an afternoon of meditation and a journey for attendees to discover the peaceful light within.

Trinity Episcopal Church’s Little Pantry celebrated its first anniversary in October. The standalone structure in the parking lot of the Main Street church is a supplement to FAITH Food Pantry and other pantries in the area. Open to anyone who would like to donate and for those in need to receive donated food, the pantry reportedly provided more than 500 items per month since its launch one year earlier.

On November 25, members of local communities of faith gathered at Newtown Community Center to listen to a presentation from the Newtown Police Department, FBI, and Connecticut State Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security regarding faith-based swatting. The community meeting was called following several incidents that occurred four weeks earlier, when communities of faith in town were the victims of swatting calls.

Newtown Interfaith Council remained active during the past 12 months. The council began the year launching a “Communities of Compassion” initiative.

It also presented its annual interfaith Thanksgiving gathering in November and hosted a 12/14 service of remembrance earlier this month.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.