On Nov. 27, for the first time in two years, the pews at Montclair's Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church were packed, and voices joined in prayer and song. "It was such an important occasion, and so beautiful," said Marielena Marzullo, a longtime parishioner who grew up on Pine Street two doors down from the church, and attended its grammar school, now condominiums, on Baldwin Street. 

The Mass was a hard-won victory for Marzullo and her brother Raffaele, who have fought for the reopening since the Archdiocese of Newark combined the church with Immaculate Conception parish in 2016 and it seemed destined for closure.