Churches

On Wednesday, August 17, relatives, friends, and neighbors of Nazish Noorani gathered for a candlelight vigil led by the Rev. Laurie Wurm of St. John's Church in Boonton. Noorani was shot and killed the night before while walking with her husband and 3-year-old son to her father's house, after breaking the Ramadan fast at her sister's house nearby. The candlelight vigil was included in an online photo gallery by Star-Ledger photographer Saed Hindash.

During worship Sunday morning, they heard the parable of the mustard seed. Then children, teens, parents and seniors swapped hymnals and prayer books for rakes and shovels to till the soil and plant flowers, vegetables and herbs to create a new garden beside the cloister at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Morristown.

Until a decade ago, Valerie Bailey Fischer was living a double life. Starting during her undergraduate days at Penn State, and continuing in the years after graduation, she split her time between journalism and religion, writing for newspapers in two states while working as a campus chaplain.

She enjoyed both, but increasingly recognized that her life's calling was in the church. So with encouragement from close friends, she gave up journalism and enrolled at the Union Theological Seminary in New York in 2001 as the first step toward becoming an Episcopal priest.

Rev. Andrew Butler did not take over St. John's Episcopal Church in Montclair with the intention of making waves -- but he has made an impact in his role in less than a year.

Salvatore Demarco loves watches of all kinds and even wears a ring that doubles as a watch. Michael Walsh is proud of all his bowling trophies displayed in his bedroom. And Carol Sepley boasts of her 37-year career working for the Social Security administration.

These are ordinary facts about a special group of people who live in an extraordinary residence for developmentally disabled adults who are part of the Windmill Alliance.