The St. Brendan the Navigator parish hosted the annual Wedding of the Sea celebration Aug. 15. The event was held to commemorate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The morning began with an outdoor Mass at the Stone Harbor Recreation field, followed by a procession to the beach. At the beach, Father Raymond Gormley boarded a lifeguard boat rowed by the Stone Harbor Beach Patrol. Once in the ocean, he blessed the sea and tossed a wreath into the water with an estimated 800 parishioner and visitors looking on.

Photo caption: Father Gormley participates in his first Blessing of the Sea in Avalon.