Each year the Festival opens with a mass in the traditional Gaelic language.  The celebrant of the mass is Fr. Dan Cahill; pastor of St. Ann's parish in Keansburg and AOH Division 2 chaplain.  The St Ann's Bell Choir performs the musical parts of the mass.  The mass is dedicated to the memories of the Irish who lost their lives in the famine and to those soles who lost their lives on 9/11.