code: public static Date parseDate(final String pDate) throws ParseException {
  
          final SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat(OCCURRENCE_DATE_FORMAT);
          return format.parse(pDate);
      }
docs: Parse the given date using the {@link #OCCURRENCE_DATE_FORMAT} format.
  
  @param pDate
  a string representation of a date
  @return the date
  @throws ParseException
  date malformed