Building of Church Starts

The Church building fund campaign began with the blessing of 250 workers by Archbishop Boland on June 8, 1964, before they set forth to canvass the 1,200 families of the parish in a one-day drive.  From their efforts, approximately $185,000 was pledged toward the estimated $1,100,000 cost of the church, school and auditorium.

By early September, bids for the construction of the church plant were received by the Chancery Office and by September 15^th, the contracts had been awarded.  Ground-breaking ceremonies were held on September 27, 1964, at three o'clock in the afternoon, with many church dignitaries as well as town officials present.  Monsignor James A. Hughes, Vicar General of the Archdiocese, represented Archbishop Boland who was attending the Ecumenical Council in Rome.  Clergymen from surrounding churches and Mother Dolorita of the Dominican Mother house in Caldwell, all helped wield the shovel that broke the ground for the start of construction. The work began in earnest the next day when the land was cleared and construction equipment was brought on the site.

By Christmas, 1964, a mixed adult choir had been formed, under the direction of Marie E. Slekatitis, and at Midnight Mass the new liturgical music was performed for the first time in the parish.

The beginning of the New Year found work proceeding on all of the buildings, and plans were formulated for the opening of the new school, to be staffed by the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Dominic of the congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, whose mother house is in Caldwell.  Registration for the children was held in early Spring, 1965, at the recently-purchased home at 986 Suburban Road that was to be used as a temporary school office.

By mid-July, the three bronze bells that had been ordered for the church steeple had arrived, and awaited consecration and installation.  Imported from Belgium, and cast by the I. T. Verdin Co. in Ohio, the bells had been placed on the ground immediately in front of the church construction.  On July 26, 1965, at seven o'clock in the evening, Archbishop Thomas A. Boland, assisted by Father Drexler, Father Ward, and Father Smolen, blessed the bells in a beautiful and seldom-witnessed ceremony.