As the Catholic Strong campaign draws to a close, and money from generous faithful starts trickling in to aid programs and ministries throughout the local and diocesan Catholic Church of South Jersey, one pastor is “super excited” about upcoming renovations to a church and school made possible by the campaign.
Father Jon Thomas is pastor of the Parish of Saint Monica, whose boundaries extend to the limits of Atlantic City. It was formed on July 1, 2015 from the merger of several parishes: Our Lady Star of the Sea, Saint Michael, Saint Monica and Saint Nicholas Tolentine. The parish includes the city’s only Catholic school, Our Lady Star of the Sea.
Father Thomas says that one of his three churches, Saint Nicholas of Tolentine, and his elementary school — both more than 100 years old — will soon see improvements.
At Our Lady Star of the Sea, “we’re investing in the school … refreshing the interior and look of the main office, principal’s office, lobby and lower floor classrooms,” he says.
“We’ll improve the floors and ceilings, do repainting.”
The work will begin before the end of the current school year, and the hope is it will be finished by the beginning of the new one, Father Thomas adds.
At Saint Nicholas, the transept of the church will be revitalized, with repainting, the polishing of marble, artwork restoration, and fixing plaster damage. This project, the pastor says, will commence in the summer.
Giving parishioners. A grateful pastor. Beauty restored, to a church and school, for generations to come.
An unprecedented initiative of its kind, the Catholic Strong campaign will see 70 percent of all funds raised toward individual parish goals go back to its community, while 30 percent will go to the Diocese of Camden for its various outreach ministries.
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