Church to relocate after more than 100 years

Photo by Alan M. Dumoff

Students of St. Vincent de Paul School join Bishop Joseph A. Galante, clergy and school officials at the groundbreaking for a new building, which will house the church worship site, the parish offices, meeting rooms and food pantry, which are currently housed in separate facilities.

After more than 100 years at its current location, St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Mays Landing is breaking ground for a new home. This event marks the beginning of construction of the new church at the site of Holy Cross Cemetery on Route 40, also in Mays Landing, NJ.

This new building, designed and being built by The Bannett Group, Ltd. of Cherry Hill, will house the church worship site, the parish offices, meeting rooms and food pantry, which are currently housed in separate facilities.

The construction of the new church and facilities is expected to be completed by September 2011. At the same time, Bishop Joseph Galante has issued a decree that consolidates St. Vincent de Paul and St. Bernard Mission in Dorothy, into one parish. (See pages 16-17). Father Edward Heintzelman has been named pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish for a term of six years.

Catholicism was firmly rooted in Mays Landing prior to the actual establishment of St. Vincent de Paul Parish late in the year of 1906. Up to that time the spiritual needs of the people were under the care of St. Nicholas’ Church in Egg Harbor, some seven miles away, which had been established in 1864.

St. Bernard Mission was incorporated by the Diocese of Trenton on Jan. 15, 1902, and was a mission of Our Lady of Pompeii Church from 1908 until 1977 when it was transferred to St. Vincent de Paul Church in 1977.

On Oct. 4, 1906, papers incorporating the “Church of St. Vincent de Paul, Mays Landing, NJ” were filed by the Clerk of Atlantic County. The property where the Church now stands, was purchased to make way for the new church. The cornerstone was laid on Aug. 25, 1907 and the first services were conducted in the new church on Christmas morning, 1907.

The church was finally completed and dedicated by Bishop McFaul on June 28, 1908.

The combined parish has grown from more than 50 families in the early 1900s to over 2,000 families today.