Saved!
FAITHFUL RESCUE THE ORIGINAL ST. JOSEPH’S CHURCH FROM DEMOLITION
Volunteers freshen up the exterior of the church.
Lisa Poole Deem presents $35,000 donation to Mike Boyle (left) and Mike McHale.
Gone are the bright blue lawn signs that read “Save Our Historic St. Joseph’s Church,” posted all over Sea Isle City and occasionally offshore for the past few years.
Forces behind the Save Our Historic St. Joseph’s movement succeeded in rescuing this Catholic house of worship that dates back to 1884 from the wrecking ball. Seriously generous people, and a go-ahead-if-you-can-pay-for-it from the parish’s pastor of the past year, Rev. Perry Cherubini, invigorated the effort, say parishioners and restoration advocates Mike McHale, a Sea Isle City mayor in the 1980s, and Boyle Finish Carpentry’s Mike Boyle.
Engineers from structural engineering firms had already deemed the building secure.
Controversy began seven years after the parish’s newly built church opened in 2011. The handsome, sizable new St. Joseph Church is seamlessly attached architecturally to its predecessor. While revenue was being raised for the new building, church trustees and fundraisers Tom Henry and McHale met with officials from the Diocese of Camden, McHale told the Sea Isle Times in 2019. These officials gave the parish permission to “keep the old church and sister the new one to it,” he added. Former pastor Rev. Joseph Perrault, since retired, also acknowledged that originally “the plan was to utilize the old church.”
An interior doorway connects one church with the other, along with a lift or elevator.
So, when rumors surfaced in 2018 that the old church would be demolished and a new building would replace it, McHale was stunned. He soon learned that he was not the only one.
Among others, Boyle periodically popped into the old St. Joe’s for prayer or reflection. “One day the church was suddenly closed” when he tried to visit, Boyle says with exasperation. Prior notice or a sign with explanation for the locked door were nowhere to be found, he adds.
Kathryn Maher hard at work repainting the doors.
Doug Gotthold and Anthony Milano cleaned the church carpeting at no cost.
Thus, the now-thriving Save Our Historic St. Joseph’s Church movement was born.
“We raised more than $100,000 so far” thanks to charitable donors, McHale says. Half was spent to rid the building of mold, he adds. Not only that, an all-volunteer workforce that includes skilled business owners and workers from a variety of local trades, and a woman with a gift for cleaning, donate their time and talents to refurbishing this treasured place.
“It’s a community effort,” McHale says. “The renovations are a work of love.” Some good came from the controversy, an overall feeling of “excitement about the restoration,” he adds.
Father Perry, as Cherubini prefers to be called, observes that “a sense of peace and unity had been restored.”
Billy Stearne spackles the ceiling.
Both McHale and Boyle point out that Ed Pearce of Painting by Pearce is personally painting the entire exterior of old St. Joseph Church and will continue with more painting in the fall. And, Norma Gardner of Gardner True Value Hardware is donating every drop of paint.
Local people fueled the fund generously, along with folks from afar who hold fond memories of the church from days gone by, McHale says. Monetary donations arrive in all sizes. Donors come from all walks of life. Despite Boyle’s objections, one woman living on a tight budget insisted upon contributing to the cause, he recollects. Another couple recently made a substantial donation to fund the necessary replacement of a steam boiler. Boyle also notes that members of nearby non-Catholic faith-based communities made donations.
These united efforts are not only resuscitating the structure of the old St. Joseph Church, they are bringing it back to its gorgeous younger self in innumerable ways.
“It’s all moving in the right direction,” says Father Perry.
An arched dark wood, vaulted ceiling that might be mahogany, complete with trusses, collar ties and tongue-and-groove joints, is a study in masterful carpentry. The spotlessly cleaned building is brightened by rows of lovely Gothic pendant lighting fixtures and natural light filtering through geometrically designed stained glass windows.
Sill-standing, striking pieces of sacred art soothe the soul.
A sizable rose or wheel stained-glass window, circa 1939, sits on the church’s back wall overlooking the choir loft.
St. Joseph, with lilies in hand, is its central figure. Forms radiating around Joseph in brilliant sea tones of deep blue and aqua frame the humble saint’s figure.
An elegant statue of the Blessed Mother Mary with her hands joined in prayer stands in an alcove set between Gothic-style doorways at the rear of the church. Attired in white with delicate gold trim, this Mary adds grace to the place. The late William Haffert, Sea Isle City’s mayor from 1945-56, provided an airplane seat for the life-sized statue of Mary and flew her from Fatima, Portugal to her Sea Isle home at St. Joseph Church, McHale recalls.
Much to McHale’s delight, the St. Joseph statue perched in an arched niche above the old church’s exterior entryway now makes its presence known both day and night as it did in the 1950s. Once again, a spotlight on Joseph brings light to the darkness over Landis Avenue. Both McHale and Father Perry enjoy relating that back in the day, this light was timed to go out daily at 11pm. For local teens, “When Joe’s goes out!” meant that it was time to go home.
Moreover, old St. Joe’s church bell now chimes at 8am, noon and 6pm daily. It was purchased from the McShane Foundry in Baltimore in 1891, says Avalon Borough’s former administrator and preservation advocate Andrew Bednarek. The bell also rings twice before each Mass on weekends, Father Perry adds: “It keeps me on time for Masses!”
Boyle Finish Carpenters replaced the rusty metal doors with fiberglass doors donated by Helene O’Neill in honor of her husband Tom.
Plus, the building’s former lower church now consists of a large meeting room, another room complete with children’s furniture and modern restrooms … all smartly renovated.
While the old St. Joseph Church is sacred to those saving it, it is no longer designated as a sacred or holy space. The Diocese of Camden issued a “relegation decree” in February of 2020. A relegation decree removes a church’s sacred status and relegates it to a secular site.
“The relegation is still in place,” Father Perry explains. This means that no Masses can be celebrated there and no sacraments can be administered or received in this building which “will always be remembered as the old church.” When questioned about his use of the word “monument” in reference to the old St. Joseph Church, the pastor further explains that it was a recommendation from Rome to have the old St. Joseph Church turned into an historical monument.
The forces behind the Save Our Historic St. Joseph’s Church movement have appealed to the Catholic Church’s Apostolic Signature in Rome in hopes that the relegation will be overturned so that the old church will once again be deemed sacred in the holy sense.
Time will tell.
Meanwhile, funds are needed if the old St. Joe’s is to acquire that earlier mentioned boiler. Donations can be sent to: Save Our Historic St. Joseph’s Church, 8305 Landis Ave., Suite 5, Sea Isle City, NJ 08243. The group is dubbed “Save St. Joe’s Historic Church” on Facebook.
On pastoring “one parish that happens to have two churches,” Father Perry muses: “Side by side, together they stand as a beautiful testament to the deep faith of the people of Sea Isle.”
Sea Isle City Historical Museum & Save Our Historic Church Organization will be hosting an Open House at Historic St. Joseph Church on Saturday, Sept. 18 from 10am to 1pm. Come and witness the beautiful architecture, stained glass windows, and the history of this magnificent 137-year-old church.
Tours Begin at 10am
Organ Presentation at 11am
Historic St. Joseph Church PowerPoint Presentation at 11:30am
Refreshments will be served in the Church Hall
For additional information please contact Mike McHale at 609-263-3331.
