‘Small parish with a big heart’ celebrates centennial

LINCOLN PARK  Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney commemorated a century of faith of St. Joseph Parish here — a “small parish with a big heart” — during a noon Mass on July 31 in the church. In recent years, the evangelizing spirit of this parish has grown — from welcoming different ethnic groups to expanding its spiritual devotions and social-justice outreaches to enable the faithful to minister in different and creative ways.

Bishop Sweeney served as the main celebrant and homilist of the 100th anniversary Mass, which was held in the small wood-framed St. Joseph Church on Comly Road. Filling the church were current and former clergy, staff, and faithful of the parish and members of the former St. Joseph School community. Concelebrating the Mass were Father Dominik Bakowski, St. Joseph’s pastor for the past three years, and several other priests who have assisted the Morris County parish.

At the Mass, Bishop Sweeney blessed a memorial plaque, which bears the names of all the pastors who have served St. Joseph’s over the years. It will be displayed on the outside of the church. A lunch followed the Mass, where Msgr. Raymond Kupke, the diocesan archivist and pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Hawthorne, gave a talk about the history of the parish. In June, St. Joseph’s held an anniversary gala, said Father Bakowski, a U.S. Army chaplain.

“I am so grateful to this parish. I ask them for something, and they give me everything. It’s amazing to hear parishioners say, ‘I love that you are our pastor.’ It is a small parish with a big heart,” said Father Bakowski, about the 800­­-

family St. Joseph’s. He also acknowledged the dedication of volunteers and staff, such as Sister Ellen Byrnes of Franciscan Sisters of Peace, who serves as St. Joseph’s pastoral associate and will retire soon from being director of religious education. “Our parish community has increased. People want to move into Lincoln Park. It’s a nice, safe town,” he said.

During the Mass, Bishop Sweeney told the congregation, “The 100th anniversary of St. Joseph’s reminds us of the lesson in the Sunday reading about what matters and storing up treasure in heaven,” referring to Matt 13:44–52.

Building on 100 years of rich history, St. Joseph’s started holding Adoration on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday in the church to observe the diocesan Year of the Eucharist. It is attended by about 125 people. It expanded its ministry to four local nursing homes and the home-bound to include giving special attention to residents, who have nobody to visit them, the pastor said.

St. Joseph’s is planning to restart its youth ministry to meet for “prayer, fun and games, and talking about Jesus.” The parish also conducts Stations of the Cross, Anointing of the Sick, Bible study, and prayer groups for adults. Over the years, Father Bakowski said that the parish has welcomed growing numbers of Hispanic, Filipino, and Polish people and offers regular Masses for them in their languages.

The parish also has undergone renovations to its rectory. A projector and screens were installed in the church so parishioners could read hymns, prayers, and Bible passages more easily. Also installed in the church was the Internet for livestreaming Masses and other events. Father Bakowski said that the parish now uses solar panels, which reduces their energy bills.

One of many at the anniversary Mass was Eileen McCarthy, 85, a parishioner of four years. She has participated in the Bible study and nursing-home ministry.

“This parish is devout. Masses became well-attended again after COVID-19. People like Father Dominik’s straightforward way of talking about Jesus — loving him, loving our neighbor, and then turning that love into action,” said McCarthy, a widow with two grown children and three grandchildren. She noted that St. Joseph’s offers a wide variety of groups and ministries, such as the Knights of Columbus and a knitting ministry, which donate their items for charity. All of these outreaches “allow parishioners to minister in different and creative ways,” she said.

In the 1880s, Franciscans from St. Bonaventure Monastery in Paterson traveled to serve Catholics in this area, then called Beavertown. Back then, the Lincoln Park area was a resort town with cottages that were winterized during the Great Depression. Eventually, the area was transformed into a typical commuting town to New York City and elsewhere, according to St. Joseph’s history.

In the early 1900s, Catholics gathered in an art studio on Comly Road for Mass. The congregation was too small to sustain a parish, so the Franciscan Friars from Butler founded a Mission of St. Joseph’s in 1922 and ministered to its people for the next 23 years. Masses took place in a local firehouse. An acre of the current grounds was donated for the church. The first Mass in the new church was celebrated in 1923, a year after Lincoln Park was established as a separate municipality, St. Joseph’s history states.

After the Paterson Diocese was established in 1937, Bishop Thomas McLaughlin named Father John Hewetson as St. Joseph’s first pastor and later raised the mission to parish status in 1945. According to the parish history, the parish also launched a mission in Pequannock, which later became Holy Spirit Parish in 1949.

St. Joseph’s population grew along with Lincoln Park’s. Sisters of the Holy Family joined the team at St. Joseph School, which opened in 1952. The sisters stayed there until their withdrawal in 1981. In 1957, the church was enlarged. In the mid-1980s, the Franciscan Sisters of Peace arrived to serve the parish. The parish history states that St. Joseph School was closed in 1989 because of insufficient funds, the need for costly structural repairs, and low enrollment.

After the anniversary Mass, Sister Ellen, who also had served as principal of the former parish school, called St. Joseph’s parishioners “people, who are real and have a good spirit.”

“Mass attendance has improved. We have different ethnicities, including Hispanics, Filipinos, and Polish, who have come together, giving our parish a good feeling of unity,” Sister Ellen said. “St. Joseph’s longevity has been a gift to the town.”