Pastoral visit to Dover parish

DOVER  Bishop Serratelli made a pastoral visit to St. Mary Parish here Aug. 5, where he served as main celebrant and homilist at the 11:30 a.m. Mass for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Concelebrating the liturgy were SOLT Father Derek Anderson, St. Mary’s pastor, and SOLT Father Patrick Prajzner, St. Mary’s parochial vicar.

St. Mary’s history starts in the middle of the 19th century, when workers were drawn to the area to work in the local mines. In 1845-46, St. Mary’s erected a simple single-story church, its first, that stood diagonally across Route 46 from the present church, on a site adjacent to the first cemetery. In response to a population boom in the area, the parish opened the current church in 1872-73. Expansion continued over the decades with the building of first frame convent in 1881, the original brick “Old School” in 1889, the current rectory in 1899, the current convent in 1915 and the current school in 1954.