DENVILLE Three religious images — woodcarvings of the Holy Family, the Lamb of God, and the Crucifixion — hang in the main chapel of St. Francis Residential Community here, waiting to be shipped to their new home: Corpus Christi Parish in Chatham Township. Meanwhile, 24 solid-wood pews from the spacious main chapel already have found their new location: the worship space at St. Simon Church in Green Pond.
Hundreds of religious items from altars, pews, and chalices to statues and relics have been finding new homes and new spiritual lives in parishes, schools, and ministries of the Diocese and beyond — free — after having served the two chapels of St. Francis, a 126-year-old independent senior living community founded by the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother. The facility is expected to close permanently in the near future. Most items have been spoken for already but Sister Johnice Thone, St. Francis’ executive director, hopes to see more of them find homes in an ongoing “regifting” effort to Catholic institutions. Still available are a vintage organ in the choir loft of the main chapel, statues, and stained-glass windows, she said.
Recently, St. Simon’s, in the Green Pond section of Rockaway Township, removed its aging pews in the church, replaced the old flooring underneath, and installed the pews from St. Francis. The parish was able to dedicate a pew for handicapped worshippers and another for the choir, said Father Richard Bay, St. Simon’s pastor and diocesan minister to senior priests.
“The pews from St. Francis are solid wood and sturdy. Our old pews were falling apart and squeaked,” said Father Bay, who noted that the renovation project was made possible by the free pews from the sisters. The old pews from St. Simon’s were sent to other places. “This is part of conservation that Pope Francis writes about in his encyclical, ‘Laudato si’: On Care of Our Common Home.’ These pews get another life in St. Simon’s church, where our parishioners are using them for worship,” Father Bay said.
The two-manual pipe organ that is available was made by Killgen Company and placed in the choir loft of the chapel in 1917 for the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother before they founded St. Francis. Sister Johnice admitted that it might be tough to find a taker because it will cost close to $100,000 to remove it, transport it to a new location, reinstall it, and recalibrate it to the size of the room. Recently, Sister of Christian Charity Joan Daniel Healy, diocesan chancellor and delegate for religious, sent an email to diocesan community members informing them of items that they can still claim free.
Those items also include stained-glass windows on the sidewalls of the main chapel’s worship space, including images of the Nativity, the Presentation, the Resurrection, and Finding Jesus in the Temple. The alcoves on either side of the altar include windows for St. Cecilia and St. Stilla. Above the altar, windows depict the Annunciation, the Coronation of the Blessed Mother, and the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin. A few items are still available, such as statues of the Sorrowful Mother and Jesus.
Already regifted items include vestments, a vestment cabinet, altar, and ambo for St. Patrick Parish in Elizabeth in the Newark Archdiocese; a tabernacle, Easter candle stand, Advent wreath stand, Stations of the Cross, and a large lighted reliquary of 50 relics from saints for Morris Catholic High School in Denville; a large Nativity set for St. Mary Parish in Wharton; and free-standing kneelers for St. Lawrence Parish in Chester. Other local beneficiaries include: Holy Spirit Parish, Pequannock; Blessed Sacrament Parish, Paterson; St. Michael Parish, Netcong; Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Boonton; and the Shrine of St. Joseph, Stirling. Personnel from the Jersey City Fire Department took a stained-glass window of St. Florian, patron of firefighters, for their main firehouse, Sister Johnice said.
Outside New Jersey, vestments, a tabernacle, and monstrances have been sent to Grenada; items are earmarked for a new ministry of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth in Missouri, and statues of St. Joseph, the Blessed Mother, the Infant of Prague, and Jesus on the Cross with St. Francis by his side are being sent to the poor Puerto Plata Diocese in the Dominican Republic. Sending the special package is Flavio Beco, receptionist at the Paterson Diocesan Center in Clifton and a native of the Dominican Republic.
“These items help poor parishes. They can’t afford them and there isn’t a religious store nearby,” Beco said.
All liturgical items in the small chapel next to the main lobby already have been regifted to a house of discernment of the Sisters of Christian Charity in Chicago, Sister Jonice said.
“It’s wonderful that all these items are going to people who minister to bring people to the Lord,” Sister Johnice said.
The joy of regifting comes at a sad time for the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother and St. Francis. In June, Sister Johnice informed its 75 residents and the staff that the facility had been sold to Springpoint, another senior-living provider, and would close in the future. No closing date has been set yet, she said.
Springpoint still has to formulate a plan for the facility, which includes a main building with rooms for residents and another building with apartments for seniors. The residents have been transferred to other senior facilities, including the Oaks next door, which Springpoint operates. The sisters purchased this land in 1895 and grew the ministry over the next 126 years, Sister Johnice said.
“I have loved it at St. Francis. My mother, my sister, and I worked here, as well as my two nieces and two of my grandnieces. But the buildings have been aging and it’s more difficult to find the money to upgrade the infrastructure system. More importantly, there aren’t any sisters to follow in my footsteps. The five, who are here now, are aging in place,” said Sister Johnice. Most of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, along with eight Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, also in residence here, will relocate to the Oaks, she said. “It’s time. It’s God’s plan. Springpoint has a mission similar to ours: to help seniors. We [sisters] will keep the residents we’ve served all these years in our hearts,” she said.
[Information about available religious items, call Sister Johnice at (973) 627-5560.]