St. Mary Parish in Wharton celebrated the 150th anniversary of its historic church on Nov. 4 with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney.
Concelebrants included Father Lemmuel Camacho, St. Mary’s pastor; Msgr. James Mahoney, a retired diocesan priest and pastor emeritus of Corpus Christi Parish in Chatham Township; Msgr. Raymond Kupke, pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Hawthorne and diocesan archivist; Father Richard Bay, pastor of St. Simon Parish in the Green Pond neighborhood of Rockaway Township and former St. Mary’s pastor; and Father John DeMattia, a retired diocesan priest and former St. Mary’s pastor.
The National Park Service recently added St. Mary’s Church Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in architecture and art. The church was listed in the N.J. Register of Historic Places in 1997.
The centerpiece of the 16-acre site is an 1873 Gothic Revival church. Other buildings include a rectory built in 1899, a convent built in 1915, a school built in 1954–1955, a Sisters’ House built in 1881, and a barn built in 1868.
St. Mary’s first church was a wood structure opened in 1846. The larger, current church was built and dedicated on All Saints Day, Nov. 1, 1873. It was designed by architect Jeremiah O’Rourke in the Decorated Gothic style with High Victorian touches.