St James Roman Catholic Chuch

(Taken from a booklet commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Saint James Roman Catholic Church. This refers to the original building located at 2 Eglantine Avenue, not the current building located at 115 East Delaware Avenue.)

Founded by a half dozen Irish immigrants in 1895, the Bishop of Trenton established "St James Church in Pennington" on June 14, 1897. But it was not until October 20, 1898, that Father Joseph Thurnes of St Francis Church, Trenton was assigned as the first mission priest to St James by Bishop James Augustin of Trenton. At that time a home being rented for $5.00 a month from Dr. O'Hanlon of the Pennington Seminary was being used to hold church services. The original church was constructed during the following year and dedicated on October 1st, l899.

It was not until 1943 that Father Frank was assigned to St James as the first permanent pastor and the church established as a Parish. Father Frank then was also assigned as the "mission priest" for St. George's Church at Washington Crossing and Our Lady of Good Counsel in West Trenton.

Due to the ever increasing number of parishioners, the Little Church was too small. It was decided to build a multi-purpose building which would be used for church services, cafeteria, gym, socials, and classrooms. The Auxilary Building, now known as the Family Center, was dedicated in 1967. The parish continued to grow and in 1980, it was decided that a new church building would be more conducive for religious services. The present pastor, Father James McConnell was assigned to St James on December 9th, 1977 and under his leadership the New Church was dedicated on October 25th, l987.

Sevy Di Cocco is researching church records from St James, St Ann, St Alphonsus and the Diocese of Trenton; also various area newspapers such as Hopewell Hearld, Pennington Post and Trenton Times Advertizer. He is looking for any stories of events relating to St James Church activitities. Anyone having any knowledge of any events or who recalls any anecdotes involving the many priests who served St James, or any of the parishioners, are asked to contact St James Rectory or Sevy Di Cocco, or jot down your memories and mail them to St James. Of particular interest are events and stories from the late 1800s until the early 1950s. If you personally do not recall anything, but know of someone who does, or even might recall, please provide us with such infomation.

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page created Febuary 1999