By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
In the good old days, back when new Catholic parishes were formed, few of the first parishioners had deep pockets. But fortunately, most had strong backs.
That was certainly true when Catholics in Newtown, Bucks County, built their first chapel on Sycamore Street in 1880.
Members of the tiny congregation, along with helpful Protestant neighbors, gathered to dig the new chapel basement, haul stone from Buckman’s Quarry near Neshaminy Creek, and cart lumber from Taylorsville.
There had been Catholics in the area as far back as the early 1800s. But it wasn’t until the Civil War that Father Patrick McSwiggan, pastor of St. Mark’s Parish in Bristol, started coming up to Newtown on a monthly basis to celebrate Mass for 25 or so German, Irish and Italian families. Various sites were used for worship, including the Township House, the Free Church and the home of Nicholas McGowan.
Land for the first Catholic chapel was donated by the contractor in charge of building the Philadelphia-Newtown-New York Railroad, because most of his laborers were Catholic. When work was begun, St. Andrew was was chosen as the patron saint for the chapel because the cornerstone was laid around the feast of St. Andrew.
The interior was completed by 1879, and the following year the chapel became a church. Father William Meagher was its pastor; he also ministered to little congregations at St. Ignatius Chapel in Yardley and St. Martin Chapel in New Hope.
For many years, St. Andrew remained tiny. Its first school, which opened in 1927 under the direction of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, had only two classrooms. A new, four-room school was built in 1953 and that was expanded to eight rooms in 1957.
But real growth came in the 1980s, when the congregation grew to 1,000 families, and decided a new church was needed.
Eleven acres were purchased on Swamp Road in 1982; in order to round out the lot, additional half-acres were bought from the Council Rock School District and the Newtown Presbyterian Church. That last parcel is maintained as open space. It is a former Native American burial ground, and St. Andrew’s honors a covenant made in 1734 between the Presbyterian Church and the Native Americans, the first owners, never to erect a building on it.
Another tract on Wrights Road, bequeathed from the estate of deceased parishioner Edward Mahar, became the site of a vastly expanded St. Andrew Catholic Education Center.
“Our School has 925 kids, K through Eight,” said Father Michael C. Picard, pastor of St. Andrew, who noted that an additional 165 children attend preschool and 950 children are enrolled in religious education classes.
The new church, where Bishop Joseph P. McFadden celebrated a Nov. 20 anniversary Mass, holds 1,200 — and is already bursting at the seams. In his 17 years at St. Andrew’s as pastor, Father Picard has seen the congregation increase from 2,200 families to today’s 5,400 families — with a continued growth of about 400 families every year.
No longer rural, Newtown, with easy access to Route 1 and I-95, attracts half its newcomers from outside the Philadelphia Archdiocese — including commuters from the Princeton-New York City corridor.
The parish now has seven Sunday Masses. Father Picard is assisted by Fathers William Lange and John Wackerman, with Father Christopher Walsh in residence. The challenge with large congregations such as St. Andrew’s is to avoid being impersonal, and the parish confronts that by fostering small faith groups.
In addition, said Joe Saskiewicz , a parish resident since 1980, “Our Sunday bulletin lists 25 to 30 organizations. There are so many ways you can get involved.”
Saskiewicz, himself, is a member of the parish Finance Council and an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, and a former member of the Pastoral Council. He remembers how packed the old church was; he was a member of the building committee for the new one.
And while the new church was necessary, he is happy to see the old church lovingly restored and maintained, in use for special Masses and ceremonies. The old school too, has new life: Now it serves as the parish preschool, a necessity in this era when most mothers work.
The most effective ministries in the parish, according to Father Picard, include strong adult faith formation, a great CYO and youth ministry, pre-Cana and pre-Jordan teams, a weekly Life Teen Mass, an excellent music ministry and an Elizabeth group for young mothers.
“We have a strong pro-life group and a strong RCIA program,” Father Picard said. There are 15 candidates and catechumens in the RCIA program this year.
St. Andrew Parish has two daily Masses, and their attendance — that extra mile, which can be a barometer of parish faith life — is robust. Karen Reilly, one of the 100 to 200 people who attend the 9 a.m. daily Mass, said she believes Catholics at St. Andrew’s want to be fed spiritually, and the parish clergy do this very well. A member of the parish since 1986, Reilly sent three children through the parish school. She was part of the RCIA team at its foundation, under former parochial vicar James Brennan. She has also been a Eucharistic minister, and is a lector and part of the HOPE committee, which performs spiritual and corporal works of mercy for parishioners in need.
“I was invited to participate,” Reilly said. “You have to be involved.”
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and freelance writer.