1921 - FOUNDING OF PARISH

The initial financial goal having been reached, ground breaking for the new mission church was held on February 24, 1921. It appears that Father McCorriston decided to forego a basement in the new building, as it would have increased the cost by $4000. (A basement was dug out by parishioners in later years.) Construction proceeded rapidly and on June 5, 1921, the first Mass was celebrated in the new St. Anne's Mission Church.

Bishop Thomas Walsh of the Trenton Diocese presided at the dedication ceremonies; the celebrant was Father McCorriston, who served as the first mission pastor. On the same day, St. Agnes' Mission Church at Blackwood Terrace was also dedicated. The buildings were almost identical in size and appearance, built of red brick with white limestone trim. A newspaper account of the activities of the day noted that Bishop Walsh was accompanied by the Very Reverend Dean Fitzgerald of Camden, who delivered the sermon, and that a dozen other priests participated. It went on to note that "several hundred Catholics were in attendance from Gloucester, Westville, Woodbury, National Park, and other nearby places" and that "Bishop Walsh spoke and commended the Catholics of Westville for their activity and said that it will not be long before a larger church and a school will be needed."

Father McCorriston was also responsible for direction of the mission at Blackwood Terrace, and the mission church at National Park, which was established about a year earlier. The visiting priests from Villanova continued to assist in celebrating Mass regularly in the new Westville church.

Michael O'Brien taught the first group of altar boys, which consisted of Tom Pallante, Joe McKeever, Bill Gallagher and Joe Vair. These boys participated in the ceremony which marked the laying of the cornerstone for the mission church. O'Brien's daughter, Jane McGhee, is still an active parishioner.

Three of Franceso and Pasquelina Pallante's children are still members of St. Anne's; they are sons Thomas and Emilo (Milly), and daughter Mary, who is probably the oldest living original parish member. Mary, who is probably the oldest living original parish member. Mary was long active in the Altar and Rosary Society and other parish organization. She worked for many years as a teacher in the Westville school. Tom went from being one of the first altar boys to being a leader in parish activities and fundraising; he was named Man of the Year in 1974 by the St. Anne's Men's Club. Tom operated a grocery store and served town as a grocery huckster for many years; he was also very active in the borough athletic programs. Milly was Westville borough clerk for many years and was active in the Men's Club and other parish organizations; he also served a long tenure as parish trustee. Third and fourth generations of Pallantes are still active in St. Anne's Parish in the families of Frank Pallante and Regina P. Underwood.

From the folds of two other founding families came the first priest and nuns from St. Anne's: William McKeever's son, William L., was the first young man from the parish to enter the priesthood; years later, he participated in the ceremonies dedicating the present church. Reverend McKeever was ordained on May 18, 1940. Two daughters of Joseph and Ellen Vair entered the convent: Felicitas (born August 11, 1908) became Sister Marie Celine Vair on August 15, 1925; her sister Josephine (born February 3, 1910) became Sister Mary Antonius Vair on August 24, 1930. Both sisters are, at the time of writing, still alive and still members of the community of the Sisters of Mercy of New Jersey.

The new parish met with some prejudice during its early days; There was apparently a great deal of Ku Klux Klan activity in southern New Jersey at that time, and there are reports of crosses being set afire in front of the new church on a fairly routine basis. This was an attempt to scare off the Catholics. Francesco Pallante, William McKeever and other Catholics who lived nearby were called upon on a regular basis to run to the Church to extinguish the fires, thereby showing the people of Westville that the Catholics would not succumb to intimidation.

Some of the families who became part of St. Anne's at, or shortly after its inception included the families of Joseph Costello (the first organist), Albert Buckhorn, Harry Blaschke (who did electrical work for the church), Daniel Coursey, Karl Fehrenbach, the Hertfelder family. John Joseph Coleman and his wife, Grace, moved to Westville in 1925. Their son, J. Frederick Coleman and his family are still members of St. Anne's Fred, as he is known, was an altar boy at St. Anne's and made his First Communion in 1935.



The arrangement of Father McCorriston serving as mission director and coverage provided by St. Patrick's priests and the visiting priests from Villanova continued until 1924, when Father James I. Ryan was appointed to the post of pastor. Born in 1889, Father Ryan was a native of Camden and was a graduate of St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia and St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, and was ordained in 1913. He came to St. Anne's with some parish experience, and saw the parish through years of growth.

Father Ryan was not long into his stay here when he was called upon to defend the Catholic community There was an anti-Catholic rally held at Prosperity Hall (later the Union Fire Company). While the purpose of the rally was to publicize the perceived "evils" of the Catholic faith, its main attraction was a woman who was a "false nun." She had toured the country telling lies about her life, claiming to have been a member of a religious order that did not exist, attempting to incite people against the Church. Father Ryan and Michael O'Brien gained entry to this meeting and challenged the woman and her stories, offering her check for $1,000.00 if she could show any proof that she had ever been a nun. While surely not all present were avowed enemies of the Church, it is said that some of the people in attendance were armed with guns. Father Ryan and Mr. O'Brien stood firm in their challenge, and the woman was forced to leave town.

In addition to his firm stand against bigotry, Father Ryan also made a contribution to the artistic enrichment of the parish when he commissioned a number of oil paintings to adorn the walls of the church.

Helen Stefanellu, wife of Stephan mentioned above, painted as a hobby. Since her husband was unemployed, she used the backs of linoleum in place of canvas. She had completed a work called "The Good Shepherd" in just two days. The painting showed a life-size likeness of Christ carrying a lamb with a flock of sheep in the background. Mrs. Stefaneli was not Catholic herself, but her husband was. (He was the brother of Francesco Pallante's wife, Pasquelina.) Mrs. Stefanelli offered "The Good Shepherd" to Father Ryan. The church members were astonished at the natural talent of this handicapped woman; she had never had any formal training in the arts. Father Ryan commissioned her to paint other pictures. By the time her commission was completed, Helen had done eleven paintings for the church, and her works were said to "rival those of old masters." The new works included life-size pictures called "The Crucifixion," "Christ's Passion," "The Adoring Mary," "The Holy Family," "He Has Risen," and the others. Each painting was completed within a week.

In 1935, the properties of St. Anne's were described in an "Inspection and Survey Report" done for the Insurance Company of North America. At this time, the parish building included the church on Highland Avenue, St. Matthew's Mission Church and Hall in National Park, Holy Redeemer Mission Church on Park Avenue in Westville Grove, and the Rectory, then at 308 Summit Avenue. The church is described as "a one story and basement brick building with an attic space under a slate covered wood floor, wood altars and rail and oak pews. The windows are of frosted glass in wooden frames. There are oils paintings around the sanctuary walls. The basement is without finish, with cement and earth floor. Heat is provided by a pipeless coal fired heater. The building is lighted by electricity." The insurable value was set at $12,300.

The report then described the Rectory, which was valued at $6,800, and its garage, with an additional value of $400. The chapel of Most Holy Redeemer, which was built in 1935 as a mission church of St. Anne's, had just been constructed "…of asbestos building lumber on wood studding…altars are plain wood; the pews are plain and are not permanently fastened to the floors…" This building had an insurable value of $4,700. The report then described the church building and hall of St. Matthew's, also then designed a mission of St. Anne's.


Father Ryan and the parishioners welcomed the first assistant to the pastor in 1936, with the arrival of Reverend John Fallon.

In 1937, the Diocese of Camden was established. This was to accommodate the growing Catholic population in the six counties of southern New Jersey, which had historically been part of the Trenton Diocese.


While stationed at St. Anne's, Father Ryan celebrated his twenty-fifth anniversary in the priesthood; the parish sponsored a Silver Jubilee Program on June 7, 1938 with a solemn High Mass, public reception and entertainment at the Embassy Theatre. The Most Reverend Bartholomew A. Eustace presided.




Committees from Westville and the two mission towns helped to plan the event. The names on the Westville committees were once again those of the people who had worked so hard to build St. Anne's: O'Brien Farley, McKeever, Pillante, Lodge, Vair, and others. Local advertisements in the program booklet included those from C.E. Davis, Prescription Specialist 156 Broadway; Westville Hardware Company at 144 Broadway, Harry Hunter, Proprietor; Pallante's American and Italian Groceries, 25 Pine Street; P & K Tailors, 3 Pine Street; and Adam Brothers Tonsorial Parlor, 206 Broadway. The program ads also indicate that St. Anne's had a Children of Mary and Holy Angels Sodality. The Children of Mary were supervised by Mary Sparks and were installed with blue-ribbon and a metal. The Holy Angels were under the care of Annie Sparks; they received a red ribbon and a metal. There was also a Senior Choir.



It was during this time that Joe McNulty began his many years of unpaid services as sexton to St. Anne's. The Catholic Club's records indicate that Joe had been proposed for membership in that body on June 6, 1921, and was approved a week later. Current parishioners recall Joe walking from his home across town at 5:00 in the morning to get to the church early enough to fire up the heater so that the building would be warm enough for those who came to worship at early Mass. (In his later years, Parkinson's disease slowed Joe down a bit, but his services carried over into the new church when it was built.)


Father Ryan served at St. Anne's until his sudden death of a cerebral hemorrhage on October 11, 1942. His obituary in the Camden Courier Post noted that he had been ill for several months and had been relieved temporarily of regular parish duties. He was 53 years old.

Father Williams J. O'Rourke had been appointed as administrator to the parish in June of 1942 during Father Ryan's illness, then was officially appointed to succeed Father Ryan in October. Father O'Rourke was born in Rumson, NJ in 1904. He graduated from St. Charles College, Catonsville, Maryland, and St. Mary's' Seminary, Baltimore. He was ordained in Trenton in 1932. He came to St. Anne's at a time when the nation was in the throes of World War II. Seven young men from St. Anne's lost their lives in service to the nation during that war: Anthony Arber, John Ehrmann, James Malloy, Daniel Skanes, Richard Tull, Anthony Volpe and Charles Wilkins, Jr.


The St. Anne's Altar and Rosary Society was started in on September 14, 1944, during a meeting held at the home of Mrs. Catherine Ackley on Locust Street. Mrs. Elizabeth McGoldrick of Summit Avenue was the Society's first President. This organization is still active in the parish. Through the years, the members of the Society have raised funds for church and altar supplies and have taken care of the altar linens and some of church cleaning. They have also offered spiritual support to the parish through their prayers and by spreading devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary.







Father O'Rourke served until 1945, when he was succeeded (on August 27) by Father William J. Fahey. Father Fahey was born in 1894, and completed seminary studies at Our Lady of the Angels in Niagara, New York. He was ordained in June of 1919.






 

In the beginning... ~ 1946 - Twenty-Fifth Anniversary