Church Expansion
Nature's Symphony
Faces of Humanity
Sands of Time
Beyond Boundaries
Greetings in Christ Who chose Judas Thaddeus to be His Apostle!
How wondrously Our Lord and God is blessing us at St. Jude the Apostle!
Because our weekend and holy day Masses are consistently at full capacity and due to a continually increasing demographic in our particular area, I shared with our parishioners the immediate necessity of discerning a church expansion in our aspiration of warmly welcoming and properly and comfortably accommodating the over 1600 Faithful who participate in our Sacred Liturgies each weekend. These numbers only increase on Holy Days and in the Summer, and the population in our general area is steadily growing, thanks be to God.
What a true blessing for our parish family, as we are experiencing the Fruit of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of our beloved patron St. Jude the Apostle!
As we communicate our aspirations with our parish family through surveys and interviews, please take the time to consult the homily I preached for the Gospel (Mark 1:40-45) on the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time on February 10-11,. 2024, where I introduced the pressing concerns of why we are seeking your input and insights on our hopes to expand.
Also, you’ll find the Church Expansion Floor Plan as well as the design for the stained glass window of St. Jude the Apostle, which will replace the existing glass panes in the choir loft and which will be visible not only as we enter and exit the church but also as we and all visitors cross the bridge traveling south on Coastal Highway / Route 1. It will be a sign of warm welcome and, more importantly, of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ as our parish patron St. Jude himself did on his apostolic mission.
As we discern, please join us in prayer by praying the pray below daily.
God love you! I do.
Joyfully in Christ,
Fr. Lewis
Heavenly Father, Source of all that is,
Your Son has planted the seed of His Gospel Truth
in the hearts of our parish family of St. Jude the Apostle.
It is Your Divine Will that this seed
should sprout and grow and produce a hundredfold.
As hundredfolds more faithful become part of our parish family,
we seek Your Wisdom as we discern our church expansion by
extending our arms and expanding our hearts ,
as Your Son Jesus Christ does.
Move our hearts to be as generous as Yours;
touch our minds with the power of Your Spirit;
free us from our fears and anxieties;
remove all obstacles from our holy hopes and desires;
and open wide our arms
so Your children might find the warmest welcome
from our extended arms and expanded hearts
and know their parish home is with us.
What You have begun, O Lord,
may You bring to a fruitful completion.
Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
August 9, 2026
Update on Extending Our Arms Expanding Our Hearts
The stained glass windows of the Stations of the Cross will be featured sequentially around the expanded church. But there is another stained glass window, one hidden from most, that will become a part of our expansion and renovation. In the vestibule in what is now the Ushers’ Room and what once was the Reconciliation Room is a window of a baby being baptized, for this part of the entrance of the church was the Baptistry, where children were baptized. The window is in a different style than the Stations of the Cross, so when it is removed, it will be placed into a movable custom-made window box that will be brought out into the sanctuary when the Sacrament of Baptism takes place, maintaining the history of our parish church as well as allowing us all to see something that has been hidden from public view for decades.
Please continue to keep our renovation and expansion in your prayers. St. Joseph the Worker, pray for us! St. Jude the Apostle, pray for us!