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.
June 28, 2026
Update on Extending Our Arms Expanding Our Hearts
Though weekly updates have been provided in the parish bulletin and on Flocknote, we want to share with you details as to where we are in the process of the upcoming construction of our church expansion. Many parishioners have reached out to us asking about what has occurred and will occur in the process.
Although some time has passed since the campaign announcement and the successful completion of the feasibility study, significant progress has been made behind the scenes, and we are approaching the start of construction. Once work begins, construction is expected to take approximately 18 months. The groundwork permit has been submitted, and approval may be expected within about three months. When approval is received, we will hold a ceremony for the parish community and will invite our parish family to the groundbreaking event.
Over the past two years, the team has completed many important tasks that have required much time: weekly meetings for the feasibility study and campaign launch; interviews for and selection of construction manager and architect; bi-weekly meetings with construction manager and architect; meetings for the sanctuary design. While the overall concept for the addition has remained the same, we have negotiated contracts with the architect, construction manager, and other partners; completed legal reviews; and worked through the numerous decisions needed to finalize every detail of both the exterior and interior design of the church.
This long-labored process required detailed input from our design team as well as coordination with the stained-glass company, the St. Jude Shop, and others involved in key design details, which, of course, requires much time.
We are pleased to share that most of this preliminary work is now complete.
The Parish Expansion team would like to thank you for your continued support and patience as we work towards completing this phase of the project so that we might continue extending our arms and expanding our hearts.
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!