Our Lady of Victories adding space for worship, ministries
By Chris Donahue
Staff Writer
BAPTISTOWN — Sixty years after ground was broken to build Our Lady of Victories Church, shovels turned the rich rural soil of Hunterdon County once again to launch construction of additions to the Tudor-style house of worship.
Pastor Msgr. David I. Fulton and several lifelong parishioners each took turns in the ceremony, which was held in conjunction with the annual parish picnic Sept. 14.
The additions are needed to provide meeting space for various ministries and social activities, Msgr. Fulton said. Currently, the ministries usually meet in the rectory, while large social activities have to be held outside the parish, which serves about 500 families.
A new transept, or addition, extending from the side wall on the south side of the church will have seats for worshipers, Msgr. Fulton said. The second addition, which will be attached to the original transept, includes a kitchen, office and storage space.
The original transept was used for meetings and other parish activities but was converted to worship space to meet the growth of the parish, Msgr. Fulton said. It will revert to its original purpose once the new transept is completed.
The church’s current seating capacity of about 260 will remain the same, he said.
“We needed a place for our parish to come together, for our young people, for the Rosary Altar Society,” Msgr. Fulton said.
“One of the things I have always wanted us to be able to do is to be able to come back to the church after a funeral,” he added. “And we used to have a Seder meal and get 80 or 90 people to come, but we had to move it because we needed the space for worship.”
Another ministry that will benefit is Scripture study, said Ron Heck, who has been a parishioner since 1972.
The ministry, which meets three times each year, draws about 50 persons to each meeting, Heck said. The added space will also give the parish “flexibility” for activities such as those that need a large screen for presentations or tables for writing.
“In Scripture study, there are many things you can do to enrich it,” Heck said. “I recently received a DVD on the Dead Sea Scrolls. That is a perfect thing to be able to get people together after the Mass to show. Now, we have to borrow Monsignor’s VCR or DVD player.
“Also, if you can hold an activity here, people feel more comfortable and they have a vested interest in it because they donated to help build it.”
As part of the renovation, the church will be repainted, the pews will be refinished, new carpet will be laid and a new roof of synthetic slate tiles will be installed to match the addition, Msgr. Fulton said.
The new transept will have 16 stained glass windows, 14 of which are based on the works of mercy. Msgr. Fulton said they were chosen because they are “the very heart of what it means to be Catholic.”
The project came out of a survey of parishioners seven years ago, he said.
Martin A. De Sapio, a lifelong parishioner and architect who donated his professional services for the project, said the additions, which have a total area of about 2,300 square feet, are expected to be completed by Christmas.
Our Lady of Victories was established as a mission of St. Edward the Confessor Parish, Milford, in the early 1940s to meet the needs of a growing Catholic population in the Baptistown area, according to parish archives.
Mass was celebrated for more than three years in a local firehouse. In the spring of 1948, ground was broken for a church to accommodate 200 persons. The church was dedicated Nov. 7, 1948.
On June 22, 1973, Bishop George W. Ahr established Our Lady of Victories as a parish. Father Joseph T. Wade served as the first pastor.
Ground was broken for a parish house July 7, 1974, and the building was completed several months later.
In 1979, Father Edward J. Jester was appointed as pastor and served until 1984. He was succeeded by Msgr. Fulton.
