By Steve Sears

On Christmas Eve in 1972, over 1,000 parishioners gathered at 5 p.m. at Saint Philomena Roman Catholic Parish in Livingston to celebrate the first Mass inside their new church building. A few hours later, another over 1,000 congregants attended Midnight Mass.

The first Mass was celebrated by then-Pastor Monsignor William McCann, who gave the apostolic blessing to the church just before Mass began. The church was then blessed and dedicated two months later by Archbishop Thomas A. Boland of the Archdiocese of Newark.

In 2022, Monsignor Robert Fuhrman (Pastor), Reverends Denis Surban (Parochial Vicar), Gerald Buonopane (Weekend Assistant), Mathew Eraly (in residence), along with the entire congregation have been celebrating the building’s 50th anniversary in a special way. On September 25, a Saturday evening BBQ was held to honor the building’s birthday. Although stormy weather was forecast, no rain fell as about 200 people attended. 

The first official Saint Philomena Roman Catholic Church in 1927 was located on what is now Northfield Road, and the first Mass was celebrated in the new chapel on April 28, 1928. That location served the parish for 26 years until the property was sold and the building was razed in 1954. Prior to the current church being built in 1972, Mass was celebrated in the adjacent school building in a room that was used as an auditorium and gym. “It served for decades,” says Fuhrman. 

A photo taken from the choir loft during the first Mass in 1972 reveals a number of clergy assembled on the altar of the new church as the first Mass begins, the congregation gathered in warm winter coats, all filling the new pews. Looking at the photo with deep focus, it seems as if you might hear voices from the past. “It strikes me as most unusual that they had the first mass on Christmas Eve, because that would have been very chaotic and so crowded, as it always is on Christmas Eve,” Fuhrman says. In another photo from August of 1972, a crane hoists and attempts to place the steeple on the new building as a summer wind tosses it back and forth.

In 2016, a massive upgrade and renovation was done to the building. The striking red carpet in the 1972 photo, aged and worn by time, was removed and replaced by granite and marble. “Beautiful Italian marble and granite from Brazil,” Fuhrman says. “We also had a new altar built, and it’s beautiful, and we got a new tabernacle from Spain, which is spectacular.” The tabernacle was installed and was later blessed by Fuhrman as the dwelling place of the Holy Eucharist. “That renovation was a major thing. We had to remove all the pews, put down carpet tiles in the pew areas, and then put the pews back in.”

Though demographics have slowly changed and the COVID pandemic took a toll on many, there are 2,100 families currently registered as parishioners of Saint Philomena.

“It’s been continually used as a sacred home of countless thousands of Catholics, and it will remain so for ages to come,” says Fuhrman of the half century old place of worship. “It’s a place of healing and peace.”