Resurrection Parish was founded in 1969 by Bishop Thomas Mardaga. Our founding pastor was Frank Herron. Liturgies were in the vernacular (Masses in English) with guitar music in place of an organ. On Sundays for the first two years, we would rent a local grade school, Shue School, which ultimately affectionately became dubbed “St. Shue.” For the subsequent twelve years we rented the auditorium of St. Marks High School.
      Fr. Herron convinced a local apartment complex (“Garden Quarter Apartments”) to break out an exterior doorway between two adjacent apartments for our parish chapel and office area. He never expected the parish to never have a building. 
    Fr. Bernard Pagano served as interim pastor for several months in 1972 until Fr. Daniel Gerres was named pastor in 1972. Fr. Gerres served as pastor until 1978. During this time an initial attempt was made to build a church and offices, as the rental fees were increasing each year.
    Fr. John Hynes became pastor in 1978 and served until 1989. On Oct. 4, 1981, parishioners gathered at St. Mark’s and processed to the site of the future parish for a 10:30 a.m. outdoor Mass. The dedication of the new Worship Center was held on June 17, 1984.
    Resurrection held to the original philosophy of not owning property, preferring to concentrate its resources on outreach programs, until it became obvious that financial responsibility required the building of a permanent home. The cost of renting and the inconvenience of running a full parish program of education, social, and administration culminated in a decision to build. A building fund drive was begun in November 1981 and $212,000 was pledged by 227 families. With assistance from the diocese in the form of free use of the land on the building site, a low interest loan, and a grant, Resurrection was able to receive a mortgage of $250,000 and the building became a reality.
     Fr. Joseph Drobinski became pastor in June 1989. Resurrection had become a large community of 930 families and had outgrown its home. A capital campaign entitled “Rooted in Faith … Growing as a Family in Christ” was launched to fund additional space. Our present parish center was dedicated in June 1996. On May 15,1995, we celebrated our 25th anniversary with Mass followed by a picnic on the parish grounds. 
     Fr. David Baumgartel became pastor in June 2001. His cancer had been in remission for several years, but it returned and he died on Oct. 8, 2002. Fr. Paul Mast served as administrator from September 2002 until being named pastor in June 2003.
     Fr. William Graney was named administrator in June 2004 and became pastor in June 2005. The year long jubilation of our 40th anniversary included a Pentecost celebration on May 31, 2009 with luncheon under a big white tent and a full weekend program from July 9 through July 11, 2010.
    The Parish commemorated our 50^th anniversary with a full year of celebrations, commencing on the Feast of the Resurrection in 2019 and planned to conclude Easter of 2020. Our year of celebration began on April 27, 2019, the Saturday after Easter, with a five-day Parish Renewal given by Fr. Simeon Gallagher.  On June 9, 2019, Pentecost, we celebrated our 50^th Anniversary Mass, which was followed by a reception. The 50^th Anniversary Picnic was held on June 23, 2019.^.  At the beginning of Lent 2020, as we neared the conclusion of our year, we  prepared for Easter by again gathering with Fr. Gallagher for another five-day Parish Renewal. 
    Fr. Gregory Corrigan was named pastor in July 2020 and retired in Janaury 2022.
    Fr. William Graney was named administrator in  January 2022.
    Msgr. David F. Kelley was named pastor in June 2022. His installation Mass was celebrated Saturday, October 29 at 5:00 p.m.
 

Pastoral Direction for the Parish of the Resurrection

Exodus: In the first days of our parish history, a time of social, political, and religious upheaval, The Parish of the Resurrection was formed as an Exodus community – a priestly people set apart, a pilgrim people on the move, united on a journey to be church, inspired by the Second Vatican Council.

Seeking to experience God’s love, we found it most fully in each other, and this commitment to community gave our parish its personality. But like our mothers and fathers in faith before us, from time to time we wandered more than journeyed. Instead of being set apart for holiness, we sometimes set ourselves apart in pride. Yet our gracious God continually unfolds the Vision and even now is calling us beyond ourselves, and we respond.

Vision: Lord, renew in us our covenant to be A CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN FAITH COMMUNITY, a family of believers, from young to old, who share your love as disciples within and as apostles beyond.

We seek to be both Christ-centered and other-directed. We seek to be welcoming and open to growth while preserving intimacy. Like the Early Christian Church, we seek to match our desire for active participation with the will to accept individual responsibility for sharing our time, talent, and treasure. We seek to be open to diversity and change without forgetting our roots. We seek to be inclusive and accommodating without homogenizing our community’s character. We seek to be accepting and non-judgmental yet challenging each other to wholeness and holiness. We seek both to honor the Spirit expressed through every member and to discover God’s will for the community through prayerful discernment and consensus. We seek to uphold our role in advancing the spirit of Vatican II without succumbing to conceit. We seek to be Christian models for our children though we ourselves are in formation. We seek to face our darkness and embrace on-going conversation while celebrating your Light with a spirit of playfulness. And we are humbly aware that this paradox, our Vision, is an impossibility through the strength of community alone.

Mission:        And so, Lord, turning to you for wisdom and grace, we hear you call us to a DEEPER SPIRITUALITY. Because you are truly present in Word, sacraments, and one another, meeting you in the Liturgy is the natural centerpiece of our communal life. And yet we must not depend solely on our weekly worship to form us. We are further blessed by a Catholic heritage, which offers many ways to encounter the mystery of God: within though varied prayer traditions – and without – through the Church’s profound social teaching. We are inspired to make a personal commitment to lives of regular prayer, study, faith-sharing, and service. We, as a parish, pledge to nurture the spirituality of every member by offering year-round opportunities for spiritual growth. We will foster small faith-sharing groups and will cultivate the charism of spiritual leadership within the community to enliven every ministry.

The deeper our encounter with you, Lord, the more we will be empowered to reach outward in doing your work on earth, building the kingdom of God. Animated by a growing spirituality, we resolve to make a fuller commitment to OUTREACH, especially through one-to-one ministry. This resolve is expressed in pastoral care for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of this parish, the larger community, and the world.

Pursuits: In order to be a truly CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN FAITH COMMUNITY which springs from a DEEP SPIRITUALITY and flows into OUTREACH, we will invigorate our existing KEY PURSUITS: Liturgy, Parish and Family Life, Christian Formation, Social Concerns, Stewardship, and Environment – while actively developing Spirituality and Pastoral Care.

Principles: In all things, whether means or ends, we will be guided by these PRINCIPLES: Imitate Christ / Cultivate the Fruits of the Spirit / Seek the Kingdom First / Honor the Spirit in All / Discover God’s Will through Discernment and Consensus / Accept our Shared Responsibility / Be a Faith Community living out Vatican II.

Promised Land: Vision is born to give direction to the future. Respecting our diversity, we recognize that this sojourn is an on-going process for all regardless of where each one is on the path. May our own “forty-year” Exodus find us united in Christ, moving together, drawn closer toward the Promise: that state of being in union with God and one another. Then the grace of radiating Christ’s presence from within overflows into lives of service to a world thirsting for justice and compassion. This Vision is the Spirit’s Pentecost gift to our parish, a gift that must be unwrapped by each of us, ignited in our minds, and burning in our hearts. Only then will the Vision become a living reality that leads us across The Jordan into the next millennium.