GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP In about a years time, Assumption Parish will launch a new school to welcome upwards of 500 students for the 2007-08 school year.
A short time after that a new Assumption Church, with seating for 1,500 people, is expected to open its doors to welcome parishioners, old and new.
On Wednesday, Sept. 27, a groundbreaking was held as the first step toward achieving these goals and a beaming Father Michael Matveenko, pastor of the church, welcomed Bishop Joseph A. Galante and town dignitaries to the ceremony.
The school will actually be a new regional school for the area, said Father Matveenko. It will be for students in pre-kindergarten to the eighth grade.
The current church was built in 1925 and expanded in 1958 to hold 475 people.
We hold four Masses on Sunday and one on Saturday, the pastor said, noting that the region is growing with new families and retirees moving in, especially in nearby Smithville.
Father Matveenko explained that the larger church was necessitated by a lack of clergy and where fewer Masses could be celebrated that could accommodate more parishioners at one time.
In addition to a new church and school, there will be a new rectory and parish center, both of which would approximate the sizes of the existing buildings. The parish grounds cover more than 50 acres.
Father Matveenko said that the old church, rectory, and center would be sold along with the land it was on. What would become of the structures, he didnt know.
But the shrine on the property to Our Lady of the Sea, Land, and Sky (known locally as Our Lady of the Highways) would be moved to the new church center.
The architect for the church, rectory and parish center is David Crawford of Mt. Laurel. Stanker & Galetto of Vineland designed the school.