Bounded between the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware River, and crisscrossed by a network of rivers and streams, parishes around the Trenton Diocese had braced for massive destruction from Hurricane Irene.

Five days later, on Aug. 31, the sighs of relief from diocesan officials and pastors were audible. While a number of the 111 parishes in Monmouth, Ocean, Burlington and Mercer counties did experience moderate flooding and wind damage, the forecast of massive destruction from the first hurricane to come ashore in New Jersey in nearly 100 years had failed to materialize.

For a gallery of photos of the damage, click HERE.

“The impact of Hurricane Irene on our diocesan parishes has been significantly less than we were expecting,” said diocesan chancellor and chief administrative officer Anthony J. Mingarino. “While most parishes have dealt with some kind of storm related issue, such as power outages, the number of parishes with significant damage is minimal. We were very fortunate.”

Telephone calls to parishes around the diocese reflected that situation with almost all reporting some power outages and tree limbs down. Conventual Franciscan Father Richard M. Rossell, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on Ocean County’s barrier island at Seaside Heights, had anticipated a serious situation and was relieved when one did not arise.

“The lights went out for a little while and there was some wind but we’ve been through nor’easters that were worse,” Father Rossell said. “Thank God it wasn’t worse.”

Deacon Richard Napolitano of St. Justin Parish, Toms River, reported that the low lying church campus,  which borders on wetlands, a network of lagoons and the Silver Bay, had come through all right. “We lost power for several (Sunday) Masses but celebrated them all by candlelight and the light of Christ,” he said.

Among those that did sustain some damage was St. Dorothea Parish, Eatontown, spiritual home to some 1,800 families.

Father Charles Schwartz, the pastor, noted that Irene was the second storm in two weeks to send flood waters pouring from the nearby brook into the rectory basement. In fact, he said, the no-name storm of Aug. 21 caused the worst rectory flooding in years to that point.

Father Schwartz directed callers to the parish website where “you can see from the pictures how deep the water was. The garage was under 3.5 feet of water from the Aug. 21 storm and the entire basement of the rectory was under at least 6 inches of water at one point.”

The parish food pantry took a “pretty good hit” in the earlier storm, he said.

In preparation for Irene, the food pantry volunteers raised all of the food and related items off the floor, said Father Schwartz, who noted that the brook behind the rectory overflowed again during the hurricane putting the floor of the garage under 4.5’ feet of water and sending 6-8 inches of water into the rectory basement.

Despite the flooding, weekend Masses in the church went on as scheduled, Father Schwartz said. “We had a normal contingent on Saturday night; no one at the 8 a.m. on Sunday and about 30 people at the 10 a.m.,” he said.

Tweet this story