In the 25 years since St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish was carved out of a 23-acre tract of scrub pine, sand and oak on the border between Toms River and Berkeley Township, the community has served as a beacon of faith, hope and charity to its own members and the community at large.

Created to serve a growing population of older adults in senior developments along the Route 37 corridor and named for a then-newly canonized saint who actually lived in their lifetime and sacrificed his own life in a war many of them fought, the demographics make it a unique parish in this diocese and beyond, said Father Francis E. Santitoro, the founding pastor.

Those demographics created from the very beginning a vast volunteer corps of retirees who built the church and surrounding campus and went on to create and maintain a network of services that bring comfort and consolation to members and area residents.

Many, like Frank Render, speak of the warmth of the congregation and the reverence they find there. “I found it such a warm place,” said Render, who resides in Lakewood. He describes the parish as well worth traveling to for daily and weekend Masses. “It reminds me of the congregations I used to go to when I was younger,” he said. “There is reverence there and that’s the most important thing to me.” 

So Much to Celebrate 
Faithful such as Render say there is much to celebrate about the parish in the pines named for the Franciscan priest and World War II martyr who gave his life for a fellow prisoner in Auschwitz.

And celebrate they did Aug. 15, the day after the feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe and one day before the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the parish by Bishop John C. Reiss to serve the nine adult developments located off Route 37. Click here for photos from the anniversary celebration

Hundreds of members of the 3,800plus family parish came out to a Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated by Father Santitoro, followed by a festive luncheon in the parish hall.

There was much reflection on the difficulties, back then, of building a parish on a barren landscape at the back end of a long thoroughfare improbably named Mule Road and the astounding success of that venture.

In his homily and in subsequent conversations, Father Santitoro recalled what the area was like when he first arrived at the new “parish.”

“This is a story of how God made something happen which seemed impossible,” he said. “We started with nothing – no land, no revenue, no rectory. I didn’t even know any people around here.”

In an interview with The Monitor, Father Santitoro and two of the founding members, Doris Smith and Josephine Roeder, enjoyed talking about how would-be parishioners soon found him.

There was so much interest among the growing population mainly composed of retiring adults from North Jersey and New York in having a parish of their own that people would seek the new pastor out asking ‘where is the church going to be and when will we have it?’ Those were questions he couldn’t answer right off the bat.

He recalled going door-to-door with a spirited corps of volunteers gathering consensus for the project. “This was a unique situation,” said Father Santitoro.

“All of the founding members were senior citizens and many were elderly people on fixed incomes.” He had nothing but praise for the way they all worked to make their dream of a parish come true. 

Born of Faith and Devotion 
The story of St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish is a tale Father Santitoro has told many times over the past two-and-a-half decades.

He often begins by talking about the day the church was dedicated – Oct. 10, 1992 – remarkable not only because the dream of a church had become a reality but because Franciszek Gajowniczek, the man for whom St. Maximilian Kolbe gave his life, was in attendance.

Gajowniczek’s presence, his interaction with parishioners and his presentation of a portrait of their church namesake, made the day incredibly uplifting for parishioners who had contributed so much of their time, talent and treasure to the effort to build the church, he said.

“They were people with such open hearts and generosity,” he said, citing, as he had at the time of the 15th anniversary in 2000, the example of an elderly woman who gave her deceased son’s life insurance policy to help fund the new church. “I wanted at the time not to take it,” he remembered. “But she insisted.”

He also acknowledged the builders, the planning committee and the volunteers who worked hard to make the dream of a permanent worship site a reality.

Smith and Roeder, who recalled those days of worshipping in community club houses and working out of an office made available in a nearby funeral home, had high praise for their pastor.

They told how he scoured the area to find the land for the campus which would eventually house the church with worship space for 1,200, chapel, social hall with a regular commercial kitchen and auditorium and rectory.

“The diocese tried to find land but they had no luck,” Smith recalled. “Father kept looking and he had a lucky break.”

He zeroed in on the fact that the parcel, smack in the heart of a prize development zone, had somehow been overlooked by the developers and was available for purchase from Berkeley Township. 

Parish Takes Shape 
With a pre-vocation background in construction, Father Santitoro and his team of volunteers and experts gathered from among the new parishioners, went to work on making the dream of a church come true. While the campaign was underway, he focused on creating a church for aging parishioners. It would have no steps going in or out to impede their progress. The sanctuary and all of the interior facilities would be constructed with easy access in mind.

As the developments around the parish grew, it attracted a diverse and compatible group of members united by their devotion to the community, Smith and Roeder said.

“We have every ethnic mix you can think of,” said Smith, “and we all get along and work with each other.”

“It’s been that way since day one,” said Roeder. “Everyone was united from the beginning in the desire for a parish. We’ve been blessed with a lot of wonderful people.”

Those who settled in the area, she noted, had mostly come from cities and were used to tight parishes communities near their homes. Having St. Maximilian Kolbe nestled in the heart of the developments has provided the same level of comfort, she said.

Adding to the level of comfort is the outreach to the community by way of volunteers who make sure that food gets delivered at home when it is needed and spiritual needs are met in the home as well by way of a bountiful food distribution program, she said.

Deacon Albert Pacitti and his wife, Sylvia, talked about the way everyone works together for the good of the community and the community at large.

“We take care of each other,” he said. “Every month, we have a food collection and we fill four big (containers). These folks are on fixed incomes and they never hestitate to donate.”

Another big effort is directed to those in the service, Sylvia Pacitti said. “We have a big collection basket of goods for the soldiers and that is emptied every weekend,” she said.

There’s a popular Bingo luncheon program aimed at making sure that everyone gets a good hearty meal and socialization twice a week in the parish hall, Father Santitoro noted. Altar Rosary and Holy Name Societies are flourishing and there are well over 130 extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion who regularly visit the sick at home.

“I’d say about 10 percent of the residents are home bound. That is a lot of people and we have a lot of people who care about them. It’s a family here. We’re members of the St. Maximilian Kolbe family. These are our brothers and sisters and this is our home.”