Like homeowners, businesses and government agencies, parish communities around Monmouth and Ocean counties spent much of Christmas week clearing away the estimated 20-30 inches of snow deposited there by the final blizzard of 2010.

The slow moving storm began Dec. 26 around the diocese at about the same time as thousands of faithful gathered for Mass on the Feast of the Holy Family. For the next 20 hours, the East Coast blizzard slammed the two counties in particular, leaving many parishes, including St. Peter, Point Pleasant Beach, socked in with up to 30 inches of snow.

Recovery throughout the area was slow with plows grinding to a halt on snow clogged roads, many of which were further choked by abandoned cars.

In hard-hit Brick Township, no sooner had the parking lot in Visitation Parish been freed from the burden of the snowfall by their contractor, than it turned into a parking lot for neighbors looking to move their vehicles so that plows could clear the snow off the streets.

In Epiphany Parish, also Brick, many area roadways remained impassable, and the parish was still operating on a “basically reduced level” through midweek as well, said Jim McMahon, parish business administrator.

The situation was the same at parishes throughout the shore including Neptune and Asbury Park where more than 20 inches of snow and blowing wind resulted in snow drifts seven and eight feet tall.

“We were out there shoveling snow off the steps of the church so that we could have daily Mass and a few people did walk in,” said Trini­tarian Father Charles J. Flood, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish. “Mother Teresa’s sisters walked in from the neighborhood but other than that, there was not much traffic in the area,” for days, he said.

Nine days later, the storm was still having an impact on parish life and life in general in the 1-square-mile municipality of Point Pleasant Beach where St. Peter Parish is located.

Speaking on Jan. 4, Dawn Rusinko, pastoral associate in St. Peter Parish, said continuing spells of black ice from warming and cooling cycles that followed the storm continued to cause worry around the church campus.

When the storm lifted, she said, the “plows just couldn’t do a normal job. On streets like Forman Avenue where the church is located, one lane was open. It turned into a one way street.” The parish had a hard time getting its own parking lot and surrounds plowed out because of the demand for such work and turned to parishioners who regularly volunteer.

“We have excellent volunteers and they really turned out to help us clear everything,” Rusinko said. “We were worried about falls. We were worried about getting the parking lot ready for school opening up again and making sure our handicap access was free and clear of ice and snow. The volunteers did a wonderful job.”

An added area of concern came when Irene Felber, a beloved teacher at St. Peter School, died from a sudden illness over New Year’s weekend.

Rusinko said parishioners, students, parents, faculty and staff were “devastated” by the loss and concerned that the ice and snow that was still clinging to portions of the campus would hinder access to her Jan. 3 funeral.

The volunteers “pulled together and worked their buns off to make everything clear for her funeral,” Rusinko said.

The volunteers also fanned out across town, shoveling parishioners out of their homes, she said. “We got tons of calls from people saying, ‘do you have anyone who can help us get out.’ We even got an e-mail asking if we knew someone who could help. It definitely was an issue and we were so glad we could help.”