By David Karas, Correspondent

A lot can happen in a decade.

For St. Pius X Parish, Forked River, the past 10 years have witnessed some 3,120 daily Masses, 2,080 weekend Masses, 765 Baptisms, 178 marriages and 950 funerals. Those figures don’t include the more than 1,000 children who received their First Holy Communion and Confirmation, the 800 to 1,000 children educated each year in the parish religious education program, and the 88 new Catholics who completed the parish Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process.

The parish community, which has some 2,500 members and more than 20 active ministries, will celebrate 10 years in their new church with a weekend of festivities this October.

“This is one of those milestone years,” said Ann Brennan, parish business administrator. “We have a big festival planned, and then a beautiful Mass. We are looking forward to it.”

On Oct. 15, the parish will celebrate the St. Pius X  Family Festival on the parish grounds from 12 to 6 p.m. The event will feature food trucks and a desert tent, featuring everything from grilled cheese to Greek cuisine, as well as some Italian food and authentic Belgian waffles. There will also be several bands throughout the day, as well as games and activities for children and adults.

And on Oct. 16, a special Mass at 10 a.m. will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the dedication of the new parish church, which took place Oct. 7, 2006. The Mass will be followed by a family breakfast in the parish hall.

“A lot has happened” in the past decade, Brennan said. And many of the current parishioners have grown up in the church that was dedicated in 2006.

The Catholic community there dates back to 1951, when St. Mary Parish, Barnegat, was established as a second mission church in the area – at a time when a mere 35 Catholic families lived in and around Lacey Township. The pastor traveled between two mission churches, before ground was broken for a new church on Lacey Road. That church was dedicated Oct. 17, 1954, and St. Pius X was established as a parish in its own rite on June 15, 1961.

A rectory was added adjacent to the church in 1963, and a parish center was constructed across the street in 1974.

In 2003, then-Bishop John M. Smith approved the construction of a new church complex, owing to the parish’s growth and expanding needs. Following an outdoor Mass celebrated by Bishop Smith Oct. 10, 2004, a groundbreaking took place for the new complex, which was dedicated just two years later.

“A lot of the things that make a church like home,” she said, “we have seen grow in the last 10 years.”

For more information on the parish and the Oct. celebration, visit http://churchofstpius.org/.