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Parish Mission Statement and History
The counsel that Our Lady gave to the waiters at the Wedding Feast
in Cana of Galilee is the biblical foundation for the title of our
parish; The Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel. The parish is legally
incorporated in the State of New Jersey. The legal title is "The
Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Moorestown."
As disciples of the Lord Jesus, we are a community called to do
whatever He tells us under the patronage of Our Lady of Good Counsel.
The Roman Catholic tradition of the Diocese of Trenton provides
the context in which we live out this call. As a parish community
we emphasize:
1. Meaningful worship of the God who blesses us constantly,
2. Religious education, especially of our children,
3. Caring response to the cry of the poor at home and abroad,
4. Strong commitment to the sacredness of human life.
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Parish History
In 1832, James and Fannie Laverty, recent emigrants from Ireland,
settled on a farm in Fellowship (on a parcel of land that is now
occupied by Exit 4 of the NJ Turnpike). The Laverty's home soon
became one of the regular stops for itinerant missionary priests
who served the scattered Catholic families of the West Jersey area.
This gathering of the Faithful soon outgrew the Laverty home. One
of the out-buildings was turned into The Chapel of Our Lady and
St. Patrick and ministered to by the priests from the Immaculate
Conception Parish (now the Cathedral) in Camden. |
So rapid was the growth of the Catholic community that in 1852,
Saint John Neumann (then bishop of Philadelphia which encompassed
at that time all of the West Jersey area) directed that Mass be
said at The Chapel on the regular interval of once a month. In 1866,
fire destroyed The Chapel and the community acquired a parcel of
land on the main street of Moorestown for their new church. Because
of strong antipathy toward Catholics, a third party had to be engaged
in the person of Peter Verga of Camden to negotiate the transaction.
When asked what use he had for the land, Verga responded that he was
acting as an agent for one who would open a business of repairing
souls. Thinking only in terms of a shoe repair shop, the seller
readily signed over the deed. And so in the Summer of 1867, a brick
church was built in the heart of the village of Moorestown.
On February 27, 1879, Bishop Michael A. Corrigan of the diocese
of Newark elevated the status of The Church of Our Lady and Saint
Patrick from that of a mission-church to a parish with a resident
priest. Sometime in the early 1890's, the building sustained such
damage from a "wind storm" that a new and larger church
was necessitated.
On July 14, 1895, the corner stone was laid and sixteen months later
the new church was dedicated under the title of Our Lady of Good
Counsel. The same imposing edifice built of Stockton gray stone
graces Main Street, Moorestown, today. But the Parish has grown
beyond all the dreams of those early settlers.
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| Today, Good Counsel Parish, which encompasses most of Moorestown
and a portion of Mount Laurel, consists of over 2800 Catholic families.
The Parish maintains a parochial school with an enrollment of over
530 students from Nursery School to Eighth Grade. A Religious Education
program is also provided for 800 students in public schools. True
to the spirit of the early settlers of Our Lady's Church, the parishioners
of Good Counsel today are filled with a sense of ministry and service
that is nurturing the growth of the Catholic Church in our own generation. |
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