St. Catharine's Church, a reminder of older, rural Holmdel, needs helps to be saved

Olivia Liu, Asbury Park Press

HOLMDEL - In the late 1960s, before neighboring million-dollar mansions were built, a pony named Liza snuck through the back door of old St. Catharine's Church’s on a hot summer Sunday and chomped on some Communion wafers, according to Peter Maneri, president of the Holmdel Historical Society.

As the congregation laughed, the Rev. Eugene Scheg told Joel Mowery, whose family still owns a neighboring construction company, to get his pony out of the church.

That was life in Holmdel back then. Lisa Petrillo, whose family moved to Holmdel in 1966, remembers the area surrounding the Catholic church being very rural.

“It was all farm, barns and equipment,” she said.

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The Holmdel Historical Society, which uses this tiny old church built in 1879 as its headquarters, is looking to restore it.

The church at 84 Stilwell Road measures 25 feet by 75 feet and can seat 100, according to the society.

Maneri said he hopes the society will be able to repair the stained-glass windows, fix the structure and expose the three large stars in the ceiling.

Stained glass windows at the old St. Catharine's Church on Stillwell Rd. on Wednesday, Jan. 19. The original building had clear glass, according to the Holmdel Historical Society.
Stained glass windows at the old St. Catharine's Church on Stillwell Rd. on Wednesday, Jan. 19. The original building had clear glass, according to the Holmdel Historical Society.

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The church originally had a cedar roof, according to Maneri. But a slate roof was added later and caused the walls to lean.

“I think it (was) too much weight for the church and the structure. And that’s why the church is wracked a little bit,” Maneri said.

Maneri said the society is looking for volunteer structural engineers who can help solve the tilting walls. He said the society will pay the engineers for the cost of the supplies.

A drop ceiling, added decades after the church was built, covered three stars in the ceiling. Each star had a hook at the center of it. The society believes gas chandeliers used to hang from those hooks.

One of three stars on the ceiling of the old St. Catharine's Church on Stillwell Rd. on Wednesday, Jan. 19.
One of three stars on the ceiling of the old St. Catharine's Church on Stillwell Rd. on Wednesday, Jan. 19.

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In a piecemeal fashion, the church had undergone restoration. In 2017, the church’s exterior had been sandblasted and repainted. Maneri said the society also removed the drywall inside the church, which exposed the original beaded wood boards. He said the society wants to paint the interior as well.

Maneri said the society needed to start up again after a COVID-19 hiatus.

The church sits on a quarter acre and was built by the Rev. Michael Glennon, who rode his black stallion for 20 years from Asbury Park, where he was the first rector of the Church of the Holy Spirit, to St. Catharine’s Church for a weekly Mass at noon on Sundays, according to the Holmdel Historical Society.

Lisa Petrillo, center, attending the old St. Catharine's Church in the late 1960s.
Lisa Petrillo, center, attending the old St. Catharine's Church in the late 1960s.

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Petrillo said the church was her family’s parish, and she made her first Holy Communion at the church at age 6.

She remembers all the women and girls having to wear something on their head to go into church, as was the custom at the time.

“My mother walked me to the door, and I didn’t have something on my head,” Petrillo said. “And Mrs. Bavaro made sure I had a Kleenex tissue on my head. I couldn’t walk in without something on my head.”

The old church celebrated its last Mass on Dec. 1, 1968, and the new, larger St. Catharine’s Church on Middletown Road celebrated its first Mass on Sept. 4, 1971, according to Maneri.

A hand carved wooden altar at the old St. Catharine's Church on Stillwell Rd. on Wednesday, Jan. 19.
A hand carved wooden altar at the old St. Catharine's Church on Stillwell Rd. on Wednesday, Jan. 19.

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During the three years of construction, Petrillo remembers going to Mass at the Holmdel Village Elementary School cafeteria.

In May 1975, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton donated the old church to the Holmdel Historical Society.

“We’ll be happy as a society committee to accept anyone who wants to help us physically and or monetarily to participate in our group,” Maneri said.

Maneri said the society is looking for engineers to volunteer their time and knowledge to help restore the church as well as other projects, including Dr. Cooke’s medical office next to the Village Elementary School.

Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: St. Catharine's historic church in Holmdel NJ needs saving