After almost five long years, Franklin Lakes church has risen from the ashes

The Church of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Franklin Lakes will be consecrated to God on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 6 p.m. The parishioners and Father John Job, the pastor, eagerly await the opportunity to return to their new place of worship after the church burned down almost five years ago. Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., Archbishop of Newark, will preside at the liturgy.

Parishioners have been celebrating Mass in the school gymnasium, the original place of worship, before the current one was built in the 1980s.

The groundbreaking for the $18 million building took place in September 2022. According to Father Job, many generous donations have blessed the parish, enabling the construction of a new worship and meeting place that seamlessly integrates modern and traditional elements.

Foresight Architects and LAN Associates designed the new church in consultation with parish committees. The design is earthy, with lots of wood and stone, and modular. The sanctuary and altar are round so parishioners can surround the space during Mass and services.

Cardinal Tobin will anoint the church at the four walls, which will be marked by candelabras.

“Our new church will serve as a beacon of faith, hope, and love,” Father Job said.  “May the parish’s dedication to the Most Blessed Sacrament continue to inspire the people of today and the generations of tomorrow to make Jesus known and loved.”

Students from the parish’s Academy of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a pre-K 2 through grade 8 Catholic school, have witnessed the transformation in the church’s progress, meeting the engineers and artisans—most local—and learning about the trades.

“We may have inspired some careers,” Father Job said cheerfully. “I believe we will have some engineers and architects, as well as some priests, come out of this.”

The bells of the Most Blessed Sacrament

As parishioners are welcomed back to the church, they will first recognize the three bells, which date back to 1875 when they were cast in Meneeley and Kimberly Foundry in Troy, N.Y., for St. Alphonsus Church on West Broadway in lower Manhattan. The three large cast bronze bells — weighing 550 pounds, 800 pounds, and 1,000 pounds — were purchased by Most Blessed Sacrament in the summer of 1980 in preparation for the 1981 dedication of the former church. Because they were in a separate structure from the church, the bells were saved from fire damage and sent to Christoph Paccard Bell Foundry in South Carolina for storage and the installation of new electromagnetic bell strikers.

The Redemptorists who administered at St. Alphonsus Church are in the same order as Cardinal Tobin.

A beacon in the night

The entire community will also enjoy the steeple and cross, which are 44 feet tall and 85 feet from the ground to the top tip of the cross. They are a beacon of hope to all who pass by the corner in the center of town, especially at night when two lights on the church roof illuminate them. They were created by Campbellsville Industries in Campbellsville, Ky.

Entering where God dwells

Just past the church’s main doors, a triquetra or trinity knot is inlaid in the narthex marble floor. The symbol contains three leaf-like shapes that interlock, making three corners and a circle in the middle. It is often associated with Celtic art, such as the Book of Kells.

“It represents eternal life and the Trinity,” Father Job said.

When the glass doors are folded, the narthex can accommodate additional seating. It also leads to ministry, bridal, and community rooms.

The baptismal font is front and center after passing through the narthex into the nave.

“The font is where our life in the Trinity begins,” Father Job said. “It is here that baptisms will take place, and it is where we will bless ourselves in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The font has two basins. The smaller one holds holy water for infant baptisms and blessing oneself upon entering the space.  The larger one allows for baptisms of children and adults during the Easter Vigil and symbolizes the womb, a symbol of rebirth through baptism. The water in the font can be heated for infant and adult baptisms. As the water recirculates, it is filtered and purified through a UV system.

Mosaic tiles created by L.V. Artistic Mosaic in Italy adorn the interior of the marble font.  L.V. Artistic Mosaic also produced the seven floor medallions inlaid in the aisle floors of the main worship area representing the seven sacraments. The mosaics replicate the stained-glass windows in the parish school’s gymnasium.

The sanctuary

The altar is in the middle of the sanctuary, with the pews and seats surrounding it, inviting parishioners to the center of the Mass. The altar is carved solid sapele, a sustainable alternative to African mahogany, depicting a sheath of wheat adorned with grapes. 

“A stalk of wheat is fragile, but when you group it together, it is strong, just like our parish,” Father Job said. 

The crucifix was designed by sculptor Jay Hall Carpenter of Charlotte, Vt. The corpus is just over 5 feet long, and the cross is 8 feet long. 

“We wanted the eyes of the crucified Christ to be opened and looking down – rather than up – to help facilitate a connection between Christ and the community, particularly during the procession to receive Holy Communion at Mass,” Father Job said. 

The bronze “halo” behind Jesus’ head represents the crown of thorns placed on Him on the road to Golgotha.

The organ, which is both digital and pipe, was built by Peragallo Pipe Organ Co. in Paterson.

The Tabernacle

“The tabernacle was donated by Father John Gabriel and the Church of St. Paul in Ramsey immediately following the fire and has been used in the gym of the school where Mass has been held for the past four and a half years,” Father Job said.

It was sent to The Holy Land Art Company in Westwood for refurbishment, preparing it for a prominent place behind the altar in the new worship space. The door of the tabernacle has a mother pelican and her chicks. Because the mother’s blood revives the chicks after three days, according to legend, and Jesus rose from the dead after three days, giving us eternal life, the pelican with her chicks became a symbol of the Eucharist for early Christians.

The stained glass

Six rectangular stained-glass windows from Sacred Heart Church in Jersey City are visible from the pews in the main worship space. The windows, which portray a series of saints, are part of the collection of stained glass acquired from the church, which closed in 2005. Not only was Father Job thrilled to be able to save the works of art, but the windows also held a special place in his heart.

“They come from my Mom’s parish,” he said.

The saints depicted in the glass include  St. Albert the Great or Albertus Magnus, who lived from 1206 to 1280; Pope St. Pius V; St. Agnes of Montepulciano, well-known for the supernatural signs that accompanied her growth in holiness; St. Catherine de Ricci, a famous mystical saint known for many miraculous and mysterious phenomena that are associated with her holiness, such as bilocation and the stigmata; St. Thomas Aquinas, a great giant among both intellectuals and prayerful disciples in the Catholic tradition; and St. Catherine of Siena, known as a reformer and political activist, for her asceticism, and spiritual visions and was said to have received stigmata.

Fleur-de-Lis

Fleur-de-lis emblems are used throughout the church — in the Chapel of Mary, Our Good Mother; in the two shrines in the main church; and on the walls on the sides of the tabernacle altar of reserve. For centuries, the Catholic Church has used fleur-de-lis emblems in artwork and theological writings. The flower is associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary, and its three petals have also been used to symbolize the Holy Trinity.

Chapel of Mary, Our Good Mother

Two stained-glass windows from Sacred Heart Church in Jersey City — Our Lady of Lourdes and Our Lady of Knock —will be placed in the Chapel of Mary, Our Good Mother.

The chapel also has a rose window depicting Christ sending the disciples out into mission.

 “This is what we are called to do at the end of every Mass…we are sent out into mission,” Father Job said.

A marble statue of Mary from Marist High School in Bayonne graces the chapel. The statue was a focal point in the school’s vestibule for almost 60 years. It also holds a special meaning for Father Job. 

“The Marist Brothers were my instructors at Marist High School in Bayonne, and I taught there as Mr. Job,” said Father Job, referring to his tenure as a teacher, department chair of religious studies, campus minister, and assistant principal of academics over 10 years at the school. He went on to serve as the first lay principal of St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale before becoming a priest.

Holy Family Shrine

The Mary and St. Joseph statues, part of the Holy Family Shrine in the main worship space, just received a facelift from Holy Land Art Company in Westwood. The Marist Brothers gifted the statues from the Marist Brothers Center at Esopus, N.Y. 

Extra rooms

The Ministry Room and Sacred Heart Room off the narthex also contain windows from Sacred Heart. The Ministry Room stores charitable donations, especially the monthly food collected for The Mercy House in Newark, Elizabeth, and Jersey City. The two saints depicted in the windows – St. Margaret of Hungary and St. Antoninus – both had a devotion to people experiencing poverty. St. Dominic and St. Louis Bertrand are portrayed in the Sacred Heart Room, which will serve as a conference area for priests and parishioners to meet and for brides and bridal parties to assemble before walking down the aisle. St. Dominic is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scientists, and he and his order are traditionally credited with spreading and popularizing the Rosary. St. Louis Bertrand is the patron of Dominican novitiates and formation personnel.

Also off the narthex is a community room and kitchen, which will be used for weekend fellowship and hospitality gatherings.  

There will also be a room for children’s Liturgy of the Word with stained glass from the former convent.

Parishioners are invited to the dedication on Sept. 17, at 6 p.m.