Franklin Lakes church to break ground on rebuild 3 years after fire; sends historic bells out for repair
Bells can be a significant symbol of history. The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is perhaps the most famous example — though it no longer rings out, it is immensely important to the story of our nation.
The same can be said about the three bells of the Most Blessed Sacrament Church in Franklin Lakes. They too play a part in the church’s history yet haven’t been working for some time. But that will soon change. As the church prepared for a groundbreaking on Saturday to rebuild after a devastating fire three years ago, it also sent out its historic bells for refurbishment.
The bells’ story begins in 1875 when they were cast at the Meneely and Kimberly Foundry in Troy, N.Y. They originally hung in the Saint Alphonsus Church on West Broadway in lower Manhattan. When that church was demolished, Most Blessed Sacrament purchased the bells in 1980 for its new church dedicated the following year.
Thirty-eight years later, on Dec. 12, 2019, the Most Blessed Sacrament church burned down due to arson. The parish, and the larger Franklin Lakes community, were left devastated. But the bells – which were housed in a tower right next to the church – survived.
What happened next is a microcosm of the parish’s resilience as it began the process of rebuilding.
Father John Job, the pastor of Most Blessed Sacrament, said the last two and a half years since the fire has been a journey for the parish and its community. “We journeyed together through loss and grief. But we’re also journeying through encouragement and solidarity,” he said.
In his latest letter to the parish community on Aug. 15, Father Job noted the many stumbling blocks on the path towards building a new church: the difficulty of negotiating a multi-million-dollar insurance settlement, the unexpected impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and most recently, the rising costs of inflation and supply chain issues.
With those hurdles to consider, it wouldn’t be a surprise if salvaging three bells was dropped from the costly equation. But the parish decided to save the bells. They would be shipped out and refurbished by the Christoph Paccard Bell Foundry in Charleston, S.C., and outfitted for the new church with new electromagnetic bell strikers. The bells became a symbol for the future more than one of history.
And so goes the trajectory of Most Blessed Sacrament Church. The pain of the recent past is still there, but Father Job says the parish has remained hopeful in its mission over the years.
“The parish continues to live out its mission, so we can only surmise that this is going to be multiplied once we have a new church structure to give us the opportunities to do even more than we’re doing now,” Father Job said. “We continue to be a welcoming community. We’re centered on the Eucharist, we’re of service to our own and to those beyond, and we’ve continued to recognize as the mission statement says that we’re witnesses of God’s love in the world.”
For now, the parish has been worshipping at its adjacent Academy of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
On Saturday, Sept. 17, the parish takes one step closer to its future when it breaks ground for the new church, which is estimated to cost $18 million and is being built by Donnelly Construction of Wayne.
For the parishioners and the community, the occasion could be like Christmas morning. “It’s a great sense of anticipation, patience, and waiting,” Father Job said. “It’s sort of been like Advent. We’re waiting with joyful anticipation for the moment of Christmas. That’s where we are at, at this point. We joyfully anticipated the day when we would be breaking ground…so we’re approaching it with gratitude for all that has been and for all that will be.”
Meanwhile, the bells in South Carolina are being readied for the new church, while the building itself is estimated to be finished in 15-18 months. When that moment of completion occurs, the bells will indeed be ringing the glad, glad news in Franklin Lakes.
Featured image: The bell tower of Most Blessed Sacrament Church in Franklin Lakes, N.J., is seen standing Dec. 12, 2019, after a fire destroyed the rest of the church the previous morning. (CNS photo/Octavio Duran)
