The Pre-Parish Years

Before this parish was established, there was a true faith, hope and commitment among the dedicated clergy and lay people. The very history of this parish is the people. What has been accomplished has occurred in buildings but the heart of the faith and the parish's history has always been and still is its people. The original parishioners were people with vision who yearned for a spiritual home.

The spirit of ecumenism was alive in Seaford long before Vatican II made it popular. William Morgan was a Protestant who married a Catholic, Catherine McGlynn. The Morgan children were raised in their mother's faith. It disturbed Mr. Morgan to see his family traveling to Bellmore every week for Mass. Through his daughter Jennie, he provided use of his store for Sunday Mass. In 1913, Fr. Theodore King offered Mass in Seaford in a converted butcher shop on the corner of Merrick Road and Washington Ave.

By 1922, the new pastor in Bellmore, Fr. John Glavin, found crowds of people forced to stand outside the butcher shop while Mass was offered. He knew shortly thereafter that a church would be needed. A building committee chaired by Mr. John Murray was formed by Fr. Glavin. Permission was granted by Bishop Molloy to seek funds throughout the diocese and build a church.

While all this was happening, the local board of education offered the use of a school auditorium until the church was built. The butcher shop was closed. The fund raising was successful and in 1926, shortly after Fr. Glavin's death, the ground was broken for the soon to be built church. The first Mass was offered on a Christmas Eve with about 150 people in attendance. Click here to see an aerial photograph of the newly constructed church. (The quality is not the best but the picture is interesting to study.) The parish was officially established in 1928 with Fr. Francis X. Debold as the first pastor.

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