History of St. Jane Frances de Chantal Church

Our history extends over 82 years, first as a part of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and then as a part of the newly established Diocese of Allentown.

St. Jane Frances de Chantal, our Church patron saint was born in France. She was a wife, mother of six children, a nun, and founder of a religious community along with St. Francis de Sales.

The Mother Church of the Lehigh Valley, St. Bernard’s, was established in 1820. After nearly a century, the faith population of our area grew tremendously as did the Mother Church’s inability to minister to it.  A small tract of land in Wilson Borough, once home to a racetrack at “Fairview Fairgrounds”, was destined to become the new home of St. Jane’s Parish.

Founded on January 19^th, 1920 by Reverend Michael A. Bennett, St. Jane Frances de Chantal Parish consisted of only 200 families. Father Bennett and his parishioners forged ahead to lay the foundation for what would become one of the largest and finest parishes in the Diocese of Allentown.

The new church celebrated its first Mass in Bondon Hall; a former feed store located at 15^th and Washington Streets.

Later, the fledgling parish purchased a home at 19^th Street and Hay Terrace to house the church rectory. A workshop in the rear of the home was converted by the men of the parish into a small chapel where Mass was celebrated until 1926.

On March 15^th, 1924, groundbreaking ceremonies were held to begin construction on a combination church/school building. The cornerstone was laid on June 21^st, 1925 with Monsignor Thomas McNally presiding.

The new building was dedicated on December 20^th, 1925. Joining the celebrations with Father Bennett and Monsignor McNally were Father Elmer Stapleton and Father Charles McCarron.

The addition of the basement auditorium added a new dimension to parish life. There began a series of social events. The first ladies’ group, the St. Jane’s Sewing Society, was formed and became the backbone of social activities. A boys’ basketball team was formed to compete with others in the community.

After years of attending class at St. Bernard’s School, 176 pupils entered the doors of St. Jane’s School on September 8^th, 1926. The school was staffed by the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary from 1926 until 2002.

Their convent was opened in October of 1926.

In July of 1955, Father Donnelly saw the need for expansion. He purchased two homes on Washington Blvd, which were converted into a combined convent and chapel. The foundation of today’s Home and School Association, the St. Jane’s Education Association, was formed in 1938 to aid the sisters and priests in their work organizing fund raising events.

The only Catholic High School available in the area was Easton Catholic High School, which was unable to accommodate the growing Catholic school population. In 1957, Notre Dame High School was erected at Green Pond in Bethlehem Township.

This tremendous growth in school population affected St. Jane’s as well with major renovations to the old school building being completed in 1959 under the direction of Father James Farrell, who strongly encouraged parochial education at St. Jane’s.

The old school, which is now Father Farrell Hall, quickly became too small. In 1962 a new school was built with two rooms for each grade and by 1965 it housed nearly 800 students, with 50 in each room. The teaching staff grew to 18, half of which were IHM Sisters.

Today, there are over 500 students attending St. Jane’s with close to 550 public school children attending Parish Religious Education classes. There are, in addition to the principal, 33 teachers and support staff in school, and a Director, 26 teachers, and 16 couples involved in the Parish Religious Education classes and Home Study Groups.

In 1960, after 40 years, St. Jane’s had grown to 1200 families. Ground was broken on January 23^rd, 1950 for the new church/school combination on the same block as the original church.

It was dedicated on October 2, 1960 by His Excellency, the Most Reverend Bishop Joseph McShea in conjunction with the 40^th anniversary of St. Jane’s Parish.

When more room was needed for the school the intended location of the church on the upper floors was used for classrooms and the church’s location in the basement was intended only as a temporary location.

In the 1980’s, Father Sheehan had the interior of the church renovated. In the 1990’s, he also successfully completed the first capital campaign, "Challenge of Faith" for the construction of a new church raising over 1.5 million dollars. In the late 1990's,  Monsignor Gobitas initiated a second building campaign "A Time to Build", purchased the land and saw the completion of a new St. Jane's.

The new church was dedicated by His Excellency, the Most Reverend Bishop Edward P. Cullen on February 3rd, 2002.

While the first forty years saw great growth, expansion and renovation of the church and school, the last forty-two have brought growth, renovation and rejuvenation to the parish family.

The Holy Spirit has truly revived our liturgies and our lives, the laity have come of age and are called to service in our church, and we are witnessing a true renewal of the full Christian life of the family. The Church is the continuation of Christ in time and it looks forward to the new millennium with as much energy as it had in apostolic days.

We cannot observe the flowering of faith which we experience in our faith community without at the same time turning our eyes and our hearts full of gratitude to those who have laid the ground-work for what has become our wonderful parish.

We are proud of our school and its accomplishments and our wonderful Religious Education Program. Our gratitude, abundant and unmeasured, goes out to everyone who has donated their time, talent and treasure to make St. Jane’s Faith Community the holy, productive and dynamic reality it is. With our priests, deacons and laity working together under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we look forward to the challenges that lie ahead with great energy and enthusiasm.