St. Mary Magdalen Parish

MISSION STATEMENT

We, the faithful of St. Mary Magdalen Parish, are a Catholic, Christian Community committed to the gospel message that Jesus Christ is our Savior. Therefore, our mission is to spread the Good News of Salvation. We strive to accomplish this mission by; welcoming all to be a part of our worshipping community through prayer and the Eucharistic celebration and the other sacraments; witnessing to the Truth in word and deed, by teaching and proclaiming God’s Word; loving our brothers and sisters; healing those in need; serving the poor. We pray to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through the intercession of Mary, our Mother and Saint Mary Magdalen, to grace and guide us.

GOALS

To implement our parish goals, we as a parish strive:

• To deepen our understanding of and commitment to our faith.

• To stimulate a greater awareness of the needs of the human family and to discover new ways to respond to those needs.

• To encourage broader participation of our parishioners in parish life.

• To engender a spirit of unity among all our ministries and organizations.

• To empower the youth and young adults of our parish to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in our world today.

I ask the parish ministry and organizations to come up with specific action items to implement the parish mission and goals:

• Priests and Deacons to prepare homilies to welcome back inactive parishioners.

• School and PREP faculty are reinforcing Sunday worship among students.

• Youth Group is playing for music, lecturing and ushering at the Sunday 5:30 PM Mass

• President of School is offering religious instruction and parenting classes

• Respect Life Committee- choosing to support Generation Life Organization

• CYO to encourage stewardship projects for each team. 

• Wellness Ministry is training more volunteers for increasing services to sick and homebound.

• Perpetual Adoration Committee is looking for more adorers to reinitiate 24 hour adoration this Fall.

• Bereavement Committee is organizing regular group meetings.

• Business Manager is monitoring increasing expenses of maintenance and ongoing improvements.

• Finance Committee working on a better means of increasing school budget and benefits.

• Pastoral Council is surveying concerns and commitment of our parishioners.

Historical notes

Jesus Christ transformed Mary Magdalen from a sinner into a saint.  Since 1963, St. Mary Magdalen Parish continues to develop a family of faith in Jesus Christ through Catholic worship, education, and charity.  Since its humble beginnings with 143 families from Nativity BVM in Media and 13 families from St. Anastasia in Newtown Square, the parish family has grown to 1500 families in this third millennium.

The founding pastor, Rev. Gilbert J. McDevitt celebrated the first masses in a barn chapel.  On January 23, 1966, our faith community began to worship in the new combination chapel and school building.

Msgr. Richard J. Simons succeeded Fr. McDevitt after his death in 1967.  A growing parish made the construction of our second church necessary.  The first mass was offered on Christmas Day of 1970.

In 1973 Rev. John J. Walsh became the third pastor, and Rev. Joseph S. Rodgers succeeded him.

In 1981, Rev. James F. Hughes was named pastor.  Under his guidance, the parish center was built in 1985, Maria Hall in 1991, and Sister Kathleen Hall in 1998.

Upon the retirement of Fr. Hughes, Rev. Ralph J. Chieffo was appointed pastor in June 2000.

Our third and current church was constructed under the guidance of Fr. Chieffo.  The dedication mass was offered April 12, 2008 with Cardinal Justin Rigali.