Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine

The Parish of St. Robert Bellarmine was established on June 18, 1971 by the Most Reverend George W. Ahr, the seventh Bishop of Trenton, in response to the rapid post-war population growth in western Monmouth County as professionals from New York City and North Jersey relocated to the area. Father Thomas F. Dentici was named founding pastor, joined by Father Leo Kelty as Associate Pastor and Father Benedict Lindner in residence. The original parish census included 564 registered families. From 1971 to 1975, weekend Masses were held in various Freehold Township elementary schools, and religious education classes were conducted in private homes — a practice that continued well into the 1980s. Sisters of Mercy provided a variety of parish services from 1972 to the mid-1980s. In 1974, ground was broken for a Parish Family Center on Georgia Road, and on September 14, 1975, Bishop Ahr blessed and dedicated the new Parish Family Center at its current site. The parish's early years were marked by strong lay formation: a Parish Council was formed in 1973; the first permanent deacon, Deacon Anthony Sanseviere, was ordained for the parish in 1977; an ecumenical accord was signed with Hope Lutheran Church of Freehold in 1978; and in 1979 a lay ministry of the Eucharist was established for visitation of the sick at Freehold Hospital and the homebound. Monsignor Dentici departed in 1978, after which the parish briefly experimented with a co-pastorate of Fathers Frank Kaspar and John Butler. Father John Ryan arrived as a new pastor in August 1979, with Father John Kielb serving as associate; Robert Wosniak was later installed as Pastor with Father John Muthig in residence. Father Thomas J. O'Connor assumed duties as the fourth pastor in 1988. By 1987, the parish census had grown to 1,300 registered families — 131 percent growth in just 16 years — and the parish debt was retired in 1991. Plans for a permanent church building began in 1996. In September 1997, Bishop John M. Smith, the ninth Bishop of Trenton, dedicated 17 new classrooms added to the parish center to support the rapidly growing religious education program. Construction on the new St. Robert Bellarmine Church began in 2001, and on December 7, 2002, Bishop Smith dedicated the new church. The building, designed by master architect Vincent S. Riggi of VS Riggi Architects in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, was constructed to seat over 1,200 people with no interior columns, giving every congregant a clear view of the sanctuary. In July 2009, Father Sam A. Sirianni was installed by Bishop Smith as the parish's fifth pastor. By the 40th anniversary in 2011, the parish numbered 4,100 registered families — a 627 percent growth over four decades. Because of its central geographic location in the Diocese of Trenton (which covers roughly 2,600 square miles across Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties) and the parish's consistent tradition of hospitality, the St. Robert Bellarmine campus had long hosted major diocesan functions, including the Chrism Mass on the Monday of Holy Week, which Bishop O'Connell moved there in 2015. On April 11, 2016, Bishop David M. O'Connell, C.M. petitioned the Congregation for Bishops at the Holy See to elevate the church to co-cathedral status; the request was approved on December 3, 2016, and the parish was informed on Christmas Eve. On February 19, 2017, at a Mass of Elevation attended by some 1,300 parishioners and diocesan faithful, the Papal Nuncio blessed a permanent cathedra fixed in the sanctuary, read the official bull, and presented the Co-Cathedral's new coat of arms. St. Robert Bellarmine is one of fewer than 10 co-cathedrals in the United States approved by the Vatican. In 2013 a new Priest Residence was completed on the 61 Georgia Road campus, and the parish today numbers more than 4,400 registered families.