News and Updates

New Rectory Residence

I am happy to announce that we have already achieved one of the goals of our campus redevelopment plan/ capital campaign – the purchase of a home for the rectory residence!

On December 23rd, the parish closed on the purchase of the house on 64 S. Springfield Ave., directly across the street from St. James. The house will eventually serve as the priest(s) residence for the parish.

As a reminder: The current building that houses the rectory and parish offices will need to be demolished in order to make room for the construction of a new parish center on that site. We determined that purchasing a local home would be the most cost-effective and sensible option for a rectory residence.

The inside of the newly purchased house needs to be updated and that will happen over the upcoming months and after we close on the sale of the school/convent property.

The Closing with Winston School on the School/Convent Property

We are almost at the finish line! The most recent delay was caused by the engineer in completing the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection filing that is a requirement for closing. There was well over a six-week delay in getting this accomplished but that filing finally took place on 12/30/25. Now it is up to the attorneys to finalize the closing documents. The plan is to close on the sale of the property by the end of January.

Capital Campaign – Centered in Hope, Growing in Faith

Currently, we are in the major gift solicitation phase of the capital campaign. We will be introducing the capital campaign to the parish community in the next couple of months.

I am so grateful for the generosity of many of our Saint James families with whom I have already met. Great things are happening here at Saint James and the momentum we are building for a successful campaign is exhilarating.

As a reminder, here are the goals of the parish capital campaign:

  • Build a New Parish Center
  • Purchase a Rector Residence ✅
  • Eliminate Parish Legacy Debt to the Archdiocese

Fr. David C. Santos, Pastor