‘The welcome mat is out, the light is in the window, and we are open for business,” said the Rev. Harold F. Cullen, Ph.D., who was recently appointed as the new administrator for St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Deal. “We welcome old members and new members of the parish as well as visitors to our beautiful New Jersey shore.”
The Rev. Harold F. Cullen Father Cullen, who is also pastor of St. Jerome Parish on Wall Street in West Long Branch, was appointed administrator of St. Mary Parish, located on Richmond Avenue, by the Most Rev. John M. Smith, bishop of the Diocese of Trenton, in April after the retirement of the Rev. John G. DeSandre, who served as St. Mary’s pastor for 14 years.
St. Mary and St. Jerome parishes, explained Father Cullen, who has been pastor of St. Jerome since October 2005, are “twinned” parishes served by a pastoral team. Twinning is when two or three parishes share one pastor, but retain their own identity, membership, property and finances, he said.
“St. Mary has over 100 years of history and is situated on beautiful grounds with quaint buildings,” said Father Cullen, a native of County Cork, Ireland. “It’s one of the Shore’s hidden treasures, just off Ocean Avenue in Deal.”
Currently, he said, St. Mary has about 350 families, and the parish community engenders “a place where everyone knows your name,” but with room for parish growth.
“The demographics have changed around St. Mary’s, and we welcome people who may have moved away but still are within reach of the parish to come back,” Father Cullen said.
St. Jerome Parish, he said, was founded in 1957 and has about 1,200 families. There are around 260 students enrolled in St. Jerome School’s K-8 classes under the supervision of the Religious Teachers Filippini, plus a preschool program. A Latin Mass is celebrated at St. Jerome at noon on the last Sunday of each month.
The pastoral team that serves St. Jerome Parish consists of Father Cullen, a former school psychologist, who resides at St. Jerome, as does the Rev. Erin J. Brown, the parochial vicar, who tended bar at Pete & Elda‘s in Neptune City before becoming a priest. Anthony DiCesare is permanent deacon.
The Rev. Matthew T. Thelly resides at St. Mary Parish and serves as parochial vicar, assisted by St. Mary’s permanent deacon, John W. McCabe.
“The priests rotate Masses at both parishes,” said Father Cullen, who was ordained in Ireland and studied at Cluain Mhuire Seminary in Galway. “Events such as scriptural studies, parish picnics and benefit golf tournaments are open to the membership of both parishes and to the public.”
Cullen has a Master of Arts degree in school psychology from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a doctoral degree in counseling psychology from Temple University in Philadelphia. For 25 years he was the school psychologist for the Hamilton Township School District in Atlantic County.
“After I was ordained, I was teaching in an inner-city school in Dublin and found I needed a basis in psychology,” he said. “That’s when I left for the States to study psychology, and now specialize in family therapy.”
For about 12 years now, Father Cullen has also specialized in playing the bagpipes and is a member of the Ocean County Emerald Society Pipes and Drums that marches in the Belmar St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Before the parade, he celebrates a Mass in Gaelic and English.
“Piping is something I share with Father Brown, who is a piper with the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh,” the priest said. “But I don’t share an interest in motorcycles as he does with his Harley-Davidson.”
His other interests include golf, stained-glass making, and sailing. “If time permitted, I would love to teach stained glass,” he said. “I had to give up my sailboat, but just couldn’t sell it. So, I gave it to a family who would appreciate it.”
Father Cullen said he appreciates the warm welcome he received from St. Mary’s parishioners and the continued hospitality of parishioners at St. Jerome. “I invite everyone to experience for themselves the same welcome and hospitality,“ he said.