LAWRENCE: Bishop to celebrate mass for St. Ann’s anniversary

   Bishop David M. O’Connell will celebrate a festive mass to mark the 75th anniversary of the Church of Saint Ann in Lawrenceville on Aug. 5 at 12:30 p.m. The mass will be followed by a reception.The church has been celebrating its founding in 1937 with a year-long celebration that began with a charge to the parish by the pastor, Msgr. R. Vincent Gartland, to “Share the Spirit and Secure the Future.”After Mayor Greg Puliti read the Lawrence Township proclamation, all parishioners participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony to enter into the celebratory year.The anniversary committee is coordinated by parishioner Bob Kusek and assisted by many parishioners, some who remember the early days of St. Ann’s founding.St. Ann’s first mass was held at the Burke residence on Titus Avenue, Lawrenceville in 1891. The Catholic community moved to several others residences until 1905, when it found a more permanent home at the newly constructed Morris Hall Home for the Aged on Lawrence Road. On Aug. 9, 1937, St. Ann’s Parish was incorporated and in less than a year a new church was dedicated at the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Lawrenceville Road.That church served as a Lawrence landmark for 44 years until the early morning hours of Jan. 2, 1985, when a fire caused irreparable damage and the building had to be razed. Then Pastor, Msgr. Thomas Frain, with many loyal parishioners set about building the present church with a capacity for 750 worshipers. The congregation has grown from a few Catholic families in 1891 to its current enrollment of 2,600 families.In 2001, to provide space for a growing number of ministries and activities, the parish launched a campaign to add a $6 million Faith Development Center, which embraces the church building on two sides.