HISTORY OF PARISH
Welcome to The Parish of Our Lady of the Angels! We are so delighted to have you here and look forward to meeting you in person. You can register as a member of the parish with our online form or by coming into the Parish Office!
If you have any questions - or just want to know more – please contact us at (609) 695-6089 or email olaparish@olanj.org.
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The Parish of Our Lady of the Angels was created in 2005 after a merger between St. Joachim and Immaculate Conception Church, both located in the city’s Chambersburg section of Trenton, New Jersey.
Franciscan Father Pietro Jachetti was the founding pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in 1875. In the late 1880s, Father Jachetti oversaw the construction of the neo-Gothic style church which continues today to stand as a monument in the City of Trenton. Father Jachetti was a native of Monteleone di Spoleto and was instrumental in ministering to the immigrants coming from the Valnerina of Umbria to Trenton in order to make a better life for themselves and to provide more adequately for the future of their families.
The German, Irish and Slavic communities that were already well established in Chambersburg recognized the sizable numbers of immigrants entering in their community. Challenges arose with overcrowding issues in the neighborhoods and there was tension between the national groups, as well as within the community. To minister to the new Italian arrivals, St. Joachim Parish was established in 1901. Msgr. Aloysius Pozzi was the founding pastor St. Joachim's Church. As a personal (national) parish and was charged to receive the immigrants primarily from Naples, Calabria, San Fele, as well as those from the Valnerina of Umbria. This mission was accomplished with the presence and ministry of the Maestre Pie Filippini (Religious Teachers Filippini) who, in 1910, were sent to live in the parish and teach the children of the burgeoning Italian community.
Since its beginning, the church of Our Lady of the Angels has been led by many priests: founding pastor Rev. Jeffrey E. Lee 2000-2013, Rev Alcides Castro 2013-2014, Rev. Cesar Rubiano 2014-2020, Rev. Carlos Aguirre 2020-present.
A community that is grounded in our past: German, Irish, Slovak, Italian, Franciscan, Maestre Pie Filippini, while welcoming immigrants from Central and South America, the Caribbean, and beyond Our Lady of the Angel’s strives for ways to honor traditions and ways to build new bridges of understanding and communication with those communities from which many of our ancestors emigrated.
Chambersburg continues to witness a steady shift and, with that, the emergence of a new Catholic community, one that is not to replace those who have gone before us, but rather to continue to build upon our rich and celebrated past in order to be Church in our day.
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Today, the Parish Community of Our Lady of the Angels is a vibrant and multicultural Roman Catholic Parish which belongs to the Diocese of Trenton. A welcoming place of worship and friendship, it has 2 centenary church buildings: Immaculate Conception Church and Saint Joachim Church. Through work, play, and prayer, our parish offers guidance, education, and service to all.