St. Catharine's Church In Holmdel, N.J. In Dire Need Of Repairs
HOLMDEL, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A former church in Monmouth County that dates back to the 1800s is in desperate need of repairs.
As CBS2's Meg Baker reported Thursday, the stained glass windows of St. Catharine's Church in Holmdel are cracked, and the ceiling and walls are structurally weak.
"We need to replace the stained glass windows, which is a big one. But also, you can see the church is racked, it's leaning to one side. The church was built with a cedar shake roof," said Peter Maneri, president of the Holmdel Historical Society.
It was built in 1879. The original altar still stands.
"It was the first Roman Catholic church in Holmdel," said Arthur Heath of the Holmdel Historical Society.
The small interior could seat 100 people.
"At this time it was all agriculture around here. It was farms and this church was built to serve mainly the Irish Catholic immigrants," Heath said.
Those immigrants escaped the potato famine, and came looking for work.
The building is now owned by the Holmdel Historical Society. They are in need of donations to save the church and and its history. Maneri told a story about a neighbor's pony sneaking in the back of the church and stealing communion wafers in the the 1960s.
"Started a commotion in the church. The priest turned around and sees the pony and asked 'Mr. Maury, please remove Liza from the church,'" Maneri said.
The group also hopes to use the building to educate young people.
"Many people today aren't really aware of their local history. Our goal is promote local history and this area is fascinating. It has so much history. You could go all the way back to the Revolutionary War," Heath said.
Once restored, the historical society wants to open the building on Stillwell Road up for events like weddings, and create a small museum.
The group is also looking for structural engineers to donate their time to help fix the walls and roof.
If you'd like to donate, CLICK HERE.
CBS2's Meg Baker contributed to this report.
