Our History

The earliest record of Anglican services in the area now known as Gloucester City goes back to the year 1722, when the missionaries of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge of the Church of England would visit the communities of Colestown, Camden County (in present day Cherry Hill Township, with a church building in what is now Colestown Cemetery), Gloucester Town and Berkeley (now Mt. Royal in East Greenwich Twp, Gloucester County). These communities would worship first in people’s homes, then other buildings as their numbers grew. There is a written record that Rev. Nathaniel Evans led worship services in 1765 and 1766, and after his death, Rev. David Griffith and Rev. Robert Blackwell continued to preside as they made their rounds. 

As a result of the American Revolution, the resentment toward anything British, and the departure of the county seat of Gloucester County from Gloucester City to Woodbury(the result of a fire that destroyed the county government buildings), the Anglican worshiping community ceased to exist in the 1780’s. Gloucester City itself was in a period of severe economic difficulty, and it wasn’t until the mid-1840’s, with the opening of cotton mills along the Delaware River that Gloucester City began to grow and flourish.

With that growth came renewed interest in what was now The Episcopal Church, which was founded in Philadelphia PA in 1785. Many of the newcomers to Gloucester City were from the United Kingdom, and were anxious to bring the faith from their homeland with them to the New World. On November 15.1847, a meeting was held in the home of Dr. Jefferson Smith, a local physician, where it was resolved to form an Episcopal church known as Church of the Ascension. On November 29, 1847, another meeting was held to incorporate the church according to the laws of the State of New Jersey.

A plot of land was donated by Thomas S. Ridgeway and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Robb of Philadelphia to build a church, and on March 18, 1848 a building committee was formed and started its work immediately. The construction was completed after New Year’s Day, 1849, and the first services in the new building were held on Sunday, January 28, 1849.

On Ascension Day, May 17, 1849, the church was consecrated by The Rt. Rev. George Washington Doane, the second Bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey.

As Gloucester City grew in population, the members of the parish felt that the community needed a place for the youth to gather. At a meeting of the Vestry on

February 23, 1887, Mr. John Chattin, the Lay Reader in Charge, proposed the erection of a parish building. After the Vestry approved, Mr. Chattin was given the authority to create a Parish Building Fund. Funds were raised through sales, entertainments and private donations.

The fund raising took several years, and in December of 1893, the contract to build the parish house was awarded to a Mr. Walker. The price of the contract was $4,640.00, not including heating and lighting. (That would be $161,974.67 in 2024). 

The cornerstone of the parish hall was laid on February 3, 1894, with the services conducted by The Very Rev. Charles M. Perkins, Rector of St. John’s Church, Salem NJ and Dean of the Convocation of Burlington. 

On March 6, 1894, the Building Committee, not reaching its goal with respect to donations, placed a mortgage of $2,500 on the parish hall to ensure the completion of the work.

On August 31, 1894, the Building Committee reported to the Vestry that the parish hall had been completed, and turned the same over to the Vestry, who discharged them from their duties with thanks.

The records of the times indicate that the members of the Building Committee knew a bargain when they saw one, and readily took advantage of it. In 1886, Father Thomas J. McCormick, pastor of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, then located at Cumberland and Sussex Streets, purchased land at Monmouth, Atlantic and Somerset Streets with the intent of building a new church and a rectory. In March, 1888 the ground was broken for the new St. Mary’s Church, with the foundation stone being set in place on July 15th of that year. Following demolition of the old church at Cumberland and Sussex Streets, Ascension’s Building Committee seized the opportunity and purchased the old stone from that site at a very modest price, thus providing the foundation stone for the parish house. A truly ecumenical moment!

By 1911, when Father Carroll M. Burck of Denver, Colorado was called as rector, the vestry realized that something must be done if Church of the Ascension were to attract and keep priests for longer terms of ministry. The parish would need to provide better housing for their rectors. On August 26, 1911, a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Rectory was conducted on the northeast corner of the church property at Sussex and Ridgeway Streets. On October 7, 1911, the cornerstone was laid by Father Burck. Within one year, the cost of the rectory was paid in full. The total cost was $4,000($126,939.39 in 2024 dollars). Much of the construction of the rectory was provided through a bequest from the estate of Mrs. Elizabeth W. Monroe. The rectory is a memorial building, erected in the name of Mrs. Monroe and in memory of many other departed relatives and friends in whose name contributions were made to complete the work. 

From World War I and the Roaring Twenties through the 1930’s and the 1940’s, Church of the Ascension remained firm in the faith, facing the challenges of the Great Depression and the Second World War as a strong, lively parish. The post war years and the 1950’s saw the most activity, which the Church of the Ascension shared with most Christian churches. Three services on a Sunday morning, a Sunday School bursting at the seams, women’s groups, fundraising dinners, etc. are a testimony to these thriving years. Confirmation classes of 30-40 (or more) children and youth were commonplace. The 1950’s also saw the construction of the Walt Whitman Bridge through Gloucester City, the first of two significant events that would affect the town for decades to come. 

Beginning in the 1960’s, American culture changed, as the Baby Boomers became the Love Children, as the Church in general began to see its attendance subside, when people began to openly challenge the existence of God, so too did the Church of the Ascension begin to see the ministry of the parish change. The second significant event to affect Gloucester City in 10 years occurred in 1967 with the closure of New York Shipbuilding Company just across the border in Camden NJ. Hundreds of jobs were lost, and those lost jobs affected the entire economy of Gloucester City. 

Beginning in 1980, under the rectorship of The Rev. G. Richard Civalier (better known as Father Rick), the Church of the Ascension navigated the changes both within the Episcopal Church and in Gloucester City and the surrounding community. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer saw the most dramatic changes to the liturgy of the Episcopal Church since the 19th Century. The liturgy was now in contemporary language. The Eucharist became the principal act of worship on Sundays and the other major celebrations of the church (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Maundy Thursday, the Easter Vigil, Pentecost). In 1985, the Hymnal 1982 was published. While retaining many traditional hymns, new hymns were included, and an expanded catalog of service music was introduced to revive the singing of responses during the Eucharist. 

The 1980’s saw the greatest health crisis in the United States (and in the world) since the polio outbreaks of the 1940’s and 1950’s. AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) became a pandemic that by 2021, has caused 40 million deaths, with 38 million people living with the virus. Through the leadership of Father Rick, and with the support of the parish, Church of the Ascension became the first church in the Diocese of New Jersey to engage in ministry to persons with HIV/AIDS. The parish provided space to the AIDS Coalition of Southern New Jersey for buddy training, and provided meals for the training sessions. Four members of Ascension were involved in the buddy program. Father Rick was a founding member of the coalition. The Church of the Ascension provided meals to those who were having difficulty providing for themselves, and assisted families with AIDS in need. The Church of the Ascension’s ministry to persons with AIDS served as a model for other ministries in the diocese. 

In 1998, Church of the Ascension was a founding member of the Timber Creek Area Ministry, the first shared ministry in the Diocese of New Jersey. Working with the Church of the Holy Spirit, Bellmawr and St. Luke’s Church, Westville, Church of the Ascension shared clergy leadership and cooperated in programs and activities that could best be done together, while still maintaining their identities as worshiping communities. 

In 2008, after 28 years of faithful service, Father Rick retired, and after an interim period, Father Nathan Farrell was called as rector in 2010. During his all-too brief tenure at Ascension, he engaged the parish in community outreach and guided the parish into hosting the Helping Hand Food Pantry in the rectory. 

From 2013 until his untimely passing in 2023, Church of the Ascension was faithfully served by Father Bernard Maguire. A separate page recounting his life and ministry can be found here. 

In recent years, Church of the Ascension has, along with so many other “mainline” churches, struggled with a culture that does not find the church relevant in their lives. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, it was several months before we were able to worship as a community, and once we returned, with limitations that lasted many more months. 

Those times are behind us now. In January 2023, we hosted one of the Candidate Forums for the election of the XIII Bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey. More about that day can be found here. In October 2023 we celebrated the 175th (+1) Anniversary of the founding of the parish, with The Rt. Rev Sally French, Bishop of New Jersey as the celebrant. We also celebrated the 50th (+1) Ordination Anniversary of Father Rick. 

The history of Church of the Ascension, Gloucester City continues to be written. The Holy Spirit continues to move in ways that we cannot anticipate. The world around us continues to transform and change on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis. What will the future of Church of the Ascension be? Only God knows; we just have to have faith.