Generations of Spirit-filled Christians have echoed Jesus's command to “Go into the whole world and tell the Good News”. Here, in the Somerton section of Philadelphia and areas of adjacent Bucks and Montgomery counties, God saw fit to gather His people into a spiritual community rooted in the love of Christ and neighbor and bound by the Eucharist which we share.
St. Christopher's Parish was founded on November 3, 1950. Before that time, priests from the Maternity B.V.M. Parish served the Catholics of this area in a variety of locations.
In 1914, area Catholics leased an upper room in the sub-station of the twenty-seventh police district. There were forty-three people at the first Mass offered in the Bustleton Avenue sub-station.
In 1916, a three-story house located at Byberry Road and Lewis Street was purchased with funds from generous benefactors and become Saint Edward Chapel. Sixty-seven people were present for the dedication of this chapel.
In 1950, Saint Christopher Parish was canonically established by Cardinal Dennis Dougherty, who appointed the Rev. Christopher L. Purcell as the founding pastor. Thanks to the generosity of the Joseph Trainer family, their quiet, beautiful piece of farmland on Proctor Road would become home to not only the parish church, but subsequently to Saint Christopher School, convent and rectory.
Saint Christopher school was dedicated in September, 1953, and staffed by the loving and dedicated Sisters of Mercy, with Sister May Esther, founding principal and her staff of three sisters and one lay teacher. Saint Christopher School opened its doors to welcome 319 students. Following the construction of the school, the convent was built and dedicated in 1954. In 1999, under the leadership of our present pastor, Monsignor Joseph P. Garvin, the Parish Office was relocated from the rectory to the convent building.
Once the new school and convent were erected, the parish gained even greater momentum. In 1956, the structure now known as Trainer Hall was dedicated as the parish church. A permanent residence for our priests was built in 1958. The present church was built in 1978, under the leadership of the Reverend Joseph F. Smith. The original church was converted to a hall, and re-named as Trainer Hall.
This Parish was dedicated under the patronage of Saint Christopher because the name literally means: “Christ-bearer”, which expresses the common vocation of all who call themselves Christian, to carry Christ within themselves and bring Him to others.
The parish has flourished under the loving and dedicated leadership of the priests of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia with assistance from the Holy Ghost Fathers and the Franciscan Order of Minor. It has been generously served by the Religious Sisters of Mercy, and, in recent history, in collaboration with the Sisters of Saint Francis of Philadelphia, the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth and the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Chestnut Hill.
We are forever grateful for the countless lay men and women who have given selflessly of themselves for the benefit of this parish and for its continued growth during the past half century. Truly, it is the faithful families of Saint Christopher parish, in conjunction with its leaders, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who have taken up the mission of being “Christ-bearers” through their involvement in the sacramental life of the parish, in its many outreach programs and in their commitment to education, faith formation and respect for life at every level.
We, the members of Saint Christopher Parish, stand together in Christian love and proclaim from the bottom of our hearts: “For all that has been...THANKS, and for all that will be...YES.”