St. Lawrence

“ The poor are the real treasures of the Church, by the inestimable gift of their faith
and because they convert our alms into imperishable treasures for us.”
                 St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

History:

The Reverend Edward A. Shamon was appointed first Pastor of St. Lawrence Parish on June 25, 1959.

Sunday, August 30, 1959 the first Mass was celebrated by Father Shamon in temporary facilities located in the Greece Town Hall. The quarters proved immediately to be too small to accommodate the 750 worshippers.

A week later the Sunday masses moved to larger, but still temporary facilities in the basement of Ridgecrest Shopping Center. Parishioners dubbed the area "the Catacombs."

October 1959, ground was broken for the original church structure, which was a blend of Colonial and Gregorian architecture, designed for the most part by Father Shamon. Much of the construction labor was carried out by a 200 man volunteer force, supported by the rest of the congregation through the first St. Lawrence Building Drive.

One year later, on the Feast of Christ the King, October 30, 1960, St. Lawrence parishioners celebrated their first mass in the new structure. The building of a parish hall was then begun.
The Reverend John Murphy was named Pastor in 1962. While ministering to an ever-growing parish community, the parish hall was completed, and a parish school established.

Faced with the challenges of carrying a very rapidly growing parish family into the future, The Rev. Frank Falletta assumed Pastorship in June 1984. Opening a new era in the life of St. Lawrence, Father Falletta initiated a $1.5 million Church and Parish Center Building Program in 1985, which culminated in January 1988 with the addition of a Parish Center, and the completion of the present "new church" in December of 1989. Since that time the church has been expanded to include extra seating for 350 people, bring the current capacity to 1150.

In October 2003, the parish embarked upon another capital campaign drive to add a new parish center attached to the church. With the support and generosity of the parishioners, this project was completed in January 2006, and the new facility was named "Deacon Hall" in honor of our patron St. Lawrence, who was an ordained deacon.

In April 2014, Rev. Frank Falletta, the pastor for 30 years (1984-2014) retired. Rev. Lee Chase, the Parochial Vicar was appointed the Pastoral Administer and assumed parish leadership. He was named Pastor in 2015 and currently serves in that position.