Save the St. Mary’s Grammar School Celtic Cross

Dear Alumni, Family, and Friends of St. Mary’s Grammar School,

As many have heard, the Celtic Cross atop the building of our beloved St. Mary’s Grammar School had to be taken down by a large crane due to the integrity of the cross structure being compromised. It became a public safety issue, and we wanted to be proactive in making sure it did not fall and hurt someone passing by or entering or leaving the school property.

As the beacon of hope atop our school welcomed people to the Holy City for about 132 years, many of you have expressed your love and desire to save the Celtic Cross in memory of our holy Dominican Sisters who walked the halls of our school and taught us for almost 150 years. The parish, in conjunction with Gloucester Catholic, has decided to save the cross, fix it, and place it as a memorial to our Sisters in the courtyard between the grammar school and the Dominican Center (convent).

In order to do this the right way, we have a proposal from masons/bricklayers to restore the cross with labor, parts, and the foundation for the memorial to cost approximately $7,500.00. As such, we are asking our alumni of St. Mary’s Grammar School to help us by contributing to the restoration and placement project. Thus far, without any solicitation, we have pledges of $1,500.00.

If you could help us by making a donation of any amount for this project, we will forever be grateful to you as we preserve our school’s history. If you are able to do so, please make your check payable to St. Mary Church and put in the memo “Save the Cross Project.” Please mail or drop off your donation to:

St. Mary’s Rectory
426 Monmouth Street
Gloucester City, NJ 08030

Alternatively, you can click here to make a donation electronically via Parish Giving.

Thank you for your help and support. God bless.

Sincerely,
Fr. George Seiter, Pastor, St Mary’s
Paul Kain, SMS Class of ’78
Dan Spencer, SMS Class of ’74