100th anniversary of St. Bernard’s on New Street

SHARON — St. Bernard’s Church is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of the current church on New Street. 

The event will be held on Sunday, June 14, beginning with a Mass at 10:30 a.m. by Archbishop Leonard Blair of the Archdiocese of Hartford. 

After that there will be a reception in the church meeting room with light refreshments. Ed Kirby and Tom Bartram will share some of the church’s history. Bartram’s family goes back five generations in Sharon. His grandparents were married in the church’s rectory in 1915, the year the church opened. 

A ceremony will also be held to dedicate the church hall in honor of the late Josephine Ann “Josie” Simoncelli, who has been referred to as St. Bernard’s royalty for all the work she did for the church. She died on April 20.

The history of the church extends back to the 1880s, when the Rev. William Sheridan led the establishment of the church between the village of Sharon and what was then the industrial Sharon Valley. 

The site on Sharon Valley Road was a half mile from the town Green and from the Sharon Valley Iron Company homes. It was also close to the Catholic cemetery, which had been designated nearly 30 years earlier. 

The church was made of wood and was built with the help of parishioners for a price of $2,400 (with a $91 price tag for the building lot). It was finished in 1895.

It was small, with pews for roughly 50 people. Catholics weren’t popular in Sharon at the time and were treated poorly by those of other denominations. Nonetheless, the parish grew to more than a hundred worshippers. 

St. Bernard’s got its first resident pastor in 1896: the Rev. James T. Walsh. On July 12, 1897 the Right Reverend M. Tierney, D.D., Bishop of Hartford Diocese administered the first communion within the newly built church.

In the early years of the 20th century, the Rev. A. J. Plunkett was named pastor of St. Bernard’s. He felt it made more sense to move the church closer to the center of town, especially as the iron industry was petering out and dairy farming was becoming the town’s main industry. Sharon was also, at around this time, becoming a popular vacation and second-home destination for New York City residents.

After several sites were considered, the church was eventually moved to New Street. The official groundbreaking was on April 12, 1915. Work was done by parishioners including Richard Murtaugh Sr. (grandfather of Jack Murtaugh, longtime owner of the Sharon Package Store), who dug the cellar using a horse-drawn scoop. 

The cornerstone was dedicated June 1, 1915.

After roughly five months of work, the structure was completed and officially dedicated on Sept. 19, 1915.

 The total cost of construction was $12,500. Contributions came from both Catholics and non-Catholics. 

The rectory next door was renovated in 1919 and was funded by the sale of the Sharon Valley church.

An organ was installed in 1920, the basement was turned into a meeting hall in 1924, and new altars were installed in 1957.

In 1990, an antique bell was donated to the church by William F. and Patricia Buckley. In the beginning it was rung manually, using a rope that extended down into the choir loft. Later, the bell was electrified and is now rung by pushing a button.

The Rev. Francis Fador, who has led the church since October 2002, has a congregation of roughly 200 households.