About Saint Mark the Evangelist Catholic Parish in Fort Pierce, Florida:
Archbishop William D. Borders, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando, erected/established St. Mark the Evangelist on March 11, 1972. In the early days, weekend Masses were celebrated at the Knights of Columbus Hall on U.S. #1 and at nearby St. Anastasia’s Catholic School auditorium. Father Dolan, with about 600 households in the parish, led parishioners on a door-to-door census to seek donations to build a multi-purpose church/social hall. The first services were held in the new building on Easter 1974 (April 14).
A second fund drive was spearheaded by Father Dolan to complete the building project.
Then, a third fund drive took place to fund the construction of a new Social Hall, which was completed in 1978, when the entire space of the church was given over to worship services.
In the summer of 1979 the 48 year-old Irish-born Reverend Richard Murphy was named as the second pastor, while Father. Dolan was assigned as pastor of St. Lucie Parish, Port St. Lucie. Without approaching parishioners for funds, Fr. Murphy, who served as the Dean of the Northern Deanery after the new diocese of Palm Beach was created in October 1984, built a new rectory on parish property in 1985.
After serving twenty-two years as pastor, Fr. Murphy retired in the summer of 2002. Thirty-seven year-old Father Thomas Barrett, a native-born Floridian, was assigned as the third pastor. Fr. McNally completed the construction of the Marian Shrine, which was dedicated on January 1, 2006 and a hundred-year-old marble statue of Mary was installed on December 8, 2006.
In the Summer of 2007 the Social Hall interior was reappointed and the kitchen re-supplied. A generous benefactor made possible the re-paving of the parking lot and the landscaping of the property in the Fall of 2007. On November 3, 2007, the first capital campaign in the parish in over thirty years began. The purpose of “We the Parish Campaign ‘08″ was to raise $350,000 for the refurbishment of the church interior in the Summer of 2008. Work began on refurbishment on June 2, 2008, meanwhile the parish’s worship space moved to the Social Hall. By the end of the “Campaign ‘08″ on July 31, the parish raised over $400,000 for the project, which was completed sometime in mid-September 2008.
Throughout most of the parish’s history, religious women served the parish as religious educators and ministers to the elderly and home-bound. In the Fall of 1973, Fr. Dolan invited two Adrian Dominicans to the parish, Srs. John Baptist Dowd and Claire Daniel Watson (Sr. Jane Irene Hutton followed thereafter), who remained until retiring in 1999. They were replaced by two other Adrians, Srs. Francis Elizabeth and Mary Jean, both of whom remained until the Summer of 2006, when they transferred to their congregation’s regional headquarters in West Palm Beach.
From the beginning, laity have taken an active role in parish life. Over 250 people volunteered to assist in various ministries in the parish by 1974. Early parish organizations included the Thrift Shop, which continues today. Throughout its history the parish maintained a considerable ministry to the elderly. It serves the sick by visiting the 374-bed Lawnwood Hospital, three nursing homes, and the homebound.
Today approximately fifty-percent of the registered parishioners are over 65 years of age. Meanwhile, the youth of the parish are not neglected, with a CCD program, youth altar servers, and a Parish Youth Group was recently started again in 2019. In April 2015 the Finance Council asked the Graduating Seniors’ Scholarship be renamed the Francis I. McNally Memorial Scholarship, in honor of the pastor’s mother who was a parishioner here and a life-long advocate of young people. She died on February 28, 2015, and a scholarship fund was established in her name.
Traveling to Saint Mark the Evangelist Catholic Parish in Fort Pierce, Florida:
Address: 1924 Zephyr Avenue Fort Pierce, FL 34982
Phone: +1 (772) 461-8150/After Hours Emergency # +1 (772)577-9700
Fax: +1 (772) 464-2367
E-mail: stmarks1924@gmail.com
Visit the official website of Saint Mark the Evangelist Catholic Parish in Fort Pierce, Florida.