Mary, Mother of the Church Parish, was established under the Pastorship of Msgr. James Carr, in the late 1960's, and following the opening of the Walt Whitman Bridge to the South Jersey area. Much of the parish is composed of Italians from South Philadelphia, but it is also enriched by other traditionally Catholic nationalities i.e. Irish and Polish, as well as others. The deeply grounded Catholicity and commitment to family values of "Mary, Mother," has expressed itself in its worship, sharing of the faith, nurturing of the young, reaching out to the immediate community at large, and even in its "fun times".