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Resurrection Parish was founded in 1969 by Bishop Thomas Mardaga.In effort to comply with Vatican II directives, the parish was ableto offer alternatives to those who wanted them. The parish was set upin a way previously unheard of. There would be no geographicalboundaries! People more comfortable with the traditionalchurches could remain in their existing parishes. Others could comefrom the entire region (northern Delaware as well as nearbyPennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey). Our founding pastor, FatherFrank Herron, was enough of a visionary to lead the way. Along withLiturgies in the vernacular (Masses in English) and guitar music inplace of organ, Fr. Herron was pleased to guide the new church in itsway of outreach committment - service to the community at large aswell as service to our own members. This emphasis was so strong thatthere was no attempt at all to begin with a building. To usthe "church" referred to the community of believers, the people, theoriginal connotation dating back to the Greeks and Romans. We wouldbe, for several years, "a church without having a building to put itin." On Sundays for the first two years, we would rent a local gradeschool, Shue School, which ultimately affectionally became dubbed"St. Shue." For the subsequent twelve years, we rented the auditoriumof St. Mark's High School.

One way Fr. Herron developed the community, communication, spiritwithin the parish was to offer coffee and donuts after the Masses.This was quite effective .... people actually stayed and mingledinstead of breaking out into the parking lot! The DonutCounter continues to this day and is considered to be one of ourPARISH and FAMILY LIFE ministries. Many people still stay after theMasses, often long enough to meet others coming in to the followingMass!! Volunteers pick up and serve the donuts, coffee, tea, milk,orange juice and apple juice. As often as practical, the DonutCounter is served by Pastoral Council members as a way to meet andcommunicate with other parishioners.

Fr. Herron also convinced a local apartment complex ("GardenQuarter Apartments") to break out an extra exterior doorway betweentwo adjacent apartments for our parish chapel and office during thesefirst fourteen years. His rectory "pad" was on the second floor justabove the office area. He never expected the parish never to have abuilding, in fact he envisioned a place that might even have aswimming pool and a pool table where people could unwind and unburdenthemselves in a relaxed atmosphere. At the first parish picnic,someone noticed, "Look! There's Fr. Herron wearing shorts!" Thisfeeling of true community, belonging by choice rather than necessityof geographical boundaries has been of utmost strength when extendingoutreach and survival in difficult times (such as losing dedicatedparishioners to surrounding parishes who needed to send theirchildren to parochial schools but Resurrection didn't have one).