The early years: The community Parish of St. Luke emerged from its mother parish, Our Lady of the Mountain, Washington Township. As the area began to grow and develop, the increasing number of new members suggested that a new parish should be formed. Through the generosity of Our Lady of the Mountain, ten acres of land was donated to aid the prospective parish with the construction of the church in the valley.

On January 1, 1982, a group of parishioners formed a task force to research township growth and investigate parishioner attitudes. After months of careful consideration and dialogue with parish members, the parish was officially formed by Bishop Frank Rodimer on October 18, 1982. “St. Luke's Feast Day”.

Rev. Peter J. Doody was named Pastor and celebrated the first mass on the weekend of October 23rd 1982 at the Long Valley Middle School Cafeteria. We soon needed space for God's work along with a home for Fr. Doody and purchased our rectory at 3 Carl Lane on July 14th 1983.

Centrally located in the valley, this private home served as the religious education and parish administrative offices with the garage transformed into a warm and welcoming chapel used for daily mass.  We are a parish created of necessity that has become a family formed by love.  Like early faith communities, the ministries of teaching, healing and worship developed during these initial years have been the embodiment of our faith experiences and the fulfillment of our community's needs.

Building Our Church

The 1984 parish survey defined the image of St. Luke Parish as a community of worshippers bound by a single theme - the willingness to give of our time, talents and resources to support the completion of building our church.  The first mass in our church was held on the weekend of December 2, 1989.