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A simple phone call some 50 years ago led Deacon Luke Hally Jr. to become a permanent deacon. A job transfer brought the deacon from Long Island to the Diocese of Metuchen, and he became incardinated, or transferred in a religious sense, to continue serving as a deacon in his new church home.

Like other schools in the Metuchen Diocese, students and faculty at Sts. Philip & James School hold various fundraisers to bolster operating expenses and advancement costs.

The statistics tell the story – and they are significant and sobering. The Diocese of Metuchen has 158 active priests serving 90 parishes, according to Bob McMorrow of the nonprofit Vocation Ministry, which has studied the issue of priest shortages while helping about 50 dioceses nationwide since its formation about a decade ago.

Patricia A. Bell, the new principal at Sts. Philip and James School, Phillipsburg, said God wanted the longtime teacher to return to college and study to become a principal.