St. Bernadette, Harrington

Transportation was not as widespread as it is today, and offering Mass for this community in a regular, continuous manner was not easy. Mass was sometimes offered in Harrington at the Newman Hotel, as early as 1900, or in private homes by priests from Holy Cross in Dover. When the first resident pastor was assigned to St. John the Apostle in 1912, Mass was said monthly in various locations for the residents of Harrington. For a time, instead of bringing the priest to the Harrington Hotel a bus was supplied for the people to come to Milford. This arrangement did not last long as the bus fell into disrepair and the number of privately owned cars increased. Still, the faithful of Harrington and its surrounding environs yearned for a spiritual home of their own.

At that time, Catholics were not widely accepted in Harrington and found it difficult to obtain land on which to build a church of their own. They were approached by a local merchant Mr. Harry Greenberg, who graciously offered to purchase the land on their behalf. True to his word, he secured the 20-acre property at auction for $4,950 on September 6, 1952. He resold the property to the budding Catholic community for the same price; Saint John the Apostle supplied the funds for the purchase.

The Most Reverend Edmond J. FitzMaurice, fourth Bishop of Wilmington, gave permission for a cinder-block building to be erected after the families had promised to erect and pay for the building themselves. Ground was broken on November 23, 1952 and parishioners formed a crew and started digging the foundation. By Easter of 1953, the structure was ready for its roof and roofers were contracted. Until this point, there had been no hired workmen, but parishioners worked together. As most of them were farmers, work slowed during the spring to allow them to tend to their farms.

The church was ready for its dedication on September 6, 1953, one year after the land was purchased. By April of 1954, Saint John's church was repaid the $4,950 for the cost of the land.

In subsequent years, parishioners erected a hall for social occasions which included classrooms for Religious Education. In 2008 funds were raised for a grotto depicting St. Bernadette's encounter with Our Lady of Lourdes. Most recently, as part of the Sustaining Hope for the Future Capital Campaign, air conditioning has been installed in the hall.

At this time, St. Bernadette, together with St. John the Apostle, supports close to 1,400 families in lower Kent County and upper Sussex County and is served by two priests and three deacons.