Our founding pastor was Fr. James A. Donnelly. Fr. Donnelly stayed through the founding/building phases of our parish, as the cornerstone for the ‘Old Church’ was laid in 1949, and our rectory built in 1951, followed by the Original Church building. At that time, we saw the arrival of our second pastor, Father Francis S.J. Carberry.

Father Carberry was instrumental in the establishment of our parish school in 1951 with two Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, (IHMs), to be our founding faculty. Classes started in the basement of the original church building with 57 students and partitions separating classrooms. More on the school in our next edition. After a five-year stay, Father Carberry was succeeded by Father Thomas W. McGuire.

Father McGuire was with us from 1957 through June of 1972. He was the first of three long-term pastors at St. Joseph. Father McGuire lead us for 15 years. and was instrumental in the growth of the parish to over 700 families. For the next almost 50 years we were blessed to have two wonderful pastors who led us through the 20th century and into the 21st .

Father Harry Degnan arrived in June of 1972 and retired 24 year later in June of 1996. Father Degnan was no stranger to the area, having previously served on the faculty of Saint James Catholic High School in Chester. Under Father, soon to be Monsignor, Degnan’s leadership, we approached the phenomenal number of 2,000 families. The school continued to grow with two additional classrooms and a front entrance for faculty and administrative office space. Monsignor Degnan led our capital campaign for the building of our parish hall, now named in his honor. It was under Monsignor Degnan’s leadership that the parish also became the beneficiary of a major donation by the Holefelder family, which was the initial financial resource for the building of our beautiful ‘New Church’.

In 1996, Father Robert C. Vogan was named to succeed Msgr. Degnan. Fr. Vogan, who at the time held the post of Vice-Chairman of the Archdiocesan Building Committee, was sent to Aston to build our new church. He did a magnificent job. The Church was completed and dedicated on September 16, 2,000 and consecrated by Archbishop Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua. It was under Father, now Monsignor, Vogan’s leadership that we grew to our highest registered membership number of over 2,200 families and close to 8,000 individuals under his leadership. Monsignor Vogan retired in June of 2021 after 24 years of faithful leadership that featured not only our new Church, but the transition from our parish school of Saint Joseph to Holy Family Regional Catholic School.  The school includes students from three neighboring parishes.  In June of 2021, Monsignor Vogan was succeeded by Monsignor J. Brian Bransfield.

Monsignor Bransfield, who has a Doctorate in Sacred Theology and brings a wealth of Theological and Scriptural knowledge to our parish. His administrative background, having served as General Secretary for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, DC for over a decade, also adds to his leadership credentials.

It is Monsignor Bransfield, along with a talented committee, headed by Debbie Anderson and Barbara Arena, who are spearheading our ‘Diamond Anniversary’ Celebration, with a number of parish events, which will culminate with the celebration of our 11:30 AM Sunday Liturgy on October 30th of this year. Principal Concelebrant and homilist for that Mass will be Archbishop Nelson Perez, the Archbishop of Philadelphia. So… in the 75 years that we have been this Parish… this Church of Saint Joseph in Aston… we have been very blessed with just six pastors, three of whom served for a combined total of 63 of our 75 years. These wonderful Good Shepherds have lead us closer to the Heart of Jesus for all of the 75 years our parish has existed.