MONTGOMERY — The congregation of the St. Charles Borromeo Church on Skillman Road is growing along with the township — and fast, according to the Rev. Gregory E.S. Malovetz.
   "I think as a church community grows, new challenges face it, and I'm pleased to say our parishioners have stepped up to that challenge," the church's pastor said.
   The Rev. Malovetz said parishioners have turned growth into a positive for the church, by becoming more active and creating new outlets for involvement and interaction within the church community. Amid the growth, he said, the main charge of the church continues to be directing the focus of busy parishioners on what is truly important in their lives.
   "We just want to help people to keep thinking, 'What are my priorities? What are the things that really last and, at the end of the day, what really matters?'" he said.
   The church received preliminary and final approval from the Township Planning Board on Monday to increase the size of its parking lot, according to board Chairman Richard LeTard. It also received preliminary approval for a 19,800-square-foot expansion to the church, which will more than double its floor space of 18,295 square feet.
   Mr. LeTard said the church received a variance to allow the parking lot to exceed the lot coverage permitted. It can begin construction on the parking lot right away, he said, but will have to wait for approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection for a sewer expansion before it can start the building addition. This could take about a year, Mr. LeTard said.
   The Rev. Malovetz said the expansion would be used for new offices, meeting rooms, a parish center and a meeting room and offices for the youth ministry.
   "What we're doing now is we're using the church for meetings, and we really don't want to be doing that because it's really for worship," he said.
   In 1989, St. Charles of Borromeo had about 600 families, the Rev. Malovetz said. At that time, the church was located in a small building in Rocky Hill, and rented space at Montgomery High School for masses. Now, he estimates 1,700 families belong to the church.
   The Skillman Road building was dedicated and consecrated in 1993, and shortly thereafter, the congregation began to outgrow its building, the reverend said.
   "I think our greatest period of growth came at that time," he said. "That's when a lot of these housing developments really blossomed."
   With the growth, he said, parishioners and new members started becoming more involved and creating new avenues to meet church members and to participate.
   The church has a very active social ministry group including a very large youth group with a full-time youth minister, a summer religious education program with about 200 children, and a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade religious education program that has over 1,000 children, the pastor said.
   "My feeling is that it is both a blessing and a challenge," the Rev. Malovetz said of the growth. "People bring with them many gifts and talents. The people really enrich our community and enrich parish life. The challenge is ... how do we try as hard as we can to really keep that feeling of community and (keep) people not feeling disconnected from the church?"
   A main factor that helps people continue to feel connected to the church, according to the Rev. Malovetz, is that church members are moving up to leadership positions. Several members have become lay leaders, and one parishioner became a permanent deacon, the pastor said.
   The parishioners' involvement has helped the main focus of the church to remain the same, according to the Rev. Malovetz, and no amount of growth will change this. A main concern will be ministering to people who have generally busy lives and are actively involved in their communities outside the church.
   "We want people to honor God and serve God, and it's a challenge with busy people," the Rev. Malovetz said.
   The growth of the parish should not affect the mission, the Rev. Malovetz said.
   "It's sort of like a family that decided to put another addition on the house because all of a sudden they have a few more members living in the house. They're not going to change anything. They're still going to go on being a family."

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