Father Selvester welcomed as ninth pastor in South Amboy parish

The new pastor of St. Mary, Star of the Sea Parish, South Amboy, understands that sudden change can be difficult for a parish.

Father Guy W. Selvester was installed by Bishop James F. Checchio as ninth pastor Oct. 29, the first new pastor in 26 years. And even though his nature is to make changes quickly, he’s building trust by taking time to get to know his parishioners and for them to get to know him before initiating anything new.

“Some people embrace change, and others are more suspicious of it,” he said. “It’s my job to see that all of them are happy.”

One change he has made, however, is to reassert the canonical name of the parish that it was given when it was erected in 1851: St. Mary, Star of the Sea. It had become known colloquially as simply St. Mary’s.

Its given name is beautiful, and using it differentiates it from other churches called St. Mary’s, said Father Selvester, noting that it is the only St. Mary, Star of the Sea Church in the Diocese of Metuchen. It is located only a few blocks from Raritan Bay.

Use of the original name has been received well by parishioners, he said, though many continue to refer to it as St. Mary’s.

Father Selvester, 59, was born and raised in Old Bethpage, N.Y., and attend both Catholic and public schools. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. Francis University in Loretto, Pa., then became a Benedictine monk at St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pa., and entered its seminary, earning a Master of Divinity degree in 1990 from St. Vincent Seminary.

But before he took final vows, he decided to leave monastic life and study for the diocesan priesthood. He worked for a year in security at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in N.Y. before entering the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, N.Y., to study for his home diocese of Rockville Center. From there he earned a master’s in theology with a concentration in liturgy.

Because most of his family had left Long Island, “I wasn’t home anymore” there, he said. Priest friends from the Diocese of Metuchen encouraged him to consider serving that Diocese, and he was accepted into the formation program in 1995.

After a year at Pope John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Mass., he was ordained to the priesthood on Sept. 27, 1997, at the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi in Metuchen.

Father Selvester has served various parishes in the Diocese, most recently at St. Joseph Parish in Washington. From 1998-2002 he was the host and moderator of the diocesan radio program, “Proclaim the Good News.”

A former dean of the Morris Canal Deanery, since 2017 he has been serving as diocesan director of ecumenical and interfaith affairs.

He was “quite delighted” to be assigned to St. Mary, Star of the Sea Parish, noting that the members of his family have moved back to Long Island, so it’s a shorter distance to drive to see them. His mother, Patricia, is 93, and he wants to spend as much time as he can with her.

Since he arrived in the parish in September — a busy time for parishes as religious education programs get underway — he has “hit the ground running, which is fine,” he said.

He has been getting to know the parish of about 800 registered families and how it has been run and meeting parishioners. “It behooves a pastor to get to know the parish,” he said. “People can’t just instantaneously make changes. I have to respect that. The parish is theirs.”

Father Selvester does think about refurbishing the interior of the church, the last major refurbishment of which was about 40 years ago, he said. But that “is in the long view.”