History:

Bishop John M. Smith dedicated our New Church and complex on October 7, 2006.

In 1951, St. Mary's of the Pines was established as a second Mission Church here in Forked River.  At the time there were only 35 Catholic families in the area of Lacey Township. Fr. Alexander A. Burant, Pastor of St. Mary's in Barnegat traveled between the two mission churches.  In 1953, ground was broken for the present church and dedicated on October 17, 1954.  St. Pius X became a parish on June 15, 1961 with Fr. Burant becoming the First Pastor.

Property was acquired in 1962 and a new Rectory was built in 1963.  The first Parish Council was formed in 1969.  Fr. Burant also purchased property across from the Church, this in time would become the Parish Center.

After Fr. Burant fell ill and retired, Fr. William C. Eelman was appointed Pastor in 1972. With Fr. Burant's dream and Fr. Eelman's direction, ground was broken for the Parish Center.  The Center was dedicated September 28, 1974.

Fr. George E. Deutsch was installed as our third Pastor on October 8, 1982. An addition to the rectory, rectory garages and additional classrooms were added to the Parish Center.  The need for the elderly and handicapped Parishioners to attend Mass was addressed and for that purpose All Saints Chapel was dedicated on September 5, 1987.   
For the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Parish the Church was refurbished and re-dedicated on Sunday, November 27th, 1994.

In July of 1997, St. Pius X Church became a Stewardship Parish.  The Parish leadership presented and started to implement Time, Talent and Treasure as a way to serve our parish.

After 17 years of service Fr. Deutsch retires in 1999.  The next Pastor Monsignor John J. Gibbons continues to lead the Parish for the next two years.   Fr. Richard Basznianin is named our fifth Pastor by Bishop John M. Smith on December 24, 2000, and is installed on February 22, 2001.

Our Parish has grown from the original 35 families to over 3000 families.  To provide Pastoral care for a large number of people a new church is needed. Therefore the parish community started to make plans for a new Church Complex. In August 2003, Bishop Smith approves the building of a new Church Complex.  "Embrace the Challenge" is chosen as a slogan for the building campaign.

The 50th Anniversary of the Church was celebrated on October 10, 2004 with an outdoor Mass led by Bishop John M. Smith.  Following the Mass a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Church Complex took place.  This celebration links us all with a wonderful past and even more promising future of the Parish.