Upon the founding of the Diocese of Camden in December 1937, Most Reverend Bartholomew J. Eustace, the first Bishop of Camden, set out to support and strengthen the Catholic Church’s presence in Southern New Jersey. 

In 1940, Bishop Eustace incorporated the Church of the Incarnation as a mission Church of Our Lady Queen of Peace, Pitman. During those early mission days, in the absence of a Church, priests celebrated Mass for the parishioners of Incarnation in the Mantua Volunteer Fire Hall on Main Street. 

After years of ham and oyster or spaghetti and chicken dinners, card parties, carnivals, bingo games, and other fundraisers, the parishioners of Incarnation broke ground for a 200 seat Church on Shadow Place in April 1948. This Church was dedicated in January 1949. In February 1956, the rectory was constructed next to the Church. 

On June 12, 1956, the Roman Catholic Church of the Incarnation, Mantua was established as a Parish. The Parish was to serve the people of Mantua Township, Wenonah, Clarksboro, Mickleton and Mount Royal.

By 1970, the Parish had grown so much that the existing facilities no longer met the needs of the people. The Parish constructed a Hall on Main Street to provide a place where greater numbers of parishioners might gather. In particular, it was to be used for most weekend Masses and to celebrate other social events. With eight classrooms, the Hall further enabled the Parish to educate the children of our Parish in their faith. Today, more than 1,000 children attend Incarnation’s Religious Education classes.

As farmlands disappeared and housing developments emerged, the population of Incarnation Parish steadily increased under the guidance of dedicated pastors, religious and parishioners. An addition made to the rear of the rectory in 1997 provided greater office space for the personnel who serve our parishioners. The culmination of this growth occurred on August 2, 2002 when our Parish dedicated a 1,000 seat Church on Main Street.

Incarnation Parish reached another milestone in late April of 2009, when we registered our 3,000th family, and we continue to grow each week. To meet the demands of this growth, an addition to the Parish Hall was constructed for more office and meeting space. The Kernan Center was dedicated on April 18, 2010, honoring Msgr. Eugene Kernan, our dedicated pastor from 1961-1978. All Parish activity now occurs on our Main Street campus.

Since 1940, the Incarnation Parish family has changed as the world in which we live has changed, but our faith has remained constant. Our prayer as a Parish family is that everything we do which begins with God’s inspiration be aided by His grace and reach perfection according to His will.