Edward Shaughnessy, formerly a chaplain at Mount St. Joseph's Academy in Hartford, was assigned to the mission.

Father Shaugnessy served the parish mission for six years until failing health forced him to retire in 1930.

Over the decade, the town's population jumped by 65%, spurring a rapid growth of Catholicism and the need for more spiritual guidance closer to home than the parish church in Elmwood.

He attributed this growth to the shift from agricultural to industrial employment in Newington and its surrounding suburbs.

Determined to meet the needs of the expanding population once and for all, Father Buckley began a $225,000 capital building fund campaign in October 1955.

Both the school and the convent were dedicated on 2 November 1958 by Archbishop Henry J. O'Brien of the Archdiocese of Hartford.

Just two years later, on 2 April 1967, the new church was dedicated by Archbishop Henry J. O'Brien, who laid the cornerstone and blessed the new structure at 11:30 a.m. surrounded by 1,200 worshipers.

What was once a tiny parish mission in 1920 had now grown into a full-fledged modern complex which would eventually encompass 26 acres and be valued at four million dollars — all in just over four decades.