Now and Then

The Truth About Christ Church: A Legacy of Piracy in Middletown

A retrospective look at the history of pirates and church from the Red Bank Register's archives

The following column on the history of Christ Church was first published on March 11, 2011. It tells all you wanted to know about our Mysterious Middletown Sightings Tour feature this week and more. Read on ... Middletown is a huge and diverse community with some of the most impressive parks and nature trails, waterfronts and farms, homes and churches in the state. But back in the 1700s it was a new frontier, sparsely populated and, according to an article in the 1935 issue of the Red Bank Register, dependent upon a legacy of piracy.  While scanning the Red Bank Register archives, I came across an article from the New York Times that was reprinted in the Jan. 10, 1935 issue of the Register. The article concerns the early history of Christ …

• Photos (8)

Job Networking Experts Offer Advice

Simple tips to get you employed, from the people who know. Part III in a series about job hunting.

Job networking experts Regina Donohue, a Middletown resident and human resources executive, and Chuck Watson, a financial advisor, spend their free time helping out of work people get their sea legs in a market that makes job seekers queasy. Both run successful job search groups at their churches where they school their community members on everything from perfecting their interview skills to learning to network in the online world. Patch has taken some of their wisdom and boiled it down for you. (Read Part I and Part II of this three-part series.) Get a business card So you don't have a job? That doesn't mean that you don't need business card. A simple, polished card with your name, industry and contact information will give you a quick …

• Photos (1)

Are You LinkedIn with the Church Yet?

Part II in a series about job networking opportunities at area churches

So you're looking for a job. Got your business card ready? Check. LinkedIn profile updated? Check. Resume cleaned-up? Check. Have you been to church? Um, no. Well then, you may be missing a key component to your job search. Many area churches offer free help to get you focused and directed toward your next career - with no religious strings attached. In this, part II of Patch's series on the job search, we'll give a look at one local church helping people get back to work. (Read Part I.) A career reporter and editor, Phil Roura spent most of his 52 year career at the New York Daily News. When his position was phased out recently, he decided to retire, but now he's itching to get back to work. The problem is, he's never had to look for a …

• Photos (1)

Historic Church Celebrates 175 Years

A story of building and rebuilding, adversity and faith

The Dutch Reformed Church of Middletown has a long and abiding history. This year it is celebrating 175 years of ministry on Kings Highway. Cindy Reya, a 29-year church member, is vice president of its governing board, called the consistory. She is an elder of the consistory made up of deacons and elders. "The minister is usually the president; but we don’t have a full-time minister right now, so I’m kind of filling in," Reya said. According to Dotti Jones, former elder and the church's public relations contact, the church has 90 parishioners, 11 of whom have been members for 50 years. There are three buildings that comprise the Reformed Church's property: the church itself, the parsonage and the Christian Education Center. Located in the …

• Photos (3)

Youth Learn Lessons About Hunger and Homelessness at Christ Church

Effort is in conjunction with World Vision Outreach program

Hunger is something that happens to other people in other places, or so it is often be assumed. With the economic hardships of recent times, record unemployment and dangerous weather that is becoming startlingly more common than not, the subject of hunger is becoming something that can’t be ignored. It might have come as a great shock to passers-by of the Christ Episcopal Church, Kings Highway, on Friday to see a shanty town built on the lawn: a row of makeshift dwellings built out of cardboard boxes and a sole pup-tent in the middle. The effort is part of the outreach of World Vision, an organization devoted to confronting world hunger. The 30-Hour Famine program finds youth groups from churches across the country experiencing a day-and-…

•  1 Comment
• Photos (13)