In 1914, the Redemptorists were looking for a favorable site to establish a convalescent home for senior priests of the Order as well as a central home for missionaries who would preach our unique style of parish missions throughout Pennsylvania and Ohio. Like you, the Redemptorists were very impressed with this area of Lancaster County. They purchased the Willson Estate and renamed it St. Clement's Mission House. Mr. Willson's Estate bred and raised horses on his eighty acre farm. The original mansion and some of the guesthouses and barns still exist. An impressive covered racetrack on the front lawn no longer exists. When the first group of Redemptorist Priests and Brothers arrived, the Bishop of Harrisburg requested that they offer Mass as a convenience to the five or six Catholic families living north of Lancaster City. These Sunday Masses were celebrated in the living room of the mansion, which was converted into the Redemptorist chapel. This chapel still exists and is used by parish groups.
By 1924, the Redemptorists had built a new, larger monastery. The mansion became a house for training of Redemptorist Brothers who farmed and managed the property. The Redemptorists community chapel in the new building became the Parish Church. This chapel is still used occasionally for parish events, but is primarily the private home for tghe Redemptorist community. After much growth and planning a new church on the corner of Pine Street and Church Avenue was dedicated in 1940 in honor of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. The parish now had its own home. Two hundred people could be seated at each Mass. There was a large community room in the basement for parish activities.
Our wise and dedicated forebears erected a parish school in 1956 staffed by the Bernadine Sisters of St. Francis. The Parish Center was built in 1976. We had grown so large that two of the Sunday Masses were celebrated each Sunday in the new gym to relieve overcrowding in the church. In the early nineties, we began to consider a new larger church as growth continued. On January 18, 1994, the accumulation of snow and ice on the roof caused our Parish Center to collapse.
Now we were without a gym, kindergarten, and sufficient space for Sunday Mass! After spirited debate on wether the event was a sign from God to build a church, a larger gym, or expand the school, they decided that it was wisest to do everything. With the united support of parishioners, Bishop Nicholas Dattilo dedicated our new complex of church, offices and meeting rooms, gym and expanded school on December 8, 1995.