Avenel is a small town in New Jersey. Its population is just over 10,000. It is home to several public and private schools, including Avenel Street School #4&5 and First Presbyterian Church. Avenel also has three religious institutions: Central Baptist Church, St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church, and First Presbyterian Church. The town has direct access to New York City via NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast Line. A 45-minute train ride takes residents to New York Penn Station, where they can take the PATH train to lower Manhattan.
In 1941, the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Andrew was established in Avenel, New Jersey, and incorporated in 1942. In the process of incorporation, two church leaders, the Vicar General of the Diocese, and the Reverend Richard J. O'Farrell, the pastor of Saint James Church in Woodbridge, were witnesses of the new parish. The church was originally named St. Andrew's Church and was dedicated to Saint Andrew, the brother of Saint Peter.
By the 1950s, the population of the town grew beyond the parish's expectations. The parish, founded in 1917, expanded the church and rectory. In 1963, the parish commissioned a new church and addition to the existing one, which cost $245,000 and $18,000, respectively. The parish also celebrated the Second Jubilee Mass on Christmas Eve, with an estimated 2,150 people receiving Confirmation.