Since our parish celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2002, St. Patrick's has seen many changes.  In the spring of 2003, we learned that Pope John Paul II had appointed our pastor, Fr. Walsh, as an auxiliary bishop.  Fr. Walsh's ordination as bishop took place on Ascension Thursday, May 29th.  Shortly after his ordination, Bishop Walsh assumed his duties as bishop and as pastor of Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Church in Roosevelt.  St. Patrick's then welcomed its fifth pastor, Msgr. Ellsworth R. Walden, formerly pastor of neighboring parish, St. Thomas Moore in Hauppauge.  Joining Fr. Walden was Fr. Jilson George of India who replaced Fr. Arcoleo who moved on to become associate pastor of St. Ignatius in Hicksville.

Fr. Walden's appointment as pastor came at a critical time.  Construction of our new church had just begun and conversion of the old church into a gymnasium was on the horizon.  While a great deal of money had been raised to fund the construction, the parish faced significant debt.

During the next few months, the new church began to take shape and parishioners participated in several ways.  On July 6th, 2003, parishioners celebrated "Foundation Day".  All were invited to place their names on rocks and place them on the ground beneath the site of our altar.  When the altar itself was in place, the parishioners were invited to place their names on papers that were placed inside the altar.  On September 3rd, 2003, parishioners participated in the "Blessing of the Cornerstone" by signing their names on papers that were placed behind our cornerstone.  Finally, on Saturday, November 15th the new church was dedicated.  Bishop Walsh returned to celebrate the first Mass in the new church.  In the months to follow, the new gym and youth offices were completed as well.

In the years since 2002, St. Patrick's has also taken on a more international flavor.  In addition to Fr. Liu (from China) and Fr. Jilson (from India) other priests from distant shores have taken up residence at St. Patrick's.  Fr. Matthew Ibok and Fr. Donatus lke of Nigeria both resided at St. Patrick's while serving as chaplain at St. Catherine of Sienna Hospital and Nursing Home.  Fr. Anselm Okeke currently serves in that role.  Two priests from the Philippines, Fr. Narsicso Landar and Fr. Jess Enojo, have spent time assisting in our parish.  In describing our rectory, Fr. Walden coined the phrase "IHOP" (International House of Priests).  St. Patrick's also was home to Seminarian Allan Sikorski from September to May of 2005 as he served his pastoral year with us. 

In June of 2005, Fr. Frank Parisi moved on to become pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Malverne and was replaced by Fr. Patrick Riegger, former associate pastor at St. Anne's in Garden City.  On August 15th, 2007, the Feast of the Assumption, the parish suffered the loss of Fr. Vincent Liu who had been at St. Patrick's for 19 years.  Fr. Liu died while in Iceland.

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