{"id":29,"date":"2017-05-04T14:53:15","date_gmt":"2017-05-04T18:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/st-patricks\/?page_id=29"},"modified":"2017-07-07T11:02:13","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T15:02:13","slug":"a-new-church-for-newarks-catholics","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/st-patricks\/home\/a-new-church-for-newarks-catholics\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Church For Newark’s Catholics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
1850 Print of St. Patrick’s Church
Courtesy of Newark Public Library<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the 1840s, a blight destroyed the potato crop in Ireland.\u00a0 The resultant famine, the \u201cGreat Hunger,\u201d killed more than one million persons and drove more than one and a half million Irish to emigrate.\u00a0 Many came to the United States, thousands to New Jersey and to Newark.\u00a0 By the mid-1840s, there were over 1,500 Catholics in Newark.\u00a0 In 1850 the foreign-born population of New Jersey included over 31,000 Irish, most of them Catholic, and over 10,000 Germans, many Catholics among them.\u00a0 This sudden increase in the Catholic population of Newark strained the facilities of St. John\u2019s Church on Mulberry Street.\u00a0 After proposals to enlarge the church were rejected, Bishop John Hughes of New York authorized Rev. Patrick Moran, pastor of St. John\u2019s Parish, to build a new church.<\/p>\n

Father Moran lived in a Newark that still had large wooded areas watered by brooks and streams.\u00a0 Where St. Patrick\u2019s now stands there was a brook with good fishing.\u00a0 Folks hunted in the hollow along the hill that rises to High Street.\u00a0 Lighting in the homes was provided by candles and kerosene lamps.\u00a0 The streets would not be illuminated until 1852 when gas lighting was installed.\u00a0 Thomas Edison\u2019s invention of the incandescent lamp was 30 years in the future.\u00a0 The horse and wagon were the prevailing mode of transportation in competition with the far from perfected and very expensive steam locomotive.\u00a0 Electric trolleys would not appear until 1888.<\/p>\n

Father Moran immediately set to work.\u00a0 He was not discouraged by the poverty of so many of his flock, recently arrived from Ireland.\u00a0 He trusted in their generosity and would not be disappointed.\u00a0 Father Moran chose the corner of Washington and Nesbitt Streets, now Central Avenue, as the site for the new church.\u00a0 The land was part of the estate of Gen. Thomas Ward and was to be sold at public auction on Oct. 26, 1846.\u00a0Because of prejudice against Catholics, Father Moran feared that, if it were known that the property was wanted as a site for a Catholic church, he would not be able to purchase it.\u00a0 He asked five parishioners to bid separately for the various parcels.\u00a0 They bought most of the land but were outbid on some of the lots by Mr. Norris, a wealthy Protestant, who lived on Washington Place.\u00a0 This situation took an unexpected and happy turn.\u00a0 Father Moran called on Mr. Norris and explained the situation.\u00a0 Norris said that had he known the lots were needed for a new church, he would not have bid on them.\u00a0 He sold the property to Father Moran at cost and also made a generous donation towards the building fund.<\/p>\n

According to some accounts, Father Moran himself drew up the plans for the church.\u00a0 However, scholars have noted that the finished St. Patrick\u2019s resembles the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, designed by architect Patrick C. Keely and completed in 1848.\u00a0 This has led them to attribute the design to Keely.\u00a0 One scholar has written that \u201cit was through the kind interest of Father Patrick Moran that Mr. Keeley (sic) obtained the Newark work which secured for him the drawing up of a design for St. Patrick\u2019s.\u201d\u00a0 Although Moran had designed extensive alterations to St. John\u2019s Church, it is difficult to imagine that a plan as complex as St. Patrick\u2019s could have come from anyone other than a professional architect.\u00a0 It seems likely that Keely drew up the plans, incorporating suggestions from Moran.<\/p>\n

Moran quickly signed a contract with a builder.\u00a0 Disaster struck the week before the bishop was to come to lay the cornerstone.\u00a0 Late one evening word came to the pastor that the contractor had absconded with the funds for the church.\u00a0 Moran was left with bills for lumber, brick, and wages to the workmen.\u00a0 His parishioners quickly raised the necessary money and work on the new church began again.\u00a0 Bishop Hughes laid the cornerstone on Sept. 17, 1848.\u00a0 While Father Moran oversaw the construction, he left all details and fundraising in the hands of his assistant, Rev. Louis Dominic Senez.\u00a0 Father Senez worked tirelessly and the people contributed generously.\u00a0 Finally, the church was completed and Father Senez was named the first pastor of St. Patrick’s Church.<\/p>\n

\u00ab Prologue<\/a> | The Parish<\/a> \u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the 1840s, a blight destroyed the potato crop in Ireland.\u00a0 The resultant famine, the \u201cGreat Hunger,\u201d killed more than one million persons and drove…<\/p>\n

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