The Many, Varied, and Often Unique, Apostolates of St. John’s Parish

In the 1830s, Newark and St. John’s grew rapidly. Newark became a city, the Morris Canal (now partly Raymond Boulevard and partly the route of the Newark Light Rail) and two railroads began operations, oil lamps lighted the streets, two constables kept the peace, whaling ships sailed into the port, and President Andrew Jackson came to visit.

Father Patrick Moran was the perfect pastor (1833-1866) for this time. He was a man of superior intellect and great energy. He served as his own architect, several times expanding the church. He established many parish societies, as well as a 1,300-volume lending library in 1835, the first circulating library in Newark 13 years before the city founded its first library. He established a parish school and a Sunday School. He was the moving force behind the building of nearby St. Patrick’s Parish, later the pro-cathedral. He installed chimes in the towers of St. John’s that pealed as soldiers marched down Mulberry Street on their way to trains that would take them to the battlefields of the Civil War. Moran cared for wounded soldiers at an army hospital in a factory near the Passaic River. He watched as Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train briefly stopped in Newark.

Newark historian John T. Cunningham wrote that “Father Moran was probably the most vocal, energetic and influential clergyman in the city before the Civil War…ranking with the Rev. Aaron Burr (founder of Princeton University and father of the notorious Vice President Aaron Burr), and the Rev. George Alex Macwhorter (a Revolutionary War patriot who counselled General Washington), among the most memorable of early church figures.”

Moran died in 1866 and his successors guided the parish through the following decades, adding the usual appurtenances of an active parish and expanding the church building. In 1879, a new parochial school was built and placed under the direction of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chestnut Hill. The sisters served the school until dwindling enrollment forced its closure in 1928. In addition, the parish sponsored a commercial school to train young men in skills that enabled them to obtain gainful employment.

The original founders of St. John’s were mostly Irish immigrants. After the Civil War, large numbers of Italian immigrants came to Newark, many landing from New York at the Mulberry Street dock across the road from the church. In March 1882, at St. John’s Church, the first Mass for Italian immigrants in the Newark diocese was celebrated. Newark Bishop Winand Wigger ordered a temporary chapel to be created for them in the St. John’s School Hall. The bishop assigned Rev. Alberigo Vitali to serve the Italian immigrants. Over the next few years, St. Lucy’s, St. Rocco’s, and Mount Carmel parishes were founded in Newark to serve the Italian population.

In the late 19th century, the parish counted about 1,000 families. But, as the 20th century progressed, homes and apartments disappeared as the area around St. John’s became more industrial. The number of people who lived in the parish dwindled almost to nothing. The parish schools closed, and parish societies languished. As Newark changed, St. John’s renewed its mission of evangelization and adjusted its strategies of service.

1908
50th Anniversary of Consecration of St. John’s Church

This milestone occasioned the publication of Paul V. Flynn’s History of St. John’s Church – 1908. The following, taken from the first pages of this work, illustrates the triumphal character of the celebration, especially when contrasted to the humble beginnings of the parish.

HISTORY OF ST. JOHN’S CHURCH

CHAPTER 1
Golden Jubilee of the Consecration

Sunday, May 10th, 1908, will ever be regarded as a Red Letter Day in the annals of Catholicity in the Diocese of Newark, because of the dual event – the Golden Jubilee of the Consecration of St. John’s Church, in Mulberry Stret, Newark, and the Eighty-second year of the founding of the Parish. Then and now! What remarkable changes have taken place! How wonderful the progress made! How important the results achieved!

St. John’s Church never presented a more gala appearance. From the towers and apex of the sacred edifice floated the Stars and Stripes. The Papal Colors, Irish flags, and Dutch flags, had also a prominent part in the beautiful decorations. Upon the front were draped America flags. The Papal coat of Arms was hung over the main portal of the edifice and on the left of the entrance were the figures “1826,” and on the right of the entrance “1908” – representing respectively the year of the organization of the Parish and that of the Golden Jubilee of the Consecration of the Church. The Rectory, the Convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph and the School buildings were also beautifully decorated. Many of the houses of parishioners, not only in the vicinity of the Church but throughout the Parish, were decorated with American flags. The celebrant of the Jubilee Mass, the officiating Priest at Vespers and the Preachers were natives of St. John’s Parish and had the regenerating water of Baptism poured upon their heads at the Baptismal Font which had been designed and constructed by Father Moran. The Deacon of the Mass was also baptized at this font.

Solemn high Mass, coram Pontifice, was celebrated by the Rev. Matthew J. Farley, of St. Joseph’s, Jersey City; assisted by Rev. William J. Richmond, Rector of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Newark, as Deacon; Rev. Louis Kusters, of the Diocese of Seattle, Sub-Deacon, and the Very Rev. Father Ernest, O.S.B., of St Mary’s Abbey, Master of Ceremonies. Right Rev. John J. O’Connor, D.D., Bishop of Newark, occupied the Throne, and he was attended by Rev. Maurice P. O’Connor, Rector of holy Cross, Harrison, as Arch-Priest; Rev. Joseph M. Nardiello, M.R., Rector of the Sacred Heart, Bloomfield, and Rev. Michael A. McManus, LL.D., Rector of St. Aloysius, Newark, were Deacons of Honor; and Rev. Joseph O’Connor, of the Immaculate Conception Seminary, Seton Hall, was Assistant Master of Ceremonies. In the Sanctuary were Very Rev. Dean Cody, Rector of St. James; Very Rev. Francis A Gaffney, O.P, S.T. L., Rector of St. Antoninus; Rev. H.A. Poels, D.D., of the Catholic University, Washington; Rev. Eugene P. Carroll, Rector of St. Bridget’s, Newark; Rev. Joseph M. Perotti, Rector of St. Lucy’s, Newark; Rev. E. A. Degnan, O.S.B.; Rev. Father Charles, C.P., and Rev. James P. Poels, the Rector of St. John’s. The musical program was rendered by the regular choir of St. John’s assisted by the Mazzi Orchestra; and the organist was Miss Katherine M. Teeling. The programme was as follows:

Prelude
Lauda Zion
Lambilotte

Kyrie, Gloria, and Agnus Dei
Capacci

Veni Creator
Decis Monti, with violin and organ
sung by Mrs. E. Maloney

Benedictus and Sanctus
Giorza’a Fifth Mass

Postlude
March Militaire
Schubert

The Printers’ Mass

The 20th century was a challenging time for St. John’s parish. However, as the neighborhood and the city parish changed, the parish adapted. As it continued to adjust, “for better, for worse” it continued to serve, often in a novel and very imaginative manner.

A notation in the Trustees Minutes reads: “On this 5th day of August 1917, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated for the first time in St. John’s Church at 1:30 A.M. …The Rev. Michael Corcoran being the celebrant.”

From then on until the early 1970s, St. John’s offered a “Printers’ Mass” at this time for those men leaving their jobs after finishing the Sunday newspaper. Not only printers attended this Mass but also railroad and postal workers, police officers and firefighters, brewery workers and saloon keepers. Even some of the employees from the nearby burlesque halls came to appreciate the early-morning Mass. Party-going revelers were also known to take advantage of this opportunity to fulfill their Sunday Mass obligation.

This Mass was the result of the initiative and resolute work of Father Corcoran (pastor 1914-1925). Before initiating this apostolate, he obtained the permission of Bishop O’Connor of Newark, who sent the request to the Holy See’s Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments. The Sacred Congregation replied affirmatively, allowing this divergence from the canon law regulating the times of the day when Mass could be celebrated.

The Printers’ Mass was an example of St. John’s adapting to changing circumstances. The neighborhood was no longer residential but industrial with many businesses and offices as well. St. John’s adapted its liturgical schedule to meet the needs of this new and transient population. Through the years, the decades, and the centuries, many would gaze in awe at the parish’s continued survival!

1920s and 1930s

Scattered records refer to additions to the rear of Saint John’s Church and the addition of the side chapel. However, they do not give exact dates, nor do they include descriptions or pictures of the changes. From some pictorial records we can conclude that a passageway was constructed linking the rectory to the church, probably in the 1930s, when the side chapel was added. Major changes were made to the sanctuary in the late 1960s, and perhaps earlier as well.

This drawing, which probably dates to the mid-1920s, shows the commercial school in the rear and the addition to the rear of the church. It also shows no connection between the rectory and the church and the rectory itself appears smaller.

In the right rear of the church is a two-story building that housed the commercial school run by the parish for many years. In the 1930s, it was partially demolished and converted into the side chapel that continues to serve the church. In the rear of the church the addition that became the sacristy can be seen as well.

Sunday Call, December 25, 1932

St. John’s Triumph

John Quincey Adams sat in the White House and Newark’s population of 7,000 included hundreds who had survived the Revolution, when St. John’s Roman Catholic Parish, the first in Newark, was established in 1826. Two years later it dedicated its church, which has several times been enlarged.

This Christmas morning of 1932 marks the completion of the building’s third enlargement. The passage of more than a hundred Christmas Days finds the locale of the little church on Mulberry street altered beyond the recognition of its first parioshioners. Then a pastoral region, with meadows sloping genty to the river, it is now a jumble of warehouses, factories and railroad track. Gone are the old families, gone the quaint homes which lined the narrow little streets of the neighborhood.

But St. John’s triumphantly survives. No longer a parochial edifice, St. John’s, by adapting itself to the needs of modern life, has become a church attended by Catholics of Essex, Hudson and Union.

Early morning mass and mass at noon on Sundays and holy days and other services during business hours has filled a need, the value of which is shown by the large throngs which attend.

This short notice in the Sunday Call in 1932 marked the completion of another renovation and enlargement of St. John’s. The notice is strange in that it erroneously indicates that it no longer is a “parochial edifice.” Hoewver, it recognizes that St. John’s continued to serve the Catholic people and was well attended.

121st Anniversary Program

The parish was struggling but Father Kelly (pastor, 1925-1956) was determined to move forward and he encouraged the parishioners to take pride in their church. Renovation again was in order. A concert and dance would help raise the needed funds. The 121st might not be the typical anniversary year, but Father Kelly decided to have a fund-raising party anyhow. Perhaps such original fund-raising efforts of this very genial pastor tell us why a few years later he was made a monsignor, and a Right Reverend Monsignor at that!

St. John’s struggled through the “Roaring Twenties,” the Depression, and the Second World War under Father Kelly’s care and leadership. Unfortunately, residential housing deteriorated or was demolished for various government projects. While the number of parishioners declined, the church continued to offer a schedule of Masses and services to the commuters who frequented the businesses and factories in the neighborhood.

Located across the street from the diocesan headquarters, the Chancery Office, the rectory hosted numerous diocesan officials as residents. The best known and most loved was Bishop Joseph A. Costello, who lived at St. John’s until he was named auxiliary bishop of Newark, and later appointed pastor of St. Peter’s Church in Belleville.

The problems of the cities in the mid-20th century United States affected St. John’s. However, its spirit never flagged. This article from the Newark Sunday News gives us a look into the parish amid turmoil and change.

Once again, it appeared that after the urban unrest of the “Newark Riots,” the future of the parish might again be in doubt. At this moment in the life of the parish, the pastor decided to renovate the church to boost morale. A renovation is a statement of hope for the future. This renovation at this time and some later changes were based on a flawed belief that it was necessary to reduce church decoration to a bare minimum. Unfortunately, many of these renovations often left churches pale and bare where before they had been colorful and attractive.

In 1969, Monsignor McGrath (pastor, 1966-1969) oversaw an extensive renovation of the interior of the church. The April 20, 1969, Newark Sunday News describes the transformation of the church interior.

Venerable St. John’s Keeps Up to Date

Newark Sunday News – April 20, 1969

The most recent renovation, completed just before Easter, includes several coats of paint, a shiny refinishing of the church’s sturdy pews, and a brightening of two huge paintings.

However, the most significant change, and the one which caused a few raised eyebrows, was the switch in altars. The stately, 120-year-old altar designed by one of the first pastors and carved as a miniature reproduction of the outside façade of the church, is in the cellar. It was replaced by a starkly simple, wooden altar which resembles a modern dining room table.

Msgr. Patrick D. McGrath, administrator of St. John’s, said the old altar will be saved and hopefully replaced in another part of the church.

Perhaps the most distinguishing thing about St. John’s is that the parish in recent years must be the smallest in the state, with exactly twelve parishioners. And even this figure was just recently reached when the St. John’s sexton, his wife, and four children moved into the church-owned home on the parish property which used to serve as a convent.

The rock bottom in ordinary church services should come soon. Last year, for instance, there were only two weddings and two baptisms performed in St. John’s. However, Msgr. McGrath points out, the historic parish is self-sustaining. And, as seen in the very fact that $6,000 was just spent in redecorations, there is no intention of closing the church…

Despite the lack of parishioners, Msgr. McGrath points out that the two daily Masses and five Sunday Masses are well attended by businessmen from the area and “sentimental” former parishioners…and Msgr. McGrath says that they are “very generous.”

The pictures above show that the two doors on either side of the altars were closed and replaced with doors in the side walls leading to the sacristy. At some point the upper portion of the rear wall was opened and stained glass installed. Perhaps this took place in the mid-1930s when the two-story commercial school was partially demolished and transformed into the side chapel and the sacristy added.

The pastorate of Monsignor McGrath (1966-1969) was followed by the short tenures of Rev. Thomas J. Leahy (1969-1971) and Rev. Thomas J. Finnegan (1971-1972).

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