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Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village

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The Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village is a Roman Catholic parish church located at 365 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) at the corner of Washington Place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Constructed in 1833–1834, it is the oldest church in New York City specifically built to be a Roman Catholic sanctuary.[1][2][notes 1]

Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village
St. Joseph's Church, Greenwich Village
Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village is located in Lower Manhattan
Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village
Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village
Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village is located in New York City
Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village
Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village
40°43′57.4″N 74°0′1.8″W / 40.732611°N 74.000500°W / 40.732611; -74.000500
Location365 Sixth Avenue,
Greenwich Village, New York City
DenominationCatholic Church
Religious instituteOrder of Preachers
Websitestjosephgv.nyc
History
StatusParish church
Founded1829
Architecture
StyleGreek Revival
GroundbreakingJune 10, 1833
Administration
ArchdioceseArchdiocese of New York
DeanerySouth Manhattan

History

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St. Joseph's Parish was founded by Bishop John Dubois in 1829.[3] At the time St. Joseph's Parish began, the population of New York, numbering 203,000, was concentrated in the southern half of Manhattan. Early church records indicate that St. Joseph's first congregants were predominantly Irish-Americans. The parish boundaries stretched from Canal Street to 20th Street, and from Broadway to the Hudson River. As additional parishes were created, St. Joseph's boundaries were trimmed, spanning from Houston Street to 14th Street, and from University Place to Hudson Street.[4]

 
The Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village photographed around 1860

St. Joseph's was the sixth parish to be established in Manhattan, among those still in existence in the Archdiocese of New York. The five parishes that preceded it were St. Peter's on Barclay Street (1785), St. Patrick's Old Cathedral on Mulberry Street (1809), St. Mary's on Grand Street (1826), St. James on Oliver Street (1827) and Transfiguration on Mott Street (1827).[4]

After several years in a rented hall at Grove and Christopher Streets,[4] the cornerstone of the present church was laid on June 10, 1833. The church was designed by John Doran in the Greek Revival style,[1][2][5][6] but it has been extensively renovated over the years. Two fires, one in 1855 and the other in 1885, caused extensive damage to the interior. Renovations after the second fire were supervised by Arthur Crooks.[1][2] The interior of the church was restored in 1972. At the time, a fresco of the Transfiguration, after Raphael's original in the Vatican, was discovered under layers of paint and restored. Structural restoration work was performed in 1991–1992.

St. Joseph's School was established in 1855, with Sisters of Charity teaching the neighborhood girls and Christian Brothers teaching the boys. The first building was along Leroy Street, replaced in 1897 by a new building adjacent to the church.[7]

The first public education program on AIDS ever held in Greenwich Village was held at St. Joseph's. The first meeting of Gay Men's Health Crisis also took place there. The event organized by parishioner David Pais was originally planned to be held in the school, but so many people attended that it had to be moved to the church.[8]

When then-pastor Aldo Tos retired in 2003, the Archdiocese of New York asked the Dominican Order's Province of Saint Joseph, which was already staffing the nearby Catholic Center at New York University, to assume the responsibility of staffing priests for the parish.[9] The result was a merger of the parish with NYU's Catholic Center in December 2003.[10]

Tos was removed from ministry following accusations of sexual abuse of a minor, which were determined to be credible by the Archdiocese of New York. His laicization process was pending at his death in 2014.[11]

On July 30, 2023, the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, dedicated St. Joseph's new Divine Mercy Chapel, the first chapel for perpetual adoration in New York City.[12][13]

The church today

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The church c.1914

The Catholic Center provides a wide spectrum of activities, programs, lectures and outreach programs. It is the center of five New York University (NYU) student clubs and for five groups of students and non-students. In addition to its campus ministry and other missions, the parish organized a weekly soup kitchen in 1982 (starting less formally in 1976) that operated for more than 30 years[14] and has continued as an independent charity since 2015.[15]

The parish and Catholic Center host chapters of the Thomistic Institute, an academic institute of the Dominican House of Studies which administers a network of campus chapters across the United States, for New York City and NYU respectively.[16][17]

Pastoral staff

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  • Pastor: Boniface Endorf, O.P.
  • Priests and Religious Brothers: Jonah Teller, O.P., Isaiah Bieter, O.P., Vincent Ferrer Bernhard, O.P., Paul Kennedy, O.P.
  • Previous pastors:[18][19][20][21][22]
    • James Cuddy, O.P.
    • John P. McGuire, O.P. (1943–2016)
    • Aldo J. Tos (1928–2014)
    • John D. O'Leary (1928–2008)
    • Robert Wilde (?–2004)
    • John P. A. Sullivan (?–1971)
    • Timothy F. Herlihy (1907–1970)
    • John P. McCaffrey (?–1967)
    • John J. Hickey (1869–1943)
    • John Edwards (1833–1922)
    • Denis Paul O'Flynn (1847–1906)
    • John B. Salter (c.1847–?)
    • Felix H. Farrelly (1832–1882)
    • Thomas Farrell (1823–1880)
    • Michael McCarron (1803–1867)
    • Ambrose Manahan (1814–1867)
    • John McCloskey (1810–1885), later Archbishop of New York and the first U.S. cardinal
    • Charles Constantine Pise (1801–1866), previously Chaplain of the United States Senate
    • James Cummiskey (?–1850)
    • Patrick Duffy (?–1833), first pastor

References

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Explanatory notes

  1. ^ Although the Church of the Transfiguration on Mott Street was built in 1815, it did not become a Catholic Church until 1853. See Church of the Transfiguration Parish history Archived September 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine

Citations

  1. ^ a b c Dunlap, David W. (2004). From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12543-7. p. 219.
  2. ^ a b c White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot (2000). AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-8129-3107-5. p. 138.
  3. ^ Remigius Lafort, S.T.D., Censor, The Catholic Church in the United States of America, Volume 3: The Province of Baltimore and the Province of New York. (New York City: The Catholic Editing Company, 1914), p. 340.
  4. ^ a b c "Parish History". St. Joseph's Church in Greenwich Village. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  5. ^ Bahamón, Alejandro and Losantos, Àgata. New York: A Historical Atlas of Architecture. (New York: Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, 2007), p. 99.
  6. ^ New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; Dolkart, Andrew S.; Postal, Matthew A. (2009). Postal, Matthew A. (ed.). Guide to New York City Landmarks (4th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1. p. 54.
  7. ^ Shelley, Thomas J. (2003). Greenwich Village Catholics. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press. pp. 57, 116. ISBN 0-8132-1349-5.
  8. ^ Michael O'Loughlin (December 1, 2019). "Surviving the AIDS crisis as a gay Catholic". Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS & the Catholic Church (Podcast). America. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  9. ^ Wakin, Daniel J. "Catholic Center of N.Y.U. May Move to Nearby Parish". The New York Times (November 18, 2003). Retrieved February 12, 2008.
  10. ^ "Catholic Center Will Stay Put" Archived June 7, 2007, at archive.today. Washington Square News (November 20, 2003).
  11. ^ "Update on the Sexual Abuse Crisis", Archdiocese of New York. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  12. ^ McKeown, Jonah (June 5, 2021). "Perpetual adoration chapel will be a 'spiritual gamechanger' for New York City, priest says". Catholic News Agency. Archived from the original on May 31, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  13. ^ "St. Joseph's Church in Greenwich Village Opening Only Perpetual Adoration Chapel in Manhattan". The Good Newsroom. Archdiocese of New York. July 25, 2023. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  14. ^ "30th Anniversary Dinner", St. Joseph's Soup Kitchen. Archived April 1, 2012.
  15. ^ "About", St. Joseph's Soup Kitchen. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  16. ^ "Thomistic Institute in New York City", Thomistic Institute
  17. ^ "New York University", Thomistic Institute
  18. ^ "John McGuire", The New York Times, December 31, 2016.
  19. ^ "Father Aldo J. Tos", Catholic New York, October 2, 2014.
  20. ^ "O'Leary, John D.", The New York Times, August 17, 2008.
  21. ^ "Robert Wilde", The Journal News, June 11, 2004.
  22. ^ Shelley, Thomas J. (2003). Greenwich Village Catholics. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press. pp. 14, 30–31, 43, 52–55, 73, 100–101, 159, 182–187, 269. ISBN 0-8132-1349-5.
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