USA > New Jersey > The Catholic Church in New Jersey > Part 51
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Bishop McQuaid told of the bigotry and prejudice in Newark long after St. Patrick's Cathedral was opened in 1850. There was so much prejudice against Catholics that banks would not loan money to pay for the ground on which the cathedral stood. But education finally killed most of the prejudice. J. Roosevelt Bay- ley, a convert, was consecrated a bishop in 1853, and assigned to New Jersey, and St. Patrick's Church was selected as the cathe- dral church. Bishop McQuaid said:
Very few men knew Dr. Bayley as well as Monsignor Doane and myself, and we are the only ones now living who can speak of
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him as he was. He was a true gentleman, an educated man of good family, and he loved the poor and always worked for their betterment. He was a Catholic in mind, walk, talk, and in every fibre of his body. He sacrificed a fortune of $100,000 by joining our faith, because he believed in heart and soul it was the only true faith. He believed in education, and brought the Sisters of Charity here to teach the young children. He established Seton Hall College to educate young men for the priesthood, and St. Elizabeth's Convent for educating young women as sisters to teach your daughters.
Bishop McQuaid rose to the eloquence, dramatic force, and beauty of expression of his early days in speaking of the work of Dr. Bayley and also of the Sisters of Charity and their work in teaching little boys and girls.
Bishop McQuaid told of the great immigration from Ireland and Germany while Bishop Bayley was here, and how he provided schools and teachers for the children of these poor people, and the fatherly interest he took in them. He impressed upon his priests continually the importance of educating the young, and for that purpose starting parochial schools and giving religious as well as secular instruction.
Tributes were paid by Bishop McQuaid to the work of the early missionaries and the priests who labored with him. He spoke of the Rev. Patrick Moran, who built old St. John's Church, in Mulberry Street, St. Peter's, in Belleville, and started St. Patrick's Cathedral, drawing the plans for each building, as "the grand old patriarch, a man of God, whose heart loved humanity."
Then addressing the many young priests in front of him, Bishop McQuaid told them that these sacrifices of the older priests, almost all of whom had passed to their reward, was a grand example for them. If they continued to work as zealously for the faith as the clergy of the past did, fifty years hence the Catholic faith might be the greatest power in our country and save it from moral destruction.
The evil of divorce, which was destroying American homes, must be crushed by Christian work, and people should be taught that such love of money as tempted men to evil means to get it would in time ruin the country. The Catholic Church could, with a loyal clergy and faithful, virtuous people, do much for this glorious land of liberty.
At the close of the services in the pro-cathedral the clergy at- tended a banquet in the Krueger Auditorium. The Rev. James J. Sheehan was the thaliarchus of the occasion, and introduced
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successively his Excellency Archbishop Falconio, who responded to the toast, "Pius X."; the Most Rev. John M. Farley, D.D., "Our Ruler "; the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Doane, P.A., "The Pio- neers-Lay and Clerical "; the Rt. Rev. B. J. McQuaid, D.D., "The Old Guard "; the Very Rev. William McNulty, V.F., "Our Co- Workers, the Religious"; the Rev. Andrew M. Egan, "The Im- migrant of To-day "; and, finally, Bishop O'Connor.
His Excellency the Apostolic Delegate at the beginning of his remarks expressed the pleasure he felt in this his first visit to the Diocese of Newark.
It was, he said, one of the many happy surprises he had experi- enced in his travels throughout the United States. The numer- ous churches, schools, orphanages, hospitals, and similar charitable institutions he found here testify in an emphatic manner to the zeal of the members of the faith and the energy of the diocesan priests in particular.
Reference was made by the speaker of the death of Pope Leo XIII. and the selection of his successor. The world-wide expres- sion of sorrow at the Pontiff's death, he declared, was a sign of the growing tendency toward the general betterment of mankind, and one that was brought about to a great extent by the example of the Pope's life. The selection of Cardinal Sarto as successor to Leo XIII., the archbishop went on, exemplified the general desire of the Catholic Church to follow in the predecessor's foot- steps. Mention was made of the spirit of humbleness that was displayed by the present Pope when his election was assured, and attention was called to the example shown in his simplicity of habits. The world is growing, said the distinguished guest, to realize that the papacy is something more than a past history, that it has a mission to perform, and that it is a divine one. In closing he tendered his congratulations and good wishes to the diocese in general.
Archbishop Farley, after a few preliminary remarks, told of the happiness he experienced in listening at the morning service to the story of the pioneer Catholics of New Jersey and New York, as told by the venerable Bishop McQuaid. Then returning to his subject he first expressed himself by declaring that his greatest worldly privilege he considered was that of being an American citizen. The prelate said :
Our country is the most respected of the nations of the earth. We believe in finance, and our reputation in this respect has by
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our commercial dealings lifted us far above other nations. My personal experiences in the lands beyond the seas has led me to this conclusion. I found that in Jerusalem the American green- back which I had was always welcomed, even more than the English sovereign.
Another reason for this great reputation which the American nation possesses is that the people of whom I am proud to say I am a single factor has the highest conception of the dignity of mankind. There is no other nation that can come together and in the space of a few hours place the guardianship of the country into the hands of one man. This nation has existed one hundred and twenty-nine years and has seen many Presidents. The trust granted to these rulers has never been betrayed, never violated to any extent. This is not like some of the alleged republics that are said to believe in liberty, equality, and fraternity. They betray the liberty of the people who place them in power for the sake only of private opinion and to attain their own personal ends.
Our rulers have always been men of sterling qualities, irre- spective of political opinion. Of our present President, I feel free to say that there is no other denomination in the United States that he has more profound respect for than the people and priests of the Catholic Church. Let us show ourselves worthy always of his approval. I feel from my personal knowledge that what jus- tice demands our ruler will not withhold from us.
Bishop McQuaid was the next speaker. He replied to the toast, "The Old Guard-by the Last of the Old Guard." The remarks of the bishop were directed to the labors of the pioneer priests of New Jersey and the results of their work. He exhorted his hearers to continue in the same line of energy, and asserted that the young men of to-day that are working in God's vineyard are but the old guard of to-morrow-ever fighting and dying, but never surrendering. The growth of Catholicity in New Jersey was a noble testimonial to the men that braved intolerance and physical dangers in the days previous to fifty years ago, and even afterward In the faith of the Church, he said, there was every reason to fight on. It is a battle for souls, he declared, and one that always has resulted in religious and physical benefit. He told of personal experiences with Bishop Bayley at the time the latter was head of the Newark diocese, and of the labors of the Sisters of Charity in the causes of religion and education.
"The Pioneers " was the subject to which Monsignor Doane made reply. He spoke reminiscently of the days of Father Moran, the first pastor of the cathedral parish of this city, of Fathers Roger, Kelly, Powers, Quinn, and other priests who, he said, were often forced to carry their vestments about with them
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in laboring for the spiritual welfare of the Catholics of this sec- tion. The Monsignor ended his discourse by quoting statistics showing the growth in the Newark diocese during the last fifty years. The number of priests, he said, had increased from about twenty to more than three hundred and twenty, and the growth in point of members of the faith was even greater in proportion.
Dean McNulty followed the Newark clergyman and answered to "Our Co-workers, the Religious." The tall, white-haired priest made a venerable picture as he rose to respond. After a comparison of the institutions that were erected by the Catholics of New Jersey with those of the public he reverted to the princi- ple of Christian education. This, he said, was carried out in a definite way by the Catholics alone. Bishop Bayley, he said, started the system of Catholic parochial schools in New Jersey. He praised the work of the Sisters of Charity, particularly for their efforts in behalf of education.
Father Egan then paid an eloquent tribute to the immigrants who helped to build up the country.
When we consider the magnificent progress and prosperity of the Catholic Church in this country, and especially in this diocese, whose golden jubilee we thus commemorate; and when we still further remember the noble part that the immigrant of the past had in this marvellous development, we can readily realize at once the happy thought that must have filled the mind of him whose pleasant task it was to assign "The Immigrant of To-day " as one of the toasts at this festive banquet, and on which I have the honor to address you; and in rising to respond to it I do so with somewhat of diffidence and a feeling of inability adequately to treat what must be apparent to us all as one of the great problems calling for solution on the part of church and state in this grand and glorious country of ours.
But the remembrance of the past marvellous history of the Church in this country will, I trust, bring me some inspiration to unfold somewhat of the thought suggested by this trust.
In terminating here at this festive board the great joy that has filled our hearts to-day, mindful of what has been its source -that happy and auspicious moment when the first bishop of this diocese, the lamented Archbishop Bayley, of sweetest and beloved memory, came to this city of Newark to begin that work of apos- tolic rule so grandly fruitful and so nobly perpetuated by his emi- nent successors-we, to-day, Right Reverend Bishop and fellow- priests, rightly and gladly sing out to the Most High our Te Deum, and join in the warmest hope that when the centennial of our ecclesiastical existence shall come around, other voices and other hearts shall similarly chant their alleluia in tones equal to it; not surpassing those that form to-day the anthem of our joy.
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The Catholic Church in this country was primarily and funda- mentally built up by a magnificent band of immigrants, driven from their beloved lands by causes that I need not mention. Set- tling here among a people ever ready to extend the warm hand of welcome to the stranger, they brought with them the flaming torch of their undying faith; that faith that has been so effulgent over many a land, whose brightness is as undimmed as the day when the Divine Spirit irradiated the minds and hearts of the apostles on the Pentecost of long ago. Truly may we say the finger of God is here.
The immigrant of the past and his noble descendants have done a mighty work in the cause of God, and under conditions and circumstances that none but the stanchest could have braved and conquered. Great battles have been fought in this land of relig- ious tolerance-a truth providentially enshrined as a jewel in a casket, in the basic constitution of this country.
The religious warriors of the past struggled valiantly to main- tain even at the cost of life that constitution ! And that particu- lar part of it that has made this country what it is to-day in relig- ion, the home of the free, in the practice of one's conscientious duty to his God and his neighbor.
If then we have cause for joy at what has been accomplished by our forefathers, if we rejoice at what has been the gigantic task of that memorable band of missionaries that crossed the mighty deep, we must likewise look upon the immigrants of to- day as coming hither filled with the same spirit of maintaining the priceless legacy of their faith.
Who are the immigrants of to-day? They are chiefly from Ireland, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, all Catholic coun- tries but one. It is not mine to tell you why they come hither, but of one thing I am certain, that they bring with them the same faith that characterized those whose work we are to-day rejoicing in. They come from lands Catholic to the core-lands conse- crated by saintly steps and the martyr's blood. They have not, it is true, the battlefields as of yore; they have but to perpetuate what is dearer than life itself-their holy religion. And this, I believe, will be providentially carried out, for I cannot think that God will permit that their advent here shall be the stepping-stone of the destruction of their faith.
We cannot deny that difference of speech is an obstacle to the full and immediate accomplishment of one's religious duty in all respects, but it is only temporary. "Nemo propheta in patria sua." Yet I venture the prediction that the multitude of immi- grants of to-day will carry on the same work in the cause of God and his holy religion as has been done in the past. A loss of faith here and there, while saddening, it is true, should not dis- hearten us. Such sorrow has pierced the heart of the Church in the many centuries of her glorious existence, and yet she is to-day brilliant of progress in many lands, and nowhere more potently than in our own beloved America.
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There is then the same work for the immigrant of to-day as for the immigrant of the past, and under God, through the instru- mentality of the ecclesiastical powers and their subordinates, time will show, as formerly, that our hopes will be fulfilled in the effec- tive part that the Irishman, the German, the Pole, the Slav, and the Italian shall play in the furtherance of the Church's interests and its certain progress in the years to come.
In this very diocese whose golden jubilee we are joyfully com- memorating, here, as elsewhere, we are the witnesses of the shep- herd's zeal in providing for the spiritual wants of those who come to our shores, strangers to our ways and our speech. Everywhere their spiritual interests are being cared for, as is evidenced in the erection of parishes conformable to their respective languages. We must not be unmindful of the fact that in the past building up of the Church in this country by the immigrant there was no such handicapping in the knowledge of the language as confronts the newcomer of to-day, and therefore little wonder is it if we be- hold not the direct and immediate results which characterized the times and labors of those whose splendid and marvellous heroism in the face of the most bitter and most unrelenting persecution we to-day so joyfully commemorate.
Explain as we may the cause of the great tide of immigration hither we cannot but look upon it as a divine instrument in the still further building up of the Church. It may not be our hap- piness to behold the full accomplishment of this divine purpose, but I cannot doubt-I am possessed of the strongest faith-that the immigrant of to-day will but imitate and execute the brilliant task of former days.
I know further that on the pages of the future history of Catholicity here and of the onward growth of our holy religion no name shall be more resplendent and none merit more the approba- tion of posterity than our own Diocese of Newark, built up as it has been by the immigrants of the past and enlarged by the immi- grants of to-day. To its reverend and noble shepherd my most affectionate greetings. It is a great pleasure for me to see this day, because I am the son of one, still living, who was a witness to and a humble sharer in that royal welcome accorded the first Bishop of Newark fifty years ago-ad multos plurimosque annos.
The final address was made by Bishop O'Connor, who was greeted with a series of cheers. He spoke in a general way of the work of the Catholic clergy in the Newark diocese and the schools which they had caused to be erected. The first half-century of the diocese, he declared, was something to be proud of. There were more cheers when the bishop announced the formal close of the occasion.
Wednesday evening, November 4th, the laity of the diocese who had responded to the appeal of Bishop O'Connor assembled
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in the Krueger Auditorium. As they entered the hall they were met by the Cathedral Fund Committee, Monsignor Sheppard, Dean Flynn, and Dr. Kelly, and introduced individually to Bishop O'Connor. It was a remarkable gathering, one of the most note- worthy in the history of the diocese. Every section, every profes- sion, every age was represented. The venerable Michael Rowe, who remembered the first resident pastor of Newark, Father Par- dow; the honorable Æneas Fitzpatrick, whose erect form and youthful activity gave no indication that he was one of the last survivors of the early pioneers, the patriarchal father of the Rev. Bernard M Bogan, were foremost among the guests to whom special honor was paid.
During the repast an orchestra played popular airs, and when it was concluded Dr. Kelly introduced former United States Sena- tor James Smith, Jr., to answer to the toast, "The Charms of the Old Cathedral."
The former senator referred to the pleasure he felt in being called on to answer to the toast. He said he was born in St. Pat- rick's parish and baptized in the cathedral, and had been granted the privilege of making his first communion and receiving other sacraments of the Church in the edifice. There was an added personal charm to him, he went on, in the fact that he had seen his family grow up within its loving care.
Continuing, he said in part :
The greatest of all the charms of the old cathedral is the affec- tion that has always existed between its clergy and people. No differences have ever arisen in the parish since its organization, and when a pastor asked for aid for any purpose, the loyal people responded liberally.
When the new Cathedral of the Sacred Heart is finished, the Catholics of New Jersey will have one of the grandest edifices in this country, and dear old St. Patrick's, which was the cradle of the diocese, will cease to be its cathedral church. All Catholics will be proud of the new edifice, but those of Newark particularly will always retain their love for the old cathedral. With all the grandeur, the new cathedral will never rob the old of the associa- tions and memories which have made it so dear to the people. Thousands of them were married in St. Patrick's, their children were baptized in it, and a great many buried from it.
The present generations and those of the past who yet remain in the land of the living as they enter its doors to worship or in passing look upon its modest exterior will recall many events con- nected with their lives. They will remember the trial incident to its erection. That within its walls labored men whose lives were
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consecrated to the service of God, from Moran to Doane, every one of whom gained an honorable place in the hierarchy of the Church. That from the children of the old cathedral parish were sent many priests who went to other fields of labor and erected churches for the people to worship in and schools in which their children were given a good religious and secular education, fitting them to be good citizens. That many young women of the old parish joined religious orders and consecrated their lives to the education of children and the care of the orphans, the sick, and the aged. Finally, that from those who labored within the sanctu- ary sprung institutions of learning second to none, institutions for the physical and religious welfare of those who were left without home or parents, and for the treatment of the afflicted.
" Our Charitable Institutions " was the toast replied to by John F. Griffin, of Jersey City, county counsel for Hudson County. He asserted that the Catholic Church always exercised charity, and was especially adapted for carrying out charitable objects. There was no other organization in the world, he declared, that went to the extent this Church did in consecrating lives of its men and women to the purpose of aiding and bettering mankind physically and religiously.
"In the majority of cases the state," he said, "has failed in its charity where the Catholic institution has been most successful."
Here the speaker referred to systems in this State whereby men, women, and children were kept in almshouses. In contrast- ing the work of the State Board of Children's Guardians with that of the Catholic institutions, he declared that the former in the entire State had but 800 in its care, while the Newark diocese alone cared for more than 1,200 children.
To Jesse Albert Locke, of Hackensack, was assigned the toast, "Our Educational Institutions." In summing up the ex- tent to which the Catholic of the Newark diocese goes in order that his child may have a Christian education, he declared that there were more than 37,000 children in its parochial schools, and that the number promised to reach 40,000 before another year. He added :
The education they are getting is well worth while. Our edu- cators are qualified teachers in every respect, and I know person- ally that our graduates are equal to those educated in the public schools. I have heard talk of inferior education in the Catholic schools. This is not so, for competitive tests that have come under my notice have proved otherwise to my entire satisfaction
The best people outside our faith openly express the belief that mental education is not sufficient. We find this declaration
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coming from prominent members of other beliefs. The question at issue in respect to our schools and the double demand on their supporters is whether or not an injustice is being done. The State wants intelligent and patriotic citizens. We are turning them out. Law-abiding citizens are desired, not from fear but from choice. A person with the fear of God in his heart is a law- abiding citizen, and the fear of God is one of our educational prin- ciples. The majority of the people are against us if we ask that the State shall assist us in developing good citizens for her. Some say it would be un-American, but it is not American to be unfair. If freedom of conscience is an American principle, then it is manifest that it would only be a further step in that direction to assist us.
Stephen Horgan, of Hoboken, answered to the toast, "Fifty Years Ago." He said he spoke as the son of a man who fifty years ago in Norfolk was taken out to be hanged for the "crime of being a Catholic." He told stories of the Know-Nothing period at that time, and then read a newspaper account, published in November, 1853, of the arrival in this city of Rt. Rev. James Roosevelt Bayley, the first bishop of the Newark diocese.
Patrick Farrelly, of Morristown, vice-president of the Ameri- can News Company, was the next speaker, replying to the toast, "The Laity." He voiced the thanks of the laymen of the diocese for being allowed to contribute toward the erection of a fitting cathedral to crown the work of the diocese on its golden jubilee.
William J. Kearns, of this city, responded to the toast, "Our New Cathedral." He said:
The new cathedral of the Diocese of Newark must be viewed by us of to-day as an existing and accomplished fact, even though it has not been entirely built, for behind the project is the will and force and ability of this great and growing diocese.
The speaker then gave an interesting technical description of the edifice as it will be, and added :
Such is the noble edifice to the construction of which the Catholics of the diocese stand willing to contribute, for we cer- tainly have the same practical, abiding faith, although perhaps less demonstrative and enthusiastic in the outward manifestation of it, as had the people of the ages past. We believe as firmly and as sincerely as did they that no outlay is too great, no sacrifice too hard, no burden too heavy, which we make and assume for the proper housing of our Eucharistic King of kings, the ador- able Victim of Love, for whose greater honor and glory we gladly make every expenditure.
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