Philly’s
oldest Catholic parish gets a facelift
By Lou Baldwin
Special to the CS&T
If you think you are nickel-and-dimed by maintenance expenses of an
old house, just be happy it isn’t a house of worship. Historic
churches take a bucket of money merely to maintain the status quo, let
alone improvements.
Take Old St. Joseph Parish, Philadelphia’s oldest Catholic parish,
tucked away in a courtyard off Society Hill’s Willings Alley.
Its church is really the third church on the site, not counting expansions.
The present church, built in 1839 for well under $10,000, has seen renovations
of more than $2.5 million between 2001 and 2005 alone. This month, the
parish began another, $150,0000 renovation and restoration project on
the exterior masonry of the venerable church and rectory.
The work is funded by three grants of $50,000 from three sources; the
Connelly Foundation, a Pennsylvania Historical Commission Keystone Historic
Preservation Challenge Grant, and Partners for Sacred Places.
The Connelly Foundation has a long history of supporting worthwhile
Catholic projects in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, but most involve
education.
“We are eternally grateful for their support of our conservation
project,” said Jesuit Father Mark Horak, who has served as pastor
of Old St. Joseph’s for the past three years.
“Our building has architectural qualities. It is a thing of beauty,
he said. “From a historic standpoint, it also has values that
people of all faiths can appreciate — especially in its place
in the establishment of religious liberty in Philadelphia.”
There were Catholics in Philadelphia almost from the founding of the
city, but they were very few in number. In the early part of the 18th
century Jesuits were coming up from Maryland to celebrate Mass in private
homes — something that was technically forbidden in the British
Empire, but overlooked by William Penn and his tolerant Quakers.
In 1729, Father Joseph Greaton purchased the land for St. Joseph, and
in 1732 opened the city’s first Catholic Church. It was quite
modest, according to a 19th -century diocesan history — just 18-by-29
feet — but quite enough for the needs,
The first Mass was said to have a congregation of 11 worshippers.
By 1757, the congregation was of sufficient size that the little church
was torn down and replaced by a new church with the dimensions of 40-by-60
feet. Philadelphia’s population was rapidly expanding, and a few
years later, in 1763, the even larger St. Mary Church opened nearby
on South 4th St, on ground that had been purchased in the previous decade
by St. Joseph Parish for use as a graveyard.
St. Mary Church was intended to replace St. Joseph, which ceased to
exist as a parish church, but remained as a chapel where Mass was celebrated
every day but Sunday. It was probably kept as a matter of convenience,
because the rectory where all of the Philadelphia clergy lived was adjacent
to the older church.
In 1821, dramatic events intervened. Philadelphia’s second ordinary,
Bishop Henry Conwell, was denied the use of his cathedral — St.
Mary — by St. Mary’s lay trustees, who supported the renegade
priest, William Hogan.
Bishop Conwell placed St. Mary under interdict, and re-established St.
Joseph as separate parish, at the same time undertaking a renovation
that virtually doubled its capacity. After a time, the rebellious St.
Mary’s trustees made their peace with the diocese, but St. Joseph
remained open because of the still-growing Catholic population.
In 1833, the Jesuits, the original founders of the parish, were invited
once again to take charge of St. Joseph, and they remain there to this
day. Once more, the church proved too small, and today’s Gothic
Revival brick edifice was planned and constructed in the years 1838
and 1839, during the pastorship of Fathers James Ruder and Felix Barbelin.
In a way, the exterior walls of Old St. Joseph that are now being restored
are more ancient than the building itself. Parish historian Bobby Burke
notes that when the old church was torn down to make way for the new,
the handmade bricks were saved and used for the new church. Since the
new building was larger, they were insufficient and the cost-conscious
builders purchased more used bricks of undetermined age from Philadelphia’s
sheriff. Some of that old brick was relatively soft and has since deteriorated,
and in some cases must be replaced.
Over the span of two centuries, many Catholic churches grander and more
imposing than St. Joseph sprang up in Philadelphia, but few can match
its distinguished history. Catholic orphan-care began in the city in
the vicinity of Old St. Joseph, with foster care for children who lost
their parents in the terrible yellow fever epidemic of 1793. Both St.
Joseph’s College and St. Joseph’s Preparatory School had
their birth at Old St. Joseph. The parish was at the forefront of Catholic
education for African American children, and religious instructions
were given in French, Italian and German in the church basement.
The passage of time was not always kind. By the 20th century, with parish
boundaries extending from Arch St to South St., and from 4th Street
to the Delaware, Old St. Joseph embraced a kaleidoscope of warehouses,
industries, the city’s wholesale fruit and produce markets and
the poorest of the poor as residents.
Then, in the 1960s, under Mayor Richardson Dilworth, Society Hill and
the rest of Old St. Joseph Parish was deliberately gentrified through
the purchase of the old commercial buildings and slum dwellings. The
poor were forced out of the area with a combination of higher taxes,
rising real estate costs and the exercise of eminent domain. Old homes
were completely renovated or torn down to be replaced by upscale housing
for the fortunate few.
In spite of that, Old St. Joseph Parish never forgot the less fortunate;
it continues a variety of outreach programs for the poor and homeless.
With 1,100 parishioners of all ages and races, it casts a wide net,
with meaningful liturgies drawing worshippers from around the Delaware
Valley.
Meanwhile, those renovations continue. Since 2001, repairs have been
made on the roof and trusses, the foundations and balcony have been
reinforced, and the parish hall, kitchen and courtyard have been renovated.
Father Horak knows this round of renovations won’t be the last.
Somewhere down the road, the church will have to be made more handicapped-accessible.
Central air-conditioning would be nice, too, and some of the windows
should be replaced. Restoration is also needed in the historic rectory,
which dates back to the 18th-century, and the parish offices need sprucing
up.
Meanwhile, Father Horak remains grateful to the Connelly Foundation,
loyal parishioners, the Old St. Joseph’s Historic Preservation
Corporation, and other benefactors who help sustain the city’s
most historic Catholic church.