Genesis 1733 - 1883
A New Parish 1891 - 1929
Depression and War 1930 - 1956
Schools 1957 - 1964
Tragedy and Rebirth 1965 - 1975
Genesis 1733 - 1883
During America’s colonial period, the spiritual needs of the Church in New Jersey, including those of Somerset County, were attended to by missionary priests. These priests were based out of St. Joseph’s Parish in Philadelphia, which was established in 1733. At the time of the parish’s founding, there were only about forty Catholics in the entire city.
The first known missionary priest in the state was Jesuit Father Theodore Schneider, who ministered to the people of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania from 1744 until his death in 1764. He traveled throughout Salem County and in July 1774, his ministry took him as far as Bound Brook.
Jesuit Father Ferdinand Steinmeyer – popularly known as “Father Farmer”— was the most well-known of the priests who succeeded Father Schneider. Dressed in lay attire for his own safety, he ministered to the Catholics in New Jersey from 1758 until his death in 1786.
Father Farmer was known to have made visits to Somerville during this period, traveling as far as New York, a dangerous act given the anti-priest law. Still, he managed to found the first permanent Catholic congregation in the city. Bishop Carroll gave Father Farmer the faculties to perform confirmations, which a priest may validly do when delegated by a bishop.
In October 1787, Father Farmer was succeeded by Father Lawrence Graessel, who continued the ministry to New Jersey. After only six years, Father Graessel’s ministry was cut short with his death in the Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic of 1793.
These Philadelphia-based missionary priests would typically ride a circuit along the Delaware River to Trenton and Salem, up to Basking Ridge, and from there to the Paterson area and on to New York City. When the priest received word of a Catholic family he never met before, he would deviate from this route, track them down, and introduce himself. The priests often said Mass in rented halls or private homes, staying there overnight before moving on to other isolated Catholic communities. The rare Sunday Mass was an all-day affair as Mass times depended on when the priest happened to arrive. Often, he would be delayed hours while hearing the confessions of the faithful who frequently traveled many miles from the surrounding towns.
Within a few years the Church in America had grown so much that further diocesan subdivisions were needed. In 1808, the archdioceses of New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Bardstown, Kentucky were created. Responsibility for the state of New Jersey was split with the western and southern counties falling under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Philadelphia. Somerset County was among those transferred to New York.
After the founding of St. Peter’s Parish in New Brunswick in 1829, the needs of the Catholics in the Raritan/Somerville area were met by the priests residing there. Father Joseph Schneller was assigned as the first pastor and it was he who built the original St. Peter’s Church. Father Schneller operated out of New York City and only visited the parish periodically. In 1833 he was succeeded by Father Bernard McArdle who ministered to St. Peter’s until 1839. It was during Father McArdle’s pastorate in 1835 that a tornado tore away the rear of the church and the exposed space had to be boarded up for the next twelve years.
In 1842 Father Hugh McGuire – born in Ireland in 1795 — was assigned to St. Peter’s and it was he who began ministering to the Catholic population in Somerville. Three years later Father McGuire was succeeded by Father John Rogers, appointed by Archbishop Hughes of New York as St. Peter’s first resident pastor. The new pastor continued the ministry to Somerville and South Amboy and extended it to Woodbridge, Princeton, and Millstone. Father Rogers remained as pastor of St. Peter’s for the next forty-two years, until his death in 1887.
While the priests of St. Peter’s were ministering to the Catholics in Raritan and Somerville, Mass was still being said in private homes. In 1850, a wooden church — the first St. Bernard’s which has since moved to Route 22 in Bridgewater — was built in Raritan, and Father James McDonough, the pastor in Plainfield, was assigned responsibility for what was known as the Somerville mission.
On August 16, 1854, St. Bernard’s church burned to the ground in a fire whose origin was rather suspicious, though there were no suspects identified. On November 7, 1855 the Bishop appointed Father Daniel Fisher to replace Father McDonough at Plainfield and Raritan. Father Fisher remained at his post from November 1855 to early 1856 and was succeeded by Father Thomas Kieran who attended the parish for the next twelve years. Soon after his arrival, on June 30, 1856, Father Kieran wrote to Bishop Bayley to update him on the status of the church building:
Finally, the church building was completed and on May 16, 1858, Bishop Bayley blessed the new edifice. Even then, things did not progress to the bishop’s satisfaction. Six months later, on January 9, 1859 — a day so cold that “water froze in the cruets” – the Bishop visited Raritan and “gave them a severe scolding for their negligence in their duties and the manner in which they left everything about the church.”
The Prussian born Benedictine Father Maurice Kaeder was appointed pastor in 1868 and served until 1873. Father Kaeder was succeeded by Father Gregory Misdziol in November 1871. Two years later, in September 1873, he was succeeded by Father John Schandel who only remained one month before being transferred to Carlstadt. Father Schandel in turn was succeeded by the Dominican priest Father James Marshall, who, like his predecessor, was also born in Prussia, but in the Polish area. When the German government suppressed this region, he emigrated to Rome and then to the United States.
On July 1, 1876, Newark Bishop Michael Corrigan, who succeeded Bishop Bayley in 1872, made a series of clerical appointments, one of which was the assignment of Father Joseph Zimmer to the pastorate at St. Bernard’s. By then, St. Bernard’s was an established parish in its own right and oversaw Somerville, Bound Brook, and Millstone as missions.
By 1881 rapid growth in the Catholic population in New Jersey justified another diocesan subdivision. Bishops Bayley and Corrigan favored the creation of a new diocese and their recommendation to Rome for the creation of one was answered in the affirmative. Newark would retain Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, and Union counties while the new Diocese of Trenton was created from the western and southern counties of the state. Though slightly larger in land mass than Newark, the diocese of Trenton contained only one third the Catholic population. The Irish born Bishop Michael O’Farrell was appointed as the first bishop.
In November 1882, Bishop O’Farrell announced the creation of a new parish – the first one in the newly formed Diocese of Trenton — to serve the spiritual needs of the small but growing Catholic population in Somerville and Millstone. He sent Father Martin van den Bogaard, the pastor of St. Joseph’s in Bound Brook, to establish this parish from scratch.
Father Martin van den Bogaard, Founding Pastor 1882-1910
†††
No one knows exactly why the new parish in Somerville was named in honor of the Immaculate Conception, the doctrine that Mary was conceived without original sin. It’s been speculated that Father van den Bogaard had a particular devotion to Our Lady, or perhaps because the parish was erected shortly before the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8. It’s also been suggested that he named it after the first parish he served at here in America. The Diocese of Newark was consecrated to the Immaculate Conception by the first diocesan synod in 1856 so it may very well be that the first parish created in the first diocese carved from Newark be consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under this title.
The news carrying the information of the new parish was easy to miss. Nestled amongst routine announcements about the various local activities taking place in Somerville was this short piece from the Unionist Gazette on November 30, 1882.
The Catholic Bishop of this diocese has formed a new parish composed of Millstone and Somerville, and has placed it in charge of Father Bogaard, of Bound Brook. At the present the Somerville church will worship in Somerset Hall, until a church can be erected.
The parish was legally incorporated on January 8, 1883, and this year saw the digging of the foundation and laying of the cornerstone. Though the parish was formally erected in 1882, all parish anniversary celebrations have been based on the year 1883 since this was when the events most commonly associated with the founding of a parish occurred.
By early 1883 the parish had rented space in the Otis building on Main and New Streets for ten dollars per month and it was here that Mass was said. Father van den Bogaard appointed C. Burke and Dan O’Conner as the first trustees. Bishop O’Farrell himself served as the president of the trustee board with Father van den Bogaard serving as secretary. The cornerstone of the new church was laid by Bishop O’Farrell on June 24, 1883.
Though the cornerstone was an accomplishment, the church itself wasn’t much more than an expensive hole in the ground. The trustees met again on October 20 and decided to get the church under roof before winter. Once this was done, the basement could be turned into a chapel and used for services while the rest of the church was left “incomplete until we are able to pay for it.” On June 1, 1884, Mass was said in the new church for the first time. Though the main church building was still several years from completion, parishioners could now use the basement chapel.
After eight years of work, the new church was finally ready to be dedicated. On September 14, 1890, Bishop O’Farrell came to Somerville for the Mass of Dedication. Bishop O’Farrell preached the sermon that day, speaking for about twenty-five minutes.
Bishop O’Farrell came to dedicate the church, not to consecrate it. A church can be dedicated at any time but can only be consecrated when it is debt free. By the early 1890s, the parish plant consisted of a church, a rectory, and a mountain of debt.
Original Church of the Immaculate Conception on the corner of Davenport & High Streets
A New Parish 1891 - 1929
In May 1894, just before his trip to Holland, Father van den Bogaard purchased five acres of land for a parish cemetery. By November, he had set the prices for the gravesites. A single grave cost five dollars and a child’s grave three dollars. You could get bulk discounts when purchasing family plots. Four graves were sixteen dollars, six were twenty-two dollars, eight were twenty-five dollars, and ten cost thirty dollars.
Bishop Michael O’Farrell died on April 2, 1894 of kidney failure. He was succeeded by the forty-four year old Vicar General of the diocese, Rev. James McFaul who was consecrated the second Bishop of Trenton in October. In June 1895, the new bishop visited Immaculate Conception for the first time as Bishop of the Diocese. After administering the sacrament of confirmation to forty children, the Bishop preached on the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Confirmation.
†††
In July 1901 the parish debt was finally paid off and Father van den Bogaard announced that revenues for 1900 were $3,124.31. This was noticeably less than the $3,912.91 in the 1887 report. Still, with all debt obligations satisfied, he was probably feeling very relaxed as he sailed for Holland again where he remained until late October.
†††
Immaculate Conception hit a milestone in 1908 when the parish celebrated its twenty fifth anniversary. The anniversary date, and that of subsequent anniversaries, was based on the date of the laying of the cornerstone. Though originally scheduled for June 1908, it wasn’t until September 20 that the celebration was actually held. Father van den Bogaard celebrated a solemn high Mass that day and Bishop McFaul preached the sermon, praising the pastor for his success over the past quarter century.
†††
By late 1909, Father van den Bogaard’s age began to catch up with him. He was past seventy and in October he became ill with a severe case of bronchitis. In June 1910 Father van den Bogaard planned to take another vacation to Holland. When Bishop McFaul came to Immaculate Conception on June 19 to administer Confirmation, he announced that Father Richard Ryan would be taking charge of the parish during Father van den Bogaard’s absence. Father Ryan was introduced to the parishioners at the Confirmation, and it was reported that he “made a favorable impression on the members of the congregation.”
As the time came closer to Father van den Bogaard’s departure date, it became increasingly obvious to him that this voyage to his homeland would be a one-way trip. Realizing that his health was beginning to fail as age caught up with him, the pastor tendered his resignation to Bishop McFaul. At first, the Bishop was hesitant to accept it, suggesting instead that Father van den Bogaard take a long leave of absence until he regained his strength. Still, Father van den Bogaard felt that “it would not be to the advantage of the church that it should not have a settled pastor, who intended to remain for life or at least until necessity required a change.” At first there was doubt as to where Father van den Bogaard would spend his retirement years. Though all of his fifteen siblings all lived at least to the age of seventy, he was the youngest and none were alive when he himself planned to retire. It was speculated that he might settle in Somerville but ultimately he decided to return to Holland with his sexton, Albert Van Dyke.
At the Masses on July 17, 1910, Father van den Bogaard bade farewell to the parishioners he had served for the past twenty-eight years. In his valedictory sermon he recalled the milestones of his priestly ministry in the United States, from the founding of St. Joseph’s in Bound Brook, to the challenges of founding Immaculate Conception with no money at all. “Now there exists a beautiful church, a rectory, and a cemetery,” said Father van den Bogaard in conclusion. “We have something to show for our good work and the generosity of the good people of Somerville.”
The Somerset Messenger praised Father van den Bogaard for his years of service. “He … has not only built up the church spiritually and materially,” wrote the editors, “but, by his unostentatious and democratic manners, has endeared himself to his acquaintances of all religious denominations.”
Two days later, Father van den Bogaard sailed for Holland where he settled down to retirement in the town of Uden. Five years later, in late July 1915, a cablegram arrived at the diocesan offices in Trenton announcing Father van den Bogaard’s death at the age of seventy-six. The cause of death is unknown and the message didn’t even mention the exact date. The message was immediately forwarded to Father Ryan at Immaculate Conception who announced it to the congregation at the Sunday Masses. The following Wednesday he celebrated a requiem Mass in the pastor’s memory.
Fr. Richard T. Ryan, Pastor, 1910-1937
†††
Like Father Zimmer in Raritan, Father Ryan was originally sent to Immaculate Conception on a temporary assignment. This temporary assignment lasted twenty-seven years.
Richard Thomas Ryan was born in Woodbridge, New Jersey, on August 29, 1877, one of nine children. An avid baseball fan, Richard played for a Woodbridge team. He then attended Seton Hall College where, for two years, he was pitcher for the baseball team. After Seton Hall, he went to St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore for his theological education. Father Ryan was ordained a priest in Trenton on June 1, 1901 – not quite twenty-four years old yet – and spent the first four months of his ministry at Long Branch. He was later transferred to St. Philip and St. James in Philipsburg, then one of the largest parishes in the state, where he remained for three and a half years. His next assignment was as chaplain at Fort Hancock at Sandy Hook where he remained over five years.
Father Ryan was only thirty three years old, and had nine years of experience as a priest, when Bishop McFaul appointed him the permanent pastor of Immaculate Conception in August 1910. Though he had only been in Somerville for two months, he quickly made a positive impression on the community. The Somerset Democrat described him as a “young and enthusiastic pastor and a good speaker.” Commenting on his baseball career, the paper noted that “though he is still very fond of the sport, his church work does not allow him time to keep in practice.” Still, they said “Father Ryan has taken hold of the church work here with his characteristic enthusiasm and we predict a bright future for him in the local field.”
†††
World War I was a short conflict for the United States and mercifully, Immaculate Conception did not lose any parishioners. Far more costly to the United States, to the parish, and to Somerville, was the Spanish Influenza epidemic that first broke out in an army camp in Kansas in March 1918. That epidemic killed at least one parishioner, twenty-two year old Frank Moran, who died in October. Most of the deaths from the disease occurred from mid-September to early December 1918. About 675,000 Americans died, a staggering total out of a national population of 105 million, and dwarfing the body count of 116,000 American servicemen killed in the war.
On October 7, 1918, the Somerville Board of Health closed down all public places where people could congregate including churches, schools, theaters, pool rooms, saloons, and soda fountains. Social life in Somerville effectively disappeared. Citizens were advised to barricade themselves indoors and the streets of Somerville resembled a ghost town. Even public funerals for those who died of influenza and pneumonia were prohibited.
On October 19, the Somerville Red Cross held a meeting to open an Emergency Hospital solely to handle the overwhelming number of influenza cases. Fathers Ryan and Zimmer were appointed to the committee. The school building on the corner of Davenport and Cliff Streets was converted into a hospital, and the Raritan Woolen Mills supplied warm blankets. One Somerville undertaker reported receiving seven to eight phone calls per day for his services and hired three additional embalmers to handle the demand. He quickly exhausted his supply of coffins and had to order more from manufacturers throughout the country. Nearby Philadelphia had it much worse. The mortality rate there was so high there that guards were hired to keep the few coffins remaining from being stolen. The gravediggers and undertakers couldn’t keep pace and bodies were routinely buried in mass graves.
The epidemic peaked quickly and by the end of October the restrictions were lifted. Still, all the churches, Immaculate Conception included, were closed down for most of October 1918. The Unionist Gazette described the first churchless Sunday:
Last Sunday was a new experience for Somerville, not a church bell rang and not a church door opened to welcome worshippers. Some individual churches have been closed from time to time for various purposes but no one could remember when all the churches in the borough were closed. Coupled with the prohibition against automobiles, Sunday was the quietest day on record.
†††
Both the parish and the country prospered during the 1920s. Then, in October 1929, the stock market crashed after increasing five-fold in the past six years, losing 25 percent of its value in only two days. Just as the market was recovering from the post-Crash recession, President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Act which imposed tariffs on imported goods. America’s trading partners immediately retaliated with tariffs of their own, trade between nations dropped by more than half, massive layoffs ensued, and the United States entered the ten-year economic catastrophe known as the Great Depression.
Depression and War 1930 - 1956
The Great Depression hit the Somerville area hard and a combination of factors contributed to the economic misery. Because of deflation and the overall economic slowdown, it was not uncommon for workers to accept pay cuts of sixty percent or more. Due to the unprecedented unemployment levels, and the insufficient assistance coming from the federal and state governments, many local communities organized their own relief efforts. Mayors relied on local pastors to lead the way, and Immaculate Conception parish did its part.
Somerville Mayor Robert Adams appointed Father Ryan and two Protestant ministers to head up the local relief agency and to each serve one month in rotation. Father Ryan steered the committee in March 1932. The Borough of Somerville organized available workers who could be hired by calling Borough Hall. By January 1933, the committee was organizing house-to-house canvassers to collect for relief with the aim of raising $10,000. The volunteers were recruited from the churches and aimed to collect ten thousand dollars. Somerville was divided into ten districts, and the canvassers worked in teams of two. Father Ryan told the volunteers, “You must make a thorough canvas of every home in your district. This cannot be a half-way effort and succeed; the solicitation must be a thorough one. That is the only way we are going to reach the goal set for the borough; this most imperative appeal that we must all be ready to support to carry us over these trying months.” The drive succeeded and surpassed the $10,000 goal.
Other charitable work continued as well, despite the hardships of the Depression. Every year the parish was asked to contribute candy, fruits, stockings, and discarded toys for the children at the orphanage in Hopewell. The Knights of Columbus would take up this collection by canvassing house to house. Several parishioners remembered how their parents would always be willing to provide soup and a sandwich to transients passing through town looking for work.
†††
By March 1937, Father Ryan’s health began to fail and he was unable to lead the Easter services. He spent the first week of May 1937 on an eight-day sea voyage to Florida where he visited Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Upon his return the pastor said he was feeling much better and he resumed his pastoral duties immediately. Though his health was not ideal, he was able to perform his priestly responsibilities.
On November 16, it was announced that Father Ryan would be a guest speaker at the Catholic Men’s Club at the Hotel Somerville the following week. The main Speaker, Dr. John George, a professor of political science at Rutgers was to give a lecture entitled What is the Constitution? Father Ryan never delivered his talk. On November 17 he suffered a heart attack in the rectory and was taken to St. Peter’s Hospital where he died early the next morning.
Only a week earlier, on his day off, the pastor had enjoyed hunting in the morning, golf in the afternoon, and bowling with the Knights of Columbus in the evening. Though Father Ryan’s less than ideal state of health was no secret in the parish, his death at the relatively young age of sixty did come as a surprise.
Father Ryan lay in state in the church where the Knights of Columbus provided an honor guard throughout the night. At the funeral the Fourth Degree Knights provided an escort for Bishop Moses Kiley, who presided at the Mass.
†††
In early December 1937, Bishop Kiley appointed Father Joseph Mahoney to the pastorate of Immaculate Conception. Joseph Mahoney was born in Danbury, Connecticut, in 1878 and attended Niagara University and Our Lady of Angels Seminary. He was ordained in 1905 and had served as pastor of St. John’s Church in Lambertville since 1920.
Father Mahoney said his first Sunday Mass at the parish on December 12th but soon he suffered a bout of bad health himself. In January 1938 he spent several days at St. Peter’s Hospital in New Brunswick with a severe cold that threatened to become pneumonia.
Like his predecessor, Father Mahoney had a close relationship with the Knights of Columbus, speaking at their “Irish Night” in March. Later that month he said Mass before the annual Knights’ Communion breakfast. Father Mahoney also spoke at the Mother-Daughter banquet sponsored by the Junior Catholic Daughters of America in April.
On May 27, 1938, an ecumenical memorial service was held at the church to honor the nations’ war dead. Father Mahoney presided at the service and many local veterans participated. Monsignor William McKean of Bernardsville preached the sermon.
Father Mahoney continued to experience health problems. On June 19, the pastor was admitted to St. Francis Hospital in Trenton for an unspecified illness. On December 5, he announced his transfer to St. Mary’s Parish in Deal. He would have made the announcement a week earlier but inclement weather delayed the appointment of the new pastor. Father Mahoney served as pastor of Immaculate Conception for just under one year. This makes him an anomaly in a parish that is known for pastorates that span decades. He is also the only pastor to have an assignment after Immaculate Conception. The others either retired or died in office. Father Mahoney remained as pastor of his new parish in Deal for the next eleven years until his death on October 20, 1949.
Fr. Joseph F. Mahoney, Pastor, 1937-1938
†††
In December 1938, Bishop Kiley appointed Father Robert Graham to the pastorate at Immaculate Conception. Father Graham was born in Brooklyn on April 25, 1897. He first attended public school and then the parochial school at Our Lady of Good Counsel parish. He attended St. John’s Prep and graduated from St. John’s University in 1918. He then attended Our Lady of Angels Seminary at Niagara University where he received his master’s degree in 1920.
Father Graham was ordained at the cathedral in Trenton on June 10, 1922. His first assignment was at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Bernardsville where he remained until 1934. That June he was assigned to St. Rose of Lima in Oxford where he remained for the next four years. On December 6, 1938, Bishop Kiley assigned him the pastorate at Immaculate Conception and simultaneously appointed him Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Trenton, a position he held until 1942.
Father Graham has been described as a “wonderful speaker” with a “vocabulary that would test Webster’s.” He was known as an “Old School” priest, faithful to the Magisterium of the Church, who gave sermons “full of fire and brimstone.” When Father Graham preached about marriage, he would often say how he did not want couples coming to him asking for a specific wedding day saying, “But Father, we can only get the Far Hills Inn on such-and-such a day.” He would respond, “You’re not getting married in the Far Hills Inn, but in the Catholic Church, so make your arrangements with the church first.”
Fr. Robert Graham, Pastor 1938-1956
Father Graham was a well-read man who kept abreast of current events and had a keen interest in international affairs. In July 1941, he addressed the Rotary Club at a luncheon meeting where he spoke about the need for God. “We have chaplains for soldiers, sailors, fireman, and everything else,” he said, “but none where they belong, with the school children. You can’t have morality without religion. Put God back into the world and we’ll be all right.” He used the occasion to comment on the Treaty of Versailles which Germany was forced to sign at the end of World War 1 and which ultimately ruined their economy. Father Graham called it a product of force and force, in turn, begets hate. Indeed, Hitler had used the Versailles Treaty as a campaign platform to rally the German people around him. Father Graham commented that great confusion existed in the world and cited the case of Finland, a long-time ally of the United States, which had gone over to the Axis after it was invaded by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, which was invaded by Germany only a month before his speech, was now an ally.
†††
America did everything possible to avoid involvement in the Second World War, which by the summer of 1941 had been raging for eighteen months. Things looked grim in Europe as the Wehrmacht overran country after country, and Great Britain, standing alone, seemed like it could not hold out for long. Shortly after Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland in September 1939, Father Graham led prayers for peace at the end of Mass “by order of our Most Rev. Bishop responding to the appeal of our Holy Father.”
Anticipating America’s involvement in the conflict, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered a peacetime draft in October 1940. The draft had the endorsement of Archbishop Francis Spellman of New York who wrote: “It is better to have protection and not need it than need it and not have it. … We Americans want peace and shall prepare for peace, but not for a peace whose definition is slavery or death.”
Many of the young men from Immaculate Conception were called up in the Selective Service lottery. In November 1940, Father Graham asked the parishioners to save old magazines, particularly Catholic ones, “for the boys in Camp Dix. The Knights of Columbus will canvas the town for the magazines.” Parish involvement on behalf of the troops continued on June 22, 1941, when Father Graham asked for support for the USO drive. “We are asked to do our part in providing recreational facilities for our boys in military camps,” said the pastor at the Sunday Masses that day. “Unless we provide clean, decent, and legitimate recreation for our boys in camp the devil will get there ahead of us. Your donation may help to keep some boy out of a house of prostitution. Our boys have gone away clean. Let’s do our part to bring them back clean.”
The parishioners of Immaculate Conception were not the only ones involved in supporting the troops. The USO drive was organized on the municipal level. The Boy and Girl Scouts, the YMCA, and the Catholic Daughters of America canvassed door-to-door, distributing literature and contribution envelopes. Nationally, the drive aimed to collect $10,765,000 to “provide facilities for social, religious and educational services for American soldiers in camp when off duty.”
By March 1941, the parish was supporting an educational display sponsored by the Baptist Church to benefit the Bundles for Britain collection. Parishioners were asked to bring napkins, towels, razor blades, and handkerchiefs. This program solicited donations of such materials, as well as clothing, mittens, and bandages to aid the British people who were suffering during the Blitz. Help came from all over the United States. One British correspondent wrote that “it was remarkable the difference these gifts had made in the people. … Bombed families had been without any clothes at all, except for what they stood up in, and very often those had been torn to pieces by the blast.” An American visitor noted that “after 57 nights of bombing, … the people of Portsmouth emerged to find Bundles for Britain on hand to help – the first civil relief agency to reach them.”
In September 1941, Father Graham was imploring parishioners to support the annual collection for the Pope. The European nations that traditionally supported the Pope’s appeals — Poland, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Luxembourg, and Norway — had all been overrun by the Nazis. Spain was recovering from its own civil war and Great Britain was expecting imminent invasion. “The appeals for help made to the Holy Father are greater and more numerous now than ever,” said Father Graham. “No nation in Europe can come to his aid. It is only by the generosity of American Catholics that he may continue his charities to the stricken of the world.”
In April 1942, Father Graham received permission from Bishop Griffin to apply for a commission as an Army chaplain. He became the first local clergyman to apply for active duty and travelled to New York for his physical. The following month he was the keynote speaker at the Somerville Memorial Day parade; in April 1943 he addressed the midshipmen at the Naval Academy in Annapolis; and that September he served on the reception committee to welcome home Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone.
Father Graham even took an interest in the spiritual needs of the German prisoners of war at the Somerville Sub-Depot and asked for donations for altar items. He noted that about fifty of the more than three hundred prisoners attend Mass. “They are very devout,” wrote Father Graham, “praying aloud the Mass in their own language. A lad of 19 serves Mass perfectly. He was in the German Army for two years. He could not have belonged to a Hitler Youth Organization and know his religion as well as he does.”
By the fall of 1944, Allied armies had broken out of the Normandy hedgerow country and liberated most of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. On September 24, Father Graham asked the parishioners of Immaculate Conception to take part in the campaign for clothing for the liberated peoples of Europe. “All the churches of America are conducting this collection,” said Father Graham.
Every Sunday the parish prayed for those in service. At the Sunday Mass on April 15, 1945, the Knights of Columbus received Holy Communion, offering it “for the boys of this and surrounding parishes who have died in the war.” By early May 1945, the war in Europe was drawing to a close. At the Mass on May 6, one week after Hitler’s suicide in his Berlin bunker, the pastor announced: “It is possible that V-E day may come soon. If announced during the day the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed that day. Devotions in thanksgiving will be held in the evening. If the announcement of V-E day is made in the evening, the exposition and devotions will take place the next day.” Germany surrendered unconditionally two days later but the citizens of Somerville took the news rather calmly. Schoolchildren listened to President Truman announce the surrender on the radio and were then dismissed for the day. The churches in town were opened and they quickly filled with the grateful parishioners. About five hundred people gathered in Immaculate Conception to offer thanksgiving.
The mood remained rather somber as everyone understood the massive casualties that were pending in the Pacific, especially with the invasion of mainland Japan all but inevitable. One war correspondent estimated that between half a million and a million men would die in the invasion, and such casualty estimates were frequent discussion topics in newspapers and on radio programs. It was expected that those family members serving with combat units in Europe, though safe for now, would be transferred to the Pacific to prepare for the invasion. Most workers stayed on the job and the few celebrations were muted. One Flemington resident noted that the men in his family were all serving in the Pacific. “When the war is finished there,” he said, “I’ll take a whole week off.”
Then, on August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb vaporized the city of Hiroshima. Three days later, a second atomic bomb flattened Nagasaki. Still, the Japanese general staff wished to continue the fight. Seeing the futility of doing so, Emperor Hirohito overruled them and ordered Japan to surrender. A third atomic bomb was not needed, the invasion was cancelled, and 1,200,000 men came home alive.
The quiet response to V-E Day was not repeated when President Truman announced the news of Japan’s surrender around seven in the evening of August 14. Somerville, New Jersey went wild with joy. Whistles blew, car horns blared, and citizens literally partied in the streets. Cars draped in American flags drove up and down Main Street and passengers hung out of the windows shouting in celebration. The Somerset Messenger Gazette called it “the wildest, noisiest, most joyous celebration this old borough has ever seen.” The news came just as the weekly novena to the Blessed Mother began at Immaculate Conception Church. The novena had been held during the war for the sake of those serving in the armed forces. There was a large crowd at church that night offering thanks to God. Father Graham remarked that the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and that peace had come on the eve of Feast of the Assumption.
†††
In March 1946 the parish acquired the Schafer property at 35 Mountain Ave. This location is known today as the parish center and it’s where the priests and lay staff have their offices. In 1946, they were calling it the “Parochial Center.” The purchase price was $36,186.25 it was paid in cash accumulated from seven years of saving. By springtime the pastor was asking “the men of the parish … to give a little of their time … to help fix up the property. Bring any tools you may have to cut grass, trim hedges, and lines for the paths.”
†††
On June 11, 1950, Father Graham placed the following message in the bulletin:
During the war many people who attended the Tuesday night Novena quit attendance when the war ended. Remember the injunction that our Blessed Lady enjoined on the children at Fatima in 1917 – Reparation to the Divine Heart of Christ and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Why don’t you come to the Novena on Tuesday night?
He repeated this same message for the next several Sundays. The timing was uncanny. On June 25, 1950, exactly two weeks after this announcement first appeared North Korea, backed by China, invaded South Korea, supported by the United States, and triggered a three year proxy war between the superpowers that claimed 54,000 American lives. By July 16 the pastor had amended the bulletin message a bit:
Remember the request that our Blessed Lady made to the children at Fatima in 1917 — Reparation to the Divine Heart of Christ and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A war is raging. Our own American boys are giving their lives in it. Why don’t you come to the Novena on Tuesday night?
The parish saw no parishioners killed in the Korean War. In fact, Somerville was largely spared in the conflict. Only one borough resident was reported killed in action during the war.
†††
Father Graham guided Immaculate Conception Parish through some of the darkest years in American history. The country, and the parish, emerged stronger after the war, with the number of parishioners swelling due to the demographic shift from the cities to the suburbs. The adjective “rural” no longer applied to Somerville as more homes were built and it evolved into a modern suburban community. The prestige of the urban parishes was on the decline as the largest and wealthiest parishes – and most influential pastors — were soon to be found in the suburbs. With the baby boom underway, these new parishioners were having many children, and it became apparent that the need for a parochial school could not be delayed any longer.
Schools 1957 - 1964
Since Immaculate Conception was such a small parish starting out, and since St. Bernard’s was within walking distance, a parochial grammar school was not established at first. Given the debt burden Immaculate Conception started with, it was not financially feasible to establish a school right away, though as early as 1904 Father van den Bogaard did declare his intent to open one. St. Bernard’s opened their grammar school in September 1889 and the parents of Immaculate Conception certainly had the option of sending their children there.
†††
In June 1920, the Somerville Board of Education proposed a plan to release students during school hours for religious education at their own churches. “This will entail a loss at school of one hour a week,” said the Supervising Principal, “which is insignificant compared with the gain of the hour at the church school. The Sunday hour, under this program, should not be discontinued, but should be given over to worship under the best guidance that the individual church can secure.” The idea was well received at the time and the Unionist Gazette weighed in with strong editorial support. In October, the Somerville Council of Religious Education, comprising all the churches in town, met to implement the plan. The council agreed to provide religious education for grades three through eight. Children whose parents wished to forego religious instruction would be kept in school and given other work. Father Ryan was appointed to the committee which would take the census of the pupils to determine everyone’s religious affiliation.
Time showed this program to be very successful, and by 1922 several churches, including Immaculate Conception, extended the program to high school students. In November, Father Ryan said the prayer of dedication at the cornerstone laying of the new Somerville High School.
By July 1921, Father Ryan was making plans for a parochial school. Ten thousand dollars was budgeted and property purchased on Davenport and Hunterdon Streets. The intent was to have a school in operation by 1923. For unknown reasons, the project was never brought to fruition. In June 1926, however, it was still being discussed. The Unionist Gazette reported that the school would be ready by September 1927. It was to be a one story concrete and brick structure designed to accommodate the addition of another story later if needed. The hope was to start the school with 125 students and later ultimately expand it to 220.
In April 1941 Father Graham encouraged parishioners to sign a petition asking the state government to provide bus transportation for Catholic school students. “Please have your non-Catholic friends sign,” asked the pastor. Though Immaculate Conception didn’t have a parochial school at the time, it joined the Catholic churches of New Jersey to support this service. Ultimately, 489,516 signatures were delivered to the state assembly to show support for the legislation. Thanks to lobbying from the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Daughters of America, the bill passed and went into effect in July. Little did anyone know at the time, this busing bill would lead to a landmark Supreme Court decision that established the tone of church-state relations to the present day.
Soon after the bill passed, Arch Everson, a resident of Ewing Township, filed suit claiming this practice was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The New Jersey Supreme Court struck down the law as unconstitutional and the case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the transportation law was constitutional, but the majority opinion altered the direction of constitutional thought on church-state separation. Justice Hugo Black, a former Ku Klux Klan member, wrote the majority opinion in the case of Everson vs. Ewing Township:
The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions or prefer one religion over another. … In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect 'a wall of separation between Church and State’.
The “wall of separation” philosophy thus entered the constitutional lexicon and drove many of the decisions that affect church-state relations today.
†††
Shortly after Father Graham became pastor, he picked up where Father Ryan left off and began planning for a parochial school. Since he assumed the pastorate at one of the worst points of the Great Depression, it was not the best time to begin a fundraising campaign. Then, the Second World War came and restrictions on the use of building supplies postponed his plans even further. Of course, unavailability of building materials due to wartime rationing didn’t mean that funds could not be raised in anticipation of the day that they were available. At the Sunday Masses on January 3, 1943, Father Graham told the parishioners:
You will note that one side of the weekly envelope is for a school fund. We cannot build during the war, but now is the time to gather funds toward that goal when the war ends. A school will mean a parish hall also. We could make fine use of one now. We may someday have some social life in our parish where we have a place for our people to meet. The people who use their envelopes will be the main contributors to this project. A casual nickel or dime will do very little. An honest and worthy contribution should be made every week.
A year and a half after the war ended, the pastor kicked off the fundraising drive. At the Masses on February 23, 1947, he told the parishioners:
The campaign for funds for a parochial school is now on. The special gifts committee is in the field working. Do not figure on how much somebody else can give and then regulate your pledge accordingly. God doesn’t judge any one by what anyone else does.
The pledges came in quickly and substantially. One month later he informed everyone that “we have made excellent progress during the week in the campaign for the funds for a parochial school. The results continue to be most encouraging.”
The school fundraising drive was a very organized event. Teams of parishioners gathered at a planning meeting at Raritan Valley Farms Inn on April 7, 1947. Rev. Michael Dalton, former diocesan Superintendent of Schools, was the guest speaker. Each volunteer fundraiser personally chose the names of parishioners they would visit to solicit donations for the new school. Father Graham allowed the canvassers to do this so “it cannot be said that workers were given difficult contacts to see.”
Pledges started coming in but the actual payments on those pledges were not keeping pace. By January 1948, Father Graham emphatically expressed his disappointment in the parish bulletin:
A person who does not intend to keep his pledge is guilty of an injustice to the whole parish. How? Because the cost of the campaign was based on the total amount represented by the pledges. Don’t shirk your duty! Don’t leave it to others to make up for your neglect! Don’t sabotage the campaign! WE WILL HAVE A PAROCHIAL SCHOOL!
The School Fund campaign officially ended on April 15, 1949, and Father Graham spent the next several years encouraging parishioners to make payments on their pledges. Building the school became his main passion. In June 1949 he held a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the main intention of which was “the realization of our parochial school.”
Each week the pastor published a status report of the outstanding balance of unpaid pledges. By June 1951, this amount was $22,737.25, approximately $10,000 of which “will not be collected because of deaths and removals.” For Father Graham, death was an acceptable reason to forego pledge payments but leaving the parish was not. In August 1951 he reminded the parishioners: “Removal obviously does not exempt those who defaulted in payment and left the parish after the time for fulfilling pledges … ended. There should be a more urgent reason for default than moving out after the pledge should have been paid.” Stronger tactics were tried as well. The pastor told the parishioners that he would publish “the names of all who were contacted, of those who refused to contribute as well as the amounts paid on pledges.”
Sufficient funds were on hand to allow ground for the new grammar school to be broken on September 8, 1955. The school project almost immediately faced an additional challenge when the Diocese of Trenton assessed all the parishes to finance the construction of a high school in Burlington County. The assessment was so burdensome that construction of the grammar schools of both St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s parishes in Bound Brook had to be postponed. By November 1955 the pastor reported that expenditures for the project to date were $78,283.97. Now that the School Building Fund was being drained Father Graham reminded the congregation:
Very speedily, we are spending our savings of 16 years. I plead with you to see the dire necessity of contributing more than you have in the past. I am not crying “WOLF” for fun. … If you are bestowing charity elsewhere, please give it to our church instead. We need it, “Charity begins at home,” and there is no reason why it shouldn’t end here – for a long time.
Still, the pastor was proud of the progress being made. By the end of November he was encouraging parishioners to visit the building site and see the progress for themselves.
The year 1956 saw the opening of the New Building Fund Campaign with Joseph Murphy as General Chairman. The goal of $150,000 was set. Bishop Ahr wrote to Father Graham: “I give my wholehearted approval to the drive for funds for the new parochial school in Immaculate Conception Parish.” By the end of January memorial gifts alone amounted to more than $70,000. Father Graham addressed the Masses on January 28 and spoke of the idea of “Fair Share”:
The minimum “Fair Share” has been set at $200.00. This figure has not been arbitrarily arrived at, but is an amount thought to be within the means of every parishioner. It also represents the minimum amount necessary for the attainment of our goal of $150,000. In actual figures, it represents $8.00 per month, or less than $2.00 per week. To place it on the level of everyday living, it represents scarcely more than a pack of cigarettes per day. …
The personal satisfaction that will be yours, when the children of Immaculate Conception Parish are afforded the privilege and protection of a Catholic education in a school built through your sacrifice, will be truly something you will cherish and remember for the rest of your days.
†††
Father Graham’s health began to fail in January 1956 but by February he had recovered enough to thank the parishioners “for the many inquiries made about my health. About a month ago, I suffered a temporary setback, have been improving and please God, will be around soon again.” His recovery did not last long. On March 5, 1956, Father Graham died of a heart attack at the rectory. Al Tozzi was an altar boy at the pastor’s funeral and rode in the funeral procession with Bishop Ahr who said the Mass. Al directed the Bishop to the parish cemetery. Bishop Ahr called him his “guiding angel.”
Father Graham remembered his parish in his will. He left five hundred dollars to the school building fund.
Father Graham did not live to see the completion of the school he worked so hard to build. That task was left to his successor, Father Eugene Kelly.
†††
Eugene Bernard Kelly was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 7, 1910, one of five children. Eugene’s path to the priesthood began like that of many priests, as an altar boy. Unlike most priests, he had the dubious distinction of being fired from that position for incompetence. “That began my love of the Church,” he recalled many years later, “and it proves that if you hang on long enough you’ll finally get to go where you want to go.”
Monsignor Eugene Kelly, Pastor, 1956-1985
Eugene attended St. John’s College and St. Francis College before matriculating at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. He was ordained by Bishop Moses Kiley in Trenton on May 1, 1937. Father Kelly spent the first three years of his priesthood at St. Joseph’s in Keyport. In September 1940 he was transferred to St. Catherine’s in Spring Lake.
In September 1943 Father Kelly joined the Navy Chaplain Corps and was commissioned a Lieutenant Junior Grade on November 6. He was stationed in San Diego until orders came through assigning him to the 22nd Regiment, 6th Marine Division on November 11, 1944. He travelled to Guadalcanal where the Marines were in training for the invasion of Okinawa.
Father Kelly landed with the first wave on Okinawa in April 1945 and accompanied his men as they fought across the island. One Marine, Lieutenant Daniel McFadden, explained how before the battle he spent at least an hour telling him that his proper position was at the collecting point where the wounded would be brought … I thought I had him convinced so then I briefed him on the plan of attack and … told him where we suspected the trouble would be the greatest. The following day found him in the thick of it, and every day thereafter. Some of the battalions would have it easy one day, hard the next. He had it hard every day and sometimes, before he would fall asleep from exhaustion each evening, I would point out to him on the operations map the biggest area of trouble the following day. … I believed the guy to be unlike anyone else, as his strenuous activity showed. … He was always at the very front lines doing his priestly work with those killed, wounded, or just frightened to death. His exposure to death was relentless and certain because of his constant moving from pillar to post, more so than any other member of the outfit.
At the end of the first day of combat, Father Kelly returned to the command post. Instead of fear, his eyes showed “the shocking disbelief of one who has seen such brutality of killing.”
By mid-May 1945, the Marines were preparing to advance on Sugar Loaf Hill, a key part of the Japanese defenses. Father Kelly gave Communion to the men, one of whom was Major Henry Courtney, the very devout Catholic battalion executive officer. Father Kelly and Major Courtney would often talk about his interest in becoming a priest after the war.
The Second and Third Batallions, about 2,300 men, fought on Sugar Loaf Hill for three days and sustained appalling casualties. Major Courtney led his Marines in capturing the forward slope of Sugar Loaf Hill in a night assault, personally lobbing grenades into cave openings while advancing up the hill and immediately attacking the Japanese on the summit. Major Courtney was killed by mortar fire in the attack and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Father Kelly took the news of his death very hard.
Father Kelly chose to accompany his men to the front lines as otherwise many would die without the sacraments if they didn’t survive the trip back to the forward aid station. A front line combat situation is dangerous under the best of circumstances but Father Kelly took additional risks simply by being a chaplain. Chaplains and medics are noncombatants, and even before the Geneva Convention gave them special protections in 1949 there were unwritten military codes that prevented them from being directly fired upon. The Germans mostly respected these codes, the Japanese almost never did. Moreover, Japanese troops were known to shoot chaplains and medics intentionally, wounding them only, so as to lure Marines to their rescue thus making them targets as well.
Okinawa was the bloodiest battle of the Pacific war. The United States suffered 12,420 killed or missing, double the death count of Iwo Jima. For his military service and courage under fire during the Battle of Okinawa, Father Kelly was awarded two combat stars. The award citation read:
Father Kelly contributed materially to the maintenance of the spiritual welfare of the officers and men of the regiment by his constant presence with the personnel of the various units in the front lines and forward areas. His outstanding dedication of this period of his life to the spiritual guidance of officers and men contributed markedly to the success of the regiment in this operation and was in the highest traditions of the United States Navy.
Many Marines were upset that Father Kelly did not receive the Navy Cross for heroism. Lieutenant McFadden believed that this was due to jealousy amongst the chaplains, and the commanding general of the Sixth Marine Division simply needed to keep the peace.
After the war, Father Kelly was stationed in Tsingtao, China, until his military service ended in 1946 when he returned to St. Catherine’s in Spring Lake. Soon after, he became administrator of Sacred Heart Parish in Bay Head. Over the next few years he handled several simultaneous parish assignments where he served at St. Anthony’s in Trenton, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Highlands, and Our Lady of Good Counsel in Moorestown. He was appointed founding pastor of St. Ann’s Parish in Browns Mill and in April 1948 he was appointed founding pastor of Christ the King in Manville where he built the church and rectory and purchased the property for the parochial school. He served as State Chaplain of the Veterans of Foreign Wars from 1952-53. Father Kelly remained at Christ the King until April 1956 when he was appointed pastor of Immaculate Conception.
†††
Father Kelly’s next order of business was to focus on completing the grammar school. Children of parishioners who wanted a Catholic education went to St. Joseph’s in Raritan. St. Bernard’s closed in 1933, initially for one year so as to repair the building, but the parish did not have the funds to reopen it again.
At the time the new pastor arrived in Somerville there was no provision yet made to staff the school. Teaching Sisters were needed. Father Kelly wrote to and visited numerous religious congregations and teaching orders throughout the United States and Canada. In late November 1956 the pastor wrote to Mother Maria Alma of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to make his case for the new school, describing the classrooms and facilities, calling it an “altogether bright and cheerful building.” His letter was a sales pitch. He described the area, telling Mother Alma about the population of Somerville – “approximately forty percent are Catholic” as well and the surrounding towns of Raritan, Manville, and Bound Brook, “all of which have a Catholic population of approximately eighty five to ninety per cent.” Father Kelly continued:
We mention the location and its proximity to New York in the hope that we might attract to the area since there are so many schools and universities nearby for the further education of the Sisters. We are attempting to persuade Seton Hall now to establish a branch of its university in the very school building that the Sisters will occupy. We mention this as some degree of adequate compensation since the salary for teaching Sisters in this Diocese is rather low at $55 per month.
What Father Kelly specifically asked for was five Sisters to staff the school when it opened for the fall semester 1957. After that, “two Sisters would be added each year … until the total number of Sisters reached seventeen as a complete complement for the grammar school.”
One of the sisters from the congregation Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary teaching in the new grammar school.
A week later, Mother Alma wrote back with the disappointing news that the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary would be unable to staff the school. “You can readily understand, too, that the continuous influx of Catholic population to the areas where our schools are located has resulted in a long list of unfilled requisitions for our Sisters,” wrote Mother Alma. Still, all hope was not lost. Mother Alma’s term as Mother General was ending in January 1957 and she suggested that Father Kelly resubmit his request when the new Mother General took over.
Father Kelly wasted no time in refiling his request. In February 1957 he wrote to Mother Maria Pacis, the newly elected Superior General, this time backed with a simultaneous letter from Bishop Ahr supporting Father Kelly’s mission. Again, the answer came back in the negative for the same reason — too great a demand for Sisters and too few Sisters available. Mother Pacis wrote Bishop Ahr: “Commitments already made to staff new schools obligate us to the extent of almost tempting Providence.” Mother Pacis promised Father Kelly: “We will ask God to aid you in finding a solution to your problem speedily and satisfactorily.”
Then, on May 1, 1957, after yet another request from Father Kelly and in answer to the Sisters’ own prayers, Mother Pacis wrote back to Bishop Ahr:
Recently this question has been brought to our attention, with a repeated request from Father Kelly that we supply teachers for his school. It seems, Your Excellency, like a bit of humor on the part of Providence. At the time the council debated the question, and voted against accepting the new school, someone informally remarked that should the request be repeated – which no one anticipated after the very direct refusal that was made – we should consider it an indication that God wants us in Somerville. Whether it is God’s direct design, or Father Kelly’s importuning, or just our desire to have another mission in the Diocese of Trenton, we are not sure. But if it still meets with Your Excellency’s approval that the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart should staff Immaculate Conception School, we are ready to “stretch a point” (or stretch Sisters) to supply four teachers for Somerville for the opening of the scholastic year in September, 1957.
The staffing problem was solved and four Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary – Mother Vincenta Lawlor, Sister Silverius Righter, Sister Maria Laetitiae Levis and Sister John Delores Bruno – were on their way to Somerville. At least the Sisters had a place to live. One of the existing residences on the school grounds was added to and remodeled into a convent. This house was located at the site of the current church and was later torn down to accommodate the construction.
†††
The general contractor for the elementary school was John McShain, Inc. John McShain was born in Philadelphia in 1898, the son of Irish immigrants. His father was a carpenter who founded a construction company that had a reputation for building churches, schools, rectories, and convents. He took over the firm after his father’s death in 1919 and grew the company into one of the largest construction empires in the United States. When the New Deal began, he bid on several government contracts sponsored by the Works Projects Administration. Among these were the annex to the Library of Congress and the Bureau of Printing and Engraving building. In 1938 he landed the contract to construct the Jefferson Memorial and the following year built the Franklin Roosevelt library in Hyde Park, New York. That same year he won the contract to build the Pentagon, then the largest office building in the world. In 1941 McShain built Washington National Airport. His construction projects in Washington, DC continued through the 1970s, and his most famous projects during these years were the White House renovations in 1950-51, the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in 1955, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1966. Though a staunch Republican, he had a solid personal and business relationship with Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy.
John McShain was a very devout Catholic, and when in high school he considered a vocation to the priesthood. Though the Lord did not call McShain to Holy Orders, he did call his only child to the religious life. Sister Pauline Mary became a teaching sister with the Society of the Holy Child Jesus in Pennsylvania. McShain was always very active in the Church and served on the boards of several Catholic universities. He also held almost every church honor that can be granted to a layman — Papal Chamberlain, Knights of Malta, and Knights of the Grand Cross of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1944, McShain created John McShain Charities and ultimately transferred most of his assets to this organization which donated funds to Catholic universities and parochial schools. John McShain later retired to his 25,000 acre estate in Ireland where he died on September 9, 1989.
†††
By early summer 1957, construction on the grammar school was completed, the teaching staff was in place, and the school was ready for an open house. About one thousand people visited the new facility. Father Kelly told the crowd that the school construction bill came to $792,500 plus an additional $52,142 for furnishings. The pastor explained that each classroom was designed to hold fifty children with a capacity of 800 to 900 students in the entire school. He said the classrooms are designed according to a “maximum light” concept as per parochial school guidelines. Some of the new features specific to the building consist of using pastel tile blocks, instead of plaster, to cover the interior walls. The auditorium walls are constructed out of unpainted cement blocks and natural hard wood ceilings and side beams. This approach was intended to eliminate the need to frequently repaint and re-plaster so that the only maintenance needed is periodic washing.
On September 4, 1957, Immaculate Conception Grammar School began its first day of classes with 216 students in attendance, comprising grades one through four. The Kindergarten started a few days later. The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary taught the first four grades and lay teachers taught Kindergarten.
Father Kelly was still making arrangements for transportation for the students who lived a distance from the school and though the school had a cafeteria, it was not ready to serve meals yet. Students brought their lunch and used it as a lunch room.
On Sunday, September 8, Bishop Ahr blessed the new grammar school. In attendance were the pastor’s brother, Father Morgan F. Kelly and his sister, Sister Mary Immaculate of the Sisters of St. Joseph. Father Kelly told the assembled guests “It is our hope that this will be a nursery of vocations; that enough vocations will develop not only for our diocese but that they will spill over beyond the diocese.”
As planned, each year another grade was added, and by the beginning of the 1961 academic year the full eight grades of the grammar school held a total of 744 students.
†††
Once the grammar school was up and running, Father Kelly immediately started planning for a high school. Since the grammar school went through grade four, with a new grade being added every year, it became the pastor’s goal of getting the high school ready in time for when those fourth graders completed their primary education and graduated in June 1962. He wanted to be ready for them the following September.
In 1959 Father Kelly called Monsignor Edward Spiers, the Superintendent of Schools and the Superintendent of Buildings for the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio. Since Monsignor Spiers had overseen the construction of two high schools and was planning a third, Father Kelly asked for his advice on the most economical way to construct one. Monsignor Spiers invited the pastor to see for himself and so he flew to Columbus to meet with him and visit the schools. He returned with the plans for a high school that would accommodate one thousand students and for a convent that would house thirty Sisters. The cost of the building was expected to be $1,150,000. Immaculata High School is a near duplicate of the one in Columbus, Ohio.
On November 27, 1959, Father Kelly wrote to Mother Pacis to tell her of his plans for the high school and put her on notice that he would be asking her Sisters to serve as the teaching staff. “I am not in any clear position to make a direct request for your Sisters for a specific date,” wrote Father Kelly. “Neither am I able to establish a definite time schedule. Our assets consist of the Bishop’s concurrence in the idea, a reasonable amount of money with which to get the project started, an adequate piece of land, and a barrel of enthusiasm.”
Mother Pacis wrote back with her wishes that “the favor of God, your ‘barrel of enthusiasm,’ and your acumen in practical details bring the project to ultimate success.” Mother Pacis concluded from the pastor’s letter that the opening of the high school would occur in 1962, “possibly later but definitely not before.” Continuing, she wrote:
If this is so, and if we judge rightly that you plan for freshman only the first year, with the intention of building up to the complete four year level by adding one grade in each succeeding year, then we shall be most happy to make Sisters available in 1962 or any year thereafter. To staff the entire high school at one time would be an utter impossibility. To provide Sisters prior to 1962 would seem, by the criterion of our present shortage, utterly impracticable.
Mother Pacis did request that she be consulted on the final plan for the convent so that she may “offer suggestions that would lead to a convent particularly adapted to our manner of living.” Father Kelly readily agreed to do this.
†††
Prior to the opening of Immaculata High School, the parish maintained a relationship with St. Peter’s High School in New Brunswick. Graduates of the local grammar schools, both public and parochial, were encouraged to enroll there. Every spring the pastors would encourage students to attend St. Peter’s and the parish shouldered the cost of both tuition and transportation. On April 28, 1940, for example, Father Graham told the parishioners:
All graduates of the elementary school this June should register in St Peter’s High School, New Brunswick. The tuition is thirty dollars a year and there is a diocesan statute that the parish is to defray the expenses of this tuition. Parents may pay this if they can afford it or wish to do so. Msgr. Hart can accommodate all the pupils we will send. It is a duty of conscience for Catholic parents to provide a Catholic education for their children wherever it is possible. There can be no excuse for the Catholic parents of our parish not to send their children to St. Peter’s. The parish will pay for transportation if parents are unable to do so.
†††
The land for the new high school in Somerville was acquired by purchasing private homes. Father Kelly started a building fund in May 1960 which by its conclusion that July had $400,860 in pledges, $860 over its goal. At its launch the pastor told the parishioners about what he saw in Columbus, Ohio, honestly admitting that cost was the deciding factor for the design and that the high school would not be the most beautiful one in the diocese.
Pledges are fine but only cash can make things happen. The money had to be collected and it came in gradually
On May 20, 1962, ground was broken for the first parochial high school in the history of Somerset County. Many parishes operated grammar schools, but only a small percentage opened high schools, mainly due to the cost burden. In 1959, 810,763 students were being educated in 2,428 Catholic high schools across the United States. By comparison there were 4,083,860 students attending Catholic grammar schools.
This day also marked the celebration of the pastor’s twenty fifth anniversary as a priest. He celebrated high Mass with his brother Father Morgan F. Kelly, and parish associates Fathers J. Nevin Kennedy, and Gustave Napoleon. A shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary was constructed in front of the grammar school. This was a gift of the parishioners to mark the pastor’s Silver Jubliee.
The first high school classes were held in the grammar school. Ninety freshmen began their studies in September 1962 in a high school which consisted only of a freshman class. The following year, those freshmen were sophomores and a new freshman class enrolled, bringing the student population to 215. This time they began their studies in the new high school building.
That first year all the high school classes were held on the second floor of the building. One of the classrooms was used as administrative offices. Construction was still underway on the first floor, and all work on the structure was not completed until the beginning of the 1963 academic year. Students were surprised to see construction workers pushing wheelbarrows through the foyer as they entered the building for their first day of class.
The staff that first day consisted of nine Sisters and two lay teachers. The first employee hired by Father Kelly for the High School was Catherine Aloia who remained on the job until her retirement in 1991. She died only two weeks after giving an interview for this book. Pierce Frauenheim, the athletic director, was hired right out of college at the age of twenty-two. He was a student at Rutgers at the time and a star football player for the Scarlet Knights, graduating in 1962. He heard that the new Immaculata High School was looking for a physical education teacher and so applied for the job. Father Kelly took him on a tour of the unfinished school building. The two walked together through the mud of the construction site, with the pastor talking of his hopes and plans for the school.
On the feast of the Immaculate Conception in 1963, Bishop Ahr and Father Kelly celebrated the Mass of dedication in the school gymnasium. Bishop Ahr then gave the papal blessing to the assembled crowd. He had just been in Rome two weeks earlier for the Second Vatican Council, and the newly elected Pope Paul VI gave the bishops a dispensation to bestow the papal blessing on his behalf.
Eight years later, on June 10, 1970, twenty eight seniors out of a graduation class of 160 became the first students to complete their full education in the parish schools. They entered the Kindergarten taught by Mrs. Nora Chang in 1957 and remained until graduation from the high school thirteen years later.
Tragedy and Rebirth 1965 - 1975
On Wednesday morning, January 6, 1965, Thomas McConnell exited his store on West Main Street, looked in the direction of Immaculate Conception Church, and saw smoke coming from the building. Harry Clark, the sacristan, also saw the flames, ran toward the edifice, and attempted to enter the sacristy but found the heat too intense. Clark saved what he could, carrying out boxes of vestments, a gold cross, and several statues. The general alarm went out at 9:42 AM and within four minutes, the first firemen arrived on the scene. They immediately assisted Clark in his mission of saving what he could from the church. Soon, flames were shooting out the windows on two sides of the church and had broken through the roof.
The original church agter firemen had controlled the blaze
Father Kelly was in the rectory that morning, about three blocks from the church. Wednesday was his day off and he had just begun his drive to Brooklyn to visit his parents. He soon saw the fire engines and asked a police officer what the problem was. A surprised policeman delivered the news: “Father Kelly, your church is on fire. It really looks bad.” The pastor sent word to Eleanor DeMott asking her to call the housekeeper at his parents’ home to tell them he wouldn’t be able to make it today. Then, he entered the church and removed the Blessed Sacrament. The fire kept spreading. “There was intense, acrid smoke,” said Father Kelly, “and beams were falling from the ceiling.”
Six fire hoses were run into different sections of the church, and the fire chief sent men into the ceiling to break holes in it to release smoke and gases. At 10:45 AM the Bound Brook fire department was summoned so its 85-foot ladder could be used to check for fire in the highest parts of the church. Up to eighty firemen were on the scene at the worst part of the blaze. They needed to break two of the stained glass windows to gain access to the sacristy, but the other windows remained unbroken.
By 11 AM the fire was under control, but the church was nearly a complete loss. The interior was devastated, and the walls weakened when the timber beams burned and collapsed. Though the organ was untouched by the flames, the heat literally melted it. The cause of the fire is still uncertain but the point of origin was definitely the sacristy.
The pastor’s next problem was to keep curious parishioners from entering the structure to survey the damage. “I fear the ceiling will go down,” he said. “I’m trying to keep people out of the church.”
Father Kelly was the last person in the church that morning having said the 7:30 AM Mass. It was the last Mass said in the old church. He returned to the rectory between 8:30 and 9:00 AM. In less than ninety minutes, a church that took Father van den Bogaard and the parishioners of the 1880s seven years to build, and that contained the memories of thousands of parishioners, was reduced to a smoldering ruin.
Father van den Bogaard was always very friendly to the Protestant congregations of Somerville and often credited their help in building the church. Now, eighty years later, these same congregations offered their help again after the fire. Rev. Eugene Durkee of the First Reformed Church, Rev. Wayne Hadley of the First Baptist Church, Rev. Hollis Smith of St. John’s Episcopal Church, and Rabbi Matthew Derby at Temple Beth El offered the use of their churches and facilities to Immaculate Conception. Florence Nash offered the use of the Somerville Inn, the Superintendent of Schools offered public school space, and the Director of the Board of Freeholders offered county building space as well as use of court rooms in the court house.
With the church gone, Mass was said at the high school gymnasium. Father Kelly spoke at the Masses that Sunday, January 10th. He reported that the church was beyond repair saying, “whatever God sends, we must willingly accept.” Also lost were a set of new vestments and the English language liturgy books needed for the conversion from the Tridentine to the vernacular Mass. The pastor thanked the fire department for their efforts noting that “the courage of the firemen was matched only by their intelligence.” In March 1966 the parish budgeted $7,015 for the demolition of the old church.
†††
By 1970 property purchases for the new church were being made. The new edifice would be located on Mountain Avenue next to the grammar school. Father Graham had spoken of building the new church on the Schaefer property, where the parish center now stands, so it could be seen when looking down High Street. The Sutphen property and Cusick property were acquired. In March 1972 the trustees resolved to engage the same architect who built the high school — McGee and Albert of Columbus, Ohio — to design the new church. When construction commenced in 1974 it was John McShain, Inc., the same firm who built the grammar school, who was hired to do the work.
In September 1972 Monsignor Kelly announced the beginning of the capital campaign to raise funds for the $1.5 million church. “Every neighboring community has at least one Catholic church,” said the pastor. “Somerville, the county seat, has been without one for too long. Our parishioners have wanted one ever since the destruction by fire of the first church eight years ago.” The fundraising drive began with a meeting of the two hundred canvassers who would be making personal visitations to the parishioners asking for support to build the new edifice.
Monsignor Kelly insisted on four key criteria for the design of the new church. First, upon entering the building, a visitor should have no doubt that they were in a Catholic church. Second, the Blessed Sacrament must be emphasized. This much is obvious from the location of the tabernacle at the center of the church directly behind the altar. Third, Christ’s Passion must be recalled, and fourth, the Blessed Mother must be honored since it is, of course, a parish dedicated to her Immaculate Conception.
In 1981, due to the growing Catholic population in the state, the new Diocese of Metuchen was carved out of the Diocese of Trenton. Somerville was included in the new diocese. The first Bishop was Most Rev. Theodore McCarrick. In 1983 the parish celebrated the centennial of its founding. On December 8th, Bishop McCarrick said the anniversary Mass at the church. The three days prior to that, Franciscan Father Felix McGrath celebrated a Triduum of Masses for the centennial. The anniversary celebration was a quiet one, owing to the declining health of the pastor.
Monsignor Kelly was a heavy smoker for many years and he eventually developed emphysema. He gave up cigarettes several years before he died but by then the damage to his lungs was irreparable
Eventually, Monsignor Kelly’s emphysema required him to take oxygen supplements and he was unable to say Mass in the church for the last two years of his life. The pastor was confined to the rectory and was well enough only to say private Masses.
In the final months of his life, Monsignor Kelly was confined to his room in the rectory and was on oxygen full time. Associate Pastor Father Tom Perunilam recalled how he needed to go to India in January 1985 for his nephew’s ordination. He was concerned about leaving the parish, but the pastor insisted that he attend. When he returned on January 14, he went to see Monsignor Kelly who asked, in a weak and gasping voice, “Give me the Last Rites. Just give me the Last Rites; I waited for you.” Father Tom administered the sacrament and the next day the pastor was admitted to the Somerset Medical Center. Eleanor DeMott visited him there and asked if he needed anything. Unable to speak and attached to a respirator, he held up his hand and rubbed his fingers together to indicate he wanted his rosary. Eleanor gave him hers.
Monsignor Kelly succumbed to emphysema on January 29, 1985, after 29 years as pastor of Immaculate Conception. He was buried at Immaculate Conception Cemetery with the full military honors befitting a Marine war hero. In his 48 years as a priest, he was decorated for bravery as a military chaplain, elevated to Monsignor, completed the construction of a grammar school, built a high school, a rectory, two churches, and founded two parishes — a breathtakingly remarkable life for a failed altar boy.
†††
When a pastorate opens up, priests who are interested in the job express their desire for it by writing to the bishop. Since Immaculate Conception is considered a choice assignment, several priests of the diocese did just that when Monsignor Kelly died. Because Monsignor J. Nevin Kennedy had already served six years as an associate pastor from 1958 through 1964, it seemed a natural fit for him to return as pastor. He immediately submitted his request to Bishop McCarrick to do so. In March 1985, Monsignor Kennedy was installed as pastor. Thus began what he refers to as the “Second Coming.”
J. Nevin Kennedy was born in Philadelphia on June 28, 1932, the oldest of four children. “I was a Depression baby,” says Monsignor Kennedy, “and my mother is still depressed.” He attended Holy Angels Grammar School in Trenton and spent his high school years at St. Charles’ Preparatory Seminary in Baltimore. After that it was on to St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, where he was ordained to the priesthood on May 31, 1958, by Bishop George Ahr. Monsignor Kennedy credited the example of the priests he knew as a child with first attracting him to the priesthood. His vocation was nurtured by his mother’s prayers.
Monsignor J. Nevin Kennedy, Pastor, 1985-2002
Father Kennedy remained at Immaculate Conception until April 1964 when he was sent to Holy Spirit in Perth Amboy. He served there as associate pastor until June 1969. After that he went to St. Raphael’s in Trenton for a year and then Our Lady Star of the Sea in Long Branch for another year. In June 1971 he was transferred to St. Matthias in Somerset and he became pastor there in December 1972, a position he held until February 1982. Father Kennedy then assumed the pastorate at Blessed Sacrament in Martinsville where he remained until Monsignor Kelly died.
Father Kennedy’s first order of business upon assuming the pastorate was to get a “state of the union” on the schools. He concluded that he didn’t need to do much there as things were running very well and he didn’t want to “fix what wasn’t broken.” The new pastor always took a keen interest in the schools in which he saw the future of the Church. “The only thing that counts is the sacraments,” said Monsignor Kennedy, and of getting people to the sacraments by way of “parochial school, CCD, and talking to the parents.” One of his favorite schticks with the school children was his routine with the second graders. He would visit their classrooms for this exchange:
Monsignor Kennedy: “What’s my favorite grade?”
Students: “Second grade”
Monsignor Kennedy: “Why?”
Students: “Because we make our First Communion in the second grade”
One of Monsignor Kennedy’s greatest joys was to give each child their first communion. “It’s so important to me. It’s an honor.” In 1996, Father Kennedy’s work with the parish and the Church was recognized by his elevation to monsignor.
†††
In September 1988, Father Kennedy purchased a home on Altamont Place to serve as the new rectory. Monsignor Kelly had originally planned to build a new rectory along with the church, but the costs were too great and the project was scaled back. Previously the priests lived on the top floors of what is now the parish center but the demand for additional office space became too great. The separate residence allows the priests to live in a relaxed atmosphere and defines a boundary between home and work. There is a pathway from the backyard of the house to the church, and the new rectory is actually closer to the church than the parish center.
†††
On November 3, 1997, a parishioner named Eleanor Boyer walked into Sam’s Stationary on North Gaston Avenue in Somerville. She played the Pick-6 Lotto numbers 2, 14, 17, 25, 31, and 45. One week later, she returned to Sam’s where the director of the New Jersey Lottery handed her a check for $11,800,000. The total payout was $21 million spread out over twenty years but Miss Boyer chose the lump sum option.
Eleanor approached Monsignor Kennedy outside church and told him of her desire to donate the majority of the winnings to the parish. “I’m OK with that,” the pastor said dryly.
Eleanor Boyer ultimately donated $5.9 million of the winnings to the parish. The rest she donated to the Somerville rescue squad and the volunteer fire department. Miss Boyer had a long history at the parish. She taught catechism and volunteered at the rectory for many years, helping to count the Sunday collection. Her typical day consisted of waking at 5:30 AM and arriving at church by 7:00 AM for an hour of meditation before the Blessed Sacrament. Then, she attended 8:00 AM Mass. Her piety was so great that she had a photograph of the altar displayed in a shrine she set up in her home. “No new car, no vacation,” she said. “My life is no different. I’ve given it up to God. I live in his presence and do His will, and I did that from the start.” Part of the money was used to purchase the church’s new pipe organ. ''I suggested to Eleanor that the organ could be from her, in memory of her parents, and she went along with that,'' said Monsignor Kennedy.
†††
On the morning of September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing three thousand people. The attack occurred just as the school day started. In the high school, the news was announced to the students and prayers were said for the victims. Pierce Frauenheim’s wife called him with the news and he managed to turn on the television in his office just in time to witness the second plane hit the South Tower. The news made its way to the grammar school more gently as such a horrific incident is not easy to explain to young children. Concerned parents began coming to the school to pick up their children. Second grader Amanda Cavanagh thought it odd that students were being individually called to the office throughout the school day and not returning to the classroom. Amanda was eventually called down herself and later learned that only three students remained in her classroom until the end of the day.
The staff at the parish center followed the events via internet and radio. Monsignor Kennedy expressed his complete shock that such a thing could happen within the borders of the United States and called upon the intercession of the Blessed Mother. A special Mass was organized which was well attended. The following Sunday, prayers for peace were said at all the Masses. An American flag was draped across a pillow and laid in front of the altar.
The attacks of September 11 affected many communities and parishes in New Jersey and Immaculate Conception was not spared. Among the dead at the World Trade Center was John Collins, a New York City fireman and 1976 graduate of Immaculata High School. John had wanted to be a fireman since he was four years old.
†††
When Monsignor Kennedy reached his seventieth birthday he decided it was time to retire and did so in 2002. Still, he had some reservations about the decision. “I’ve had the same agenda every morning all these years. It will be difficult but I am also sure it will be the right thing to do.”
On June 23, 2002, the pastor’s retirement dinner was held at the Somerville Elks Club. Over 300 parishioners were in attendance. After a forty-four year career of parish ministry that began and ended in the same parish, the pastor told the assembled guests: “There’s nothing better than being a parish priest.”
Monsignor Kennedy retired to the Maria Regina residence where he remained active as a parish weekend assistant until his death on June 27, 2015.
†††
The new pastor, Monsignor Seamus Brennan, was born in Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland, on March 7, 1948. County Laois is at the geographical center of the country, forty miles from Dublin. Seamus was the fifth of thirteen children — four boys and nine girls. Seamus was ordained to the priesthood on June 4, 1972, at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Waterford. Father Seamus then boarded a flight to the United States and began his first parish assignment in St. Barnabas Parish in Bayville.
Father Seamus was transferred to St. Phillip and St. James in Phillipsburg in 1974. He enjoyed working with his pastor, Monsignor Joseph Sheehan, a retired army chaplain who achieved the rank of colonel, and who was a strong supporter of Catholic education. An avid sportsman himself, Father Seamus worked with the sports program there and started a soccer team with the help of Brother Richard Leven, a Brother of the Sacred Heart. In 1980 he became an American citizen.
In January 1982, Father Seamus was transferred to St. John the Evangelist in Lambertville as temporary administrator on only three days’ notice after the pastor suddenly left the priesthood. Bishop McCarrick, who took over the newly formed Metuchen Diocese on January 31, 1982, visited the rectory, and asked him how he liked it there. Father Seamus replied in the affirmative and soon after he was appointed pastor. He remained in Lambertville until September 1985, when he was assigned to the pastorate at St. Matthew’s in Edison. Father Seamus was elevated to the rank of Papal Chamberlain, with the title Monsignor, in 1991. From 1989 to 2001, Monsignor Brennan served as Vicar for Personnel in the diocese in addition to being pastor of St. Matthew’s.
In 2002, Monsignor Brennan was serving on the diocesan personnel board when Monsignor Kennedy announced his retirement from Immaculate Conception. The topic of his successor came up and one of the board members asked, “How about you, Seamus?” The others agreed and before long he received an appointment by Bishop Bootkoski.
†††
On July 31, 2002, Monsignor Seamus Brennan became the seventh pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish. Like his predecessor, his first job was to listen. Since there were no major problems in the parish, there was no need to quickly implement any major reforms.
The new pastor’s first concern was the liturgy and prayer life of the parish. He began with a retraining of lectors and Eucharistic ministers. Then, he introduced communion under both species, along with monthly holy hours, morning prayers after the 8 AM Mass, and evening prayer on Mondays.
His next goal was the stewardship initiative. Monsignor Brennan arranged for the McKenna Stewardship Ministry to introduce tithing and to encourage parishioners to share their “time, talent, and treasure.” As part of this initiative, the parish went from two Sunday collections to one, since the emphasis was on tithing.
It was from the stewardship initiative that the New Evangelization Parish Council emerged. “Stewardship is the disciples’ response,” said Monsignor Brennan, “so we need to be good disciples first and evangelize the people in our own community. This is top of my agenda
The first step is to focus on the formation of adults and family catechesis
Monsignor Seamus Brennan, Pastor, 2002-2020
†††
On May 31, 2008, some eight hundred parishioners gathered at Immaculate Conception Church to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the ordination of Monsignor J. Nevin Kennedy. Monsignor Kennedy was joined by Monsignor Brennan and thirteen other priests, many of whom have served Immaculate Conception over the years. In his homily, Monsignor Kennedy reminisced about his ordination a half century ago that very day when he and “ten other young men were ordained to the priesthood.” Mass was different then, “the priest faced a wall and there were rules for what to do with your fingers and hands … I was somewhat shy and if I didn’t have to face all those people that was just fine. Then came Vatican II and they turned me around. I was still shy but I got over that somewhat. It took about 48 years.”
Reflecting on the sacramental life of a priest, Monsignor Kennedy explained the nature of his vocation. “There is one reason I am a priest,” he said, “and that is to change bread and wine into Jesus Christ. Try to comprehend what it is like to say those words and what happens when you say them. I’ve been honored and I’ve been spoiled to have been a priest.”
Then, his renowned sense of humor took over and looking out at the congregation he said, with as serious a demeanor as possible: “The talk today is in two parts and that is the end of Part One. When I was eleven years old…” Peals of laughter rolled through the church at this point in anticipation of a lengthy sermon. Monsignor Kennedy turned to the concelebrants and remarked, “I didn’t know that was funny.” Turning back to the congregation, he recalled his special affection for the Blessed Virgin Mary and her intercession in his life over the years. “In the seminary we celebrated with special joy the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.” Here he emphasized the words Immaculate Conception. “Thirteen days after my ordination Bishop Ahr assigned me to the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Then, when Monsignor Kelly died I was brought back to Immaculate Conception. I was ordained on the feast of the Queenship of Mary and when I retired it was to the Maria Regina residence. On this fine fiftieth anniversary of my ordination I can say that I love God, I love Mary, and I love you.”
After Mass 240 parishioners, friends, and family gathered in the ICS cafeteria for a dinner in Monsignor Kennedy’s honor. Monsignor Brennan announced that if you had not made a reservation, “then I’m sorry to say the place is full. He still draws a big crowd.”
The cafeteria was organized as a living biography of the man with each table named after a significant person or event from his current or past life. Walking though the room, even someone who did not know Monsignor Kennedy personally could obtain a sense of him from the many layers of lang syne that were collected there. Starting with the Maria Regina table, one could move backward in time to the Immaculate Conception table for the parish he shepherded for seventeen years, then it was on to the Blessed Sacrament table for the pastorate he held for three years. After that, it was on to St. Matthias, Star of the Sea, and to Holy Spirit. His favorite sports teams were represented as well – the Philadelphia Eagles, the Phillies, Notre Dame, the Kentucky Derby, and Monmouth Raceway. Of greatest importance was the spiritual tapestry of the life that the remaining tables represented – his patron St. Therese; Holy Thursday, the day the priesthood was instituted; Pope John Paul II, who greeted him on the occasion of his 25th anniversary as a priest; and finally, at the table honoring the Blessed Mother, who guided his vocation for more than a half century, sat Monsignor Kennedy.