Upper West Side Catholics: Liberal Catholicism in a Conservative Archdiocese

By Matthew Mason

This remarkable history of a beloved Upper West Side church is in many respects a microcosm of the history of the Catholic Church in New York City.

Here is a captivating study of a distinctive Catholic community on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, an area long noted for its liberal Catholic sympathies in contrast to the generally conservative attitude that has pervaded the archdiocese of New York. The author traces this liberal Catholic dimension of Upper West Side Catholics to a long if slender line of progressive priests that stretches back to the Civil War era, casting renewed light on their legacy: liturgical reform, concern for social justice, and a preferential option for the poor long before this phrase found its way into official church documents. In recent years this progressivism has demonstrated itself in a willingness to extend a warm welcome to LGBT Catholics, most notably at the Church of the Ascension on West 107th Street. Ascension was one of the first diocesan parishes in the archdiocese to offer a spiritual home to LGBT Catholics and continues to sponsor the Ascension Gay Fellowship Group.

Exploring the dynamic history of the Catholic Church of the Ascension, this engaging and accessible book illustrates the unusual characteristics that have defined Catholicism on the Upper West Side for the better part of the last century and sheds light on similar congregations within the greater metropolis. In many respects, the history of Ascension parish exemplifies the history of Catholicism in New York City over the past two centuries because of the powerful presence of two defining characteristics: immigration and neighborhood change. The Church of the Ascension, in fact, is a showcase of the success of urban ethnic Catholicism. It was founded as a small German parish, developed into a large Irish parish, suffered a precipitous decline during the crime wave that devastated the Upper West Side from the 1960s to the 1980s, and was rescued from near-extinction by the influx of Puerto Rican and Dominican Catholics. It has emerged during the last several decades as a flourishing multi-ethnic, bilingual parish that is now experiencing the restored prosperity and prominence of the Upper West Side as one of Manhattan’s most integrated and popular residential neighborhoods.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Empire State Editions
• Release date: Nov 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9780823285426

Matthew Mason

Matthew Mason is professor of history at Brigham Young University.

Book preview

Upper West Side Catholics

Upper West Side Catholics

Liberal Catholicism in a Conservative Archdiocese

The Church of the Ascension, New York City, 1895–2020

Thomas J. Shelley

Copyright © 2020 Thomas J. Shelley

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Fordham University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Fordham University Press also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Visit us online at www.fordhampress.com/empire-state-editions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Shelley, Thomas J., author.

Title: Upper West Side Catholics : liberal Catholicism in a conservative archdiocese : the Church of the Ascension, New York City, 1895–2020 / Thomas J. Shelley.

Other titles: Church of the Ascension, New York City, 1895–2020

Description: New York : Empire State Editions, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019028505 | ISBN 9780823285419 (hardback) | ISBN 9780823285426 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Church of the Ascension (New York, N.Y.)—History. | Upper West Side (New York, N.Y.)—Church history. | New York (N.Y.)—Church history.

Classification: LCC BX4603.N6 C474 2020 | DDC 282/.7471—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019028505

Dedicated with gratitude to

Mrs. Elizabeth Molda (May 20, 1908–October 30, 2002)

mother of

Mrs. Irene Bogoni

A faithful parishioner of the Church of the Ascension And an extraordinarily generous benefactor of this parish.

Contents

Foreword by Father Daniel S. Kearney

List of Abbreviations

1. A Home of Their Own

2. The Founding Fathers

3. The Upper West Side

4. The Ascension Parish Plant

5. The Confident Years at Ascension

6. A Parish in Transition

7. Quo Vadis?

8. A Neighborhood in Peril

9. Recovery and Renaissance

10. Old and New Horizons

Appendixes

A. Pastors of the Church of the Ascension

B. Upper West Side Catholic Churches in 1865

C. Upper West Side Catholic Churches in 1910

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Foreword

When I first asked Monsignor Thomas J. Shelley to write the history of Ascension Church as it comes to mark its 125th anniversary, he responded enthusiastically with a resounding Yes. For that I am grateful, as will be many people from Ascension who will read his work.

In order to really appreciate the history of Ascension or any other New York City parish for that matter, it is necessary to know and understand the neighborhood the parish and its people and priests live in and serve in order to see and appreciate how the faith community has developed and changed over time. Monsignor Shelley has masterfully painted a colorful description of the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights as these areas changed over the decades including struggles with crime, violence, and gentrification which has tended to push out long-time (and often poorer) families. With the arrival of each group of new residents, many of whom were immigrants, beginning with Germans who were then followed by Irish, Hispanic, and now a highly diverse population, the parish adapted, sometimes not easily, to the needs of each. Shelley gives particular attention to the impact the building of rapid transit, particularly the extension of the subway lines uptown, had on the neighborhood and how this shaped the parish also.

In the early years of Ascension, the large number of parishioners were served by a pastor and four or five assistant priests. Before the 1960s, the spiritual and social needs of the people were typically served principally through more than a score of Masses each week (including more than 5,000 people coming on Sunday alone), confessionals open for many hours each Saturday, traditional devotions on weekday evenings, and myriad clubs and activities catering to the various groups in the parish (adult men and women, small children and teens). In addition, the parish school enrolled more than 900 students at its height and had both—that is, religious sisters and brothers teaching in most of the grades. For the average parishioner it was principally through all of these services and activities in both the church and school that Ascension and the wider Church touched and shaped both their spiritual and daily lives. But as much of American culture and the wider world began to change, so too was the Church affected by the changing social forces in the 1960s.

The Second Vatican Council was convened by Pope John XXIII and took place from 1962 to 1965. Many would say that the role of the Church as well as that of priests changed radically after its conclusion. But the role of the laity changed dramatically also, empowering them to play a more active part in the life and even governance of the Church—no longer being told to simply pray, pay, and obey. Ascension Parish took the mandates of the Second Vatican Council quite seriously. As early as 1966, the parishioners of Ascension were studying its documents, especially those pertaining to the liturgy and the rights and responsibilities of the laity. Energized and empowered through their study of these documents, in 1968 when Ascension was awaiting a new pastor, a group of parishioners got together to offer their recommendations to the new archbishop, Terence Cooke, about the selection of their next pastor. While their input seemingly fell on deaf ears, their efforts to be heard demonstrated that times had certainly changed. And it was also a harbinger that more things would change, or would have to, in the years ahead.

Despite all that has changed in Ascension and in the wider communities it seeks to serve, a few core values have remained constant. The parish, its priest, and people continue to work to create a vibrant Catholic community, especially by welcoming all who are new. Each Sunday, a warm word of welcome is extended to those who may be at Ascension for the first time and to those who are visiting: regardless of the newcomer’s or visitor’s language or gender, sexual orientation, and marital or document status. As one woman once commented to me: I’m so grateful to you for your welcome, because after all, the kingdom of God never excludes—it always invites! That’s what the kingdom of God is all about, and I’m glad that that’s what we are about here at Ascension!

Father Daniel S. Kearney,

Pastor, Church of the Ascension

Ascension Thursday, May 30, 2019

Abbreviations

"J’espère mourir un religieux pénitent et un libéral impénitent. (I hope to die a penitent religious and an unrepentant liberal.")

Henri Lacordaire, O.P.

1802–1861

1 A Home of Their Own

Parade Time

Americans have always loved a parade, whether they lived in large cities or small villages. No celebration of the Fourth of July would have been complete without a parade, no matter how modest it might have been in a small town. This was especially true in the later nineteenth century when many Americans were members of veterans’ organizations like the Grand Army of the Republic, labor unions, fraternal fellowships, and ethnic and religious societies. They were always eager to demonstrate their strength in numbers by participating in civic and religious events like the dedication of a new city hall or court house or church.

At that time the residents of the Upper West Side of Manhattan were no different from the rest of mainstream America. They jumped at every opportunity to take part in a parade. Therefore, on June 28, 1896, when Michael Augustine Corrigan, the archbishop of New York, presided at the blessing of the cornerstone of the new Catholic Church of the Ascension on West 107th Street, it would have been unthinkable if the festivities did not include a parade through the streets of the neighborhood. The parishioners were joined by lay members of twenty-six Catholic parish and fraternal societies from all over New York City. They added solemnity to the occasion by marching through the streets in something less than serried ranks carrying flags and banners accompanied by brass bands playing hymns and patriotic songs. They included contingents even from long-vanished organizations like the Catholic Benevolent Legion and the Society of Catholic Mechanics and Tradesmen.

In the over-the-top style of nineteenth-century journalism, the reporter for the New York Times pulled out all the stops and predicted sight unseen that the future church would be one of the most magnificent on the Upper West Side. He estimated that almost 5,000 people were in attendance at the blessing of the cornerstone. Not to be outdone in hyperbole, the reporter for the New York World claimed that no fewer than 600 children, all clad in white, took part in the ceremonies.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature did not cooperate for the occasion. It rained cats and dogs all day, leaving the participants drenched to the skin despite a forest of umbrellas. The parade included an appreciative salute to the first two temporary homes of the parish. The assembly point was the first home of the parish, the Lion Park Hall on West 108th Street. From there the marchers proceeded down Columbus Avenue to 106th Street, then passed in front of the second home of the parish, the Home for the Aged of the Little Sisters of the Poor, before turning north on Amsterdam Avenue to 107th Street. Many buildings along the route were decorated with intertwined American and papal flags. The pastor of the new church, Father Nicholas M. Reinhart, served as the master of ceremonies.

It is not known if anyone dared to explain to Archbishop Corrigan the vital significance of the Lion Park Hall in the origins of the parish. It was owned by the adjacent Lion Lager Bier Brewery, where many of the Germanborn parishioners were employed. One can only wonder about the real sentiments of one of the honorary chaplains to the archbishop, Father James Galligan, a neighboring pastor who had fought tenaciously to prevent the establishment of the new parish.

The ceremonies had a pronounced Teutonic flavor, as befitted the occasion since the new church had been established primarily for the benefit of the German-speaking Catholics in the neighborhood. The Grand Marshal was Mr. Joseph Stultzenberg, and there were two sermons, one in English by Father Joseph Campbell, S.J., the president of St. John’s College (the future Fordham University), and another in German by Father Jerome Henkel, O.F.M. Cap. They spoke to a sea of dripping umbrellas, according to one press report. After the conclusion of the ceremonies, there was a dinner and reception at the Lion Park Hall, where there was said to be general rejoicing. It is likely that most of the rain-soaked guests were celebrating with Lion Lager Bier (the house brew) rather than with ginger ale or iced tea.¹

The Dedication of the Church of the Ascension

By November of that year the church was almost entirely enclosed physically. It was used for the first time on Sunday, March 14, 1897, when six Masses were celebrated in the church, which was said to have ample room for 1,200 worshippers. That estimate also seems a gross exaggeration even though poor urban Americans grew shorter and slimmer in the late nineteenth century. The church was designed in the Romanesque style by the German-American architectural firm of Schickel and Ditmars.²

A recent succinct description captures the salient features of the building.

The blessing of the cornerstone of the Church of the Ascension, June 28, 1896. (New York World, June 28, 1896.)

The façade, which is faced with light-colored rough stone and limestone trim, includes a triple portal entrance surmounted by a rose window, and four small turrets. Inside, the Italianate nave has a decorated ceiling, wheel windows at the clerestory level, and tall side aisles with faux-marble columns. Above the white marble high altar is a richly colored stained glass window depicting the Ascension of Christ.³

The pipe organ was the work of the local firm of Müller and Abel, both German immigrants. The much-admired stained-glass window of the Ascension of the Risen Lord behind the main altar was also a link with the Fatherland. It was manufactured in Munich and was the gift of an anonymous donor in 1897 shortly before the completion of the church. Left unsaid was that the side and rear walls were brick, not stone, for the same reason that the church was built in the middle of the block rather than on the corner of Broadway where real estate was much more expensive.

The interior of the Church of the Ascension. (Photo by Seth Webster.)

The Organ and Choir Loft of the Church of the Ascension. (Photo by Seth Webster.)

Appropriately, on Ascension Thursday of that year, May 27, 1897, Archbishop Corrigan returned to dedicate the church. Once again there was a parade from the Lion Park Hall to the church that included a large number of clergy, parishioners, church societies, and bands.⁴ Father Reinhart had every reason to be proud of what he had accomplished in two years as the founding pastor of the Church of the Ascension. However, at the blessing of the cornerstone in June 1896, the enthusiastic reporter for the New York World had made the wild prediction that the church would be completed and the entire debt paid off by Christmas of that year. Neither prediction proved to be accurate. Archbishop Corrigan was less than pleased when the parish debt on the uncompleted church reached the sum of $133,000 by the end of 1896. He was so apprehensive that he appointed two senior pastors to investigate the finances of the parish.⁵

2 The Founding Fathers

The Archbishop and the Pastor

The two people who deserve the most credit for the establishment of the Church of the Ascension were Michael Augustine Corrigan, archbishop of New York from 1885 until 1902, and Father Nicholas M. Reinhart, the pastor of Ascension from its founding in 1895 until his death in 1900. They were as different as chalk from cheese in age, family origins, personality, and the scope of their accomplishments. However, each of them—the aging archbishop from a comfortable middle-class family in Newark, New Jersey, and the dynamic young priest from the Lower East Side of Manhattan—made his own distinctive contribution to Ascension.