Cathedral parish honors Mary Josephine Healey Feenan, parishioner for 94 years

PATERSON  For 94 years, Mary Josephine Healey Feenan has called the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist here her spiritual home. Ten years before it was known as the Diocese’s mother church, her parents brought her to be baptized there on April 3, 1927. For her family, the cathedral parish holds a special place in the family’s history. Her grandfather, John Shields was one of the many Irish laborers who came to the city of Paterson looking to build a better life for their families and sought a place to live their Catholic faith in freedom.

“The cathedral is very dear to my heart,” said the 94 year-old. “My mother and father were married there in 1926 and I was baptized there in 1927. I recall as a young child, my mother explaining to me that my grandfather was one of the carpenters who worked to build the cathedral. Growing up, daily early morning Mass in the Cathedral was attended by my family.”

Feenan grew up in South Paterson and the area around the cathedral has been the location of so many memories and moments in her life, especially meeting her future husband at 16. She said, “I met the love of my life as a high school student at St. John’s. My dear husband John and I were married for 64 years before he passed away. We had eight children, 11 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren many of whom have been welcomed into our Catholic faith through baptism at the cathedral. We have marked so many beautiful moments within our family in joyful thanksgiving to God while in attendance at Mass in St. John’s Cathedral.”

At the celebration, Feenan’s many relatives attended the Mass, which marked the cathedral parish’s 200th anniversary on June 24, the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney was the principal celebrant of the Mass with many priests of the Diocese as concelebrants.

Maura Feenan, one of Feenan’s daughters, spoke on her behalf, paying tribute to the generations of the past especially Dean McNulty, who was an instrumental force in the building of the cathedral and is buried on the grounds of the cathedral.

“John and Mary Shields had 11 children their seventh child, Bridget, my grandmother, all of her 100 years of life spoke of Dean McNulty with great reverence. She recalled seeing the Dean and bearing witness to his many acts of kindness, she spoke of his wisdom and his foresight to purchase surrounding land on which to build the infrastructure that in turn created the space for this faith community to grow and thrive. Faith and family were at the core of life for these new immigrants,” Maura Feenan told those in attendance.

In honoring her mother at the 200th anniversary celebration, Maura Feenan said, “Thank you again for honoring my mother, her boundless love of God, her unwavering faith, her wisdom, her quiet strength, her bountiful compassion, and her never ending hope are lessons our family learns from daily. I’ll end with an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s quote, though she be small, she is mighty.”

— CECILE PAGLIARULO