Cathedral parish of St. John the Baptist celebrates 200th anniversary

BEACON PHOTO | JOE GIGLI

94 YEARS  Bishop Sweeney speaks with Mary Feenan and her children, Maura Feenan and John Feenan, during the cathedral’s 200th anniversary celebration June 24. Click here for story and additional photo.

PATERSON  On the corner of Main Street and Grand Street here, “a presence that is right in the thick of things, and a presence that is big enough to accommodate all comers,” describes best the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, which for generations has welcomed all who come through its doors.

That is how Msgr. Raymond Kupke, diocesan archivist and pastor of St. Anthony Church in Hawthorne, described the cathedral parish in his homily during a Mass June 24 to mark the cathedral parish’s 200th anniversary celebration June 24, on the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney was the principal celebrant of the Mass with priests from around the Diocese as concelebrants. The congregation filled the cathedral to standing room only for the first time in more than a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Included were past and present parishioners of the cathedral, and many friends of the cathedral community and the Diocese of Paterson.

Msgr. Kupke paid homage to the cathedral parish’s storied history created by the many priests, religious and laypeople, who helped write it. Along with the feast day Mass that evening, the celebration also honored the late Msgr. Mark Giordani, rector of the Cathedral for more than 30 years, who passed away earlier this year, and Mary Joseph Healey Feenan, 94, a parishioner of St. John’s since her baptism on April 3, 1927.

Msgr. Geno Sylva, rector of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, shared opening remarks at the beginning of the Mass, recalling when a young boy with his family walked past the cathedral one day. “I asked them, ‘Are you parishioners of St. John’s?’ ” said Msgr. Sylva. “The wife said, ‘We actually have never been inside the church.’ I said, we can fix that, come right in.”

The young boy was amazed at the Cathedral and asked Msgr. Sylva, “Can you show me your church?” recalled Msgr. Sylva. “Can you show me your church? Our ancestors in faith over 150 years ago took in hand hammer and chisel. That sacrificed so much for generations to come whenever we enter this neo-Gothic cathedral that they built by hand — the Irish immigrants — we can have no doubt that our God is indeed an awesome God. Tonight, we remember all those who left us this magnificent space to worship. Those whose presence is still felt in the wood, the marble, the windows and the walls. My friends, we also pray tonight for those of us who are blessed to be the living stones of St. John’s.”

To begin the Mass, the Bishop welcomed all to the celebration. “How good it is to be here tonight my sisters and brothers,” he said. “We should just pause for a moment to realize, to feel this beautiful night that God has given us. A full cathedral after all that we’ve been through for the past 15 months but also after 200 years to celebrate an anniversary not of a parish that is 200 years old but of a parish community that is 200 years young. Growing in faith passed on from one generation to the next.”

In his homily, Msgr. Kupke said, “St. John’s, right from its very beginning two centuries ago, has always been a formidable presence, not just architecturally, but as a bastion of faith and service in the City of Paterson, in the Diocese, first of New York, then of Newark and finally of Paterson, and in the whole Garden State. There are two famous and oft-quoted comments of the legendary Dean McNulty who led the parish in constructing this cathedral that both describe and define St. John’s. First, as he prepared for the building of the parish’s third church, the Dean said he wanted the new church ‘to stand on the corner of Main and Grand, not on a side street where the previous church had stood, because Main and Grand is where the Catholic Church belongs.’ ”

Msgr. Kupke ended his homily by saying, “In the midst of the urban sprawl of northern New Jersey, where cities and towns and boroughs tumble into each other without clear definition, St. John’s is the tallest structure in Paterson. It not only gives definition to the city, but also serves, if you will, as a gateway, a sign of welcome, if you will, to that part of the Lord’s vineyard, that is the Diocese of Paterson. To the tens of thousands who drive past it each day, its tall spire points heavenward. When you see that spire, you know that you are in Paterson, New Jersey, and have entered the Paterson Diocese. That spire invites them, in the midst of very hectic lives, not to wander aimlessly, but to focus on faith and hope and love, the realities that really matter. As it enters its third century, may St. John’s Cathedral, and the parish community that calls it home, continue, like St. John the Baptist, to point out the way to Christ the Lord for many years, and even for many centuries to come.”

After the Mass, the celebration moved outdoors with the dedication of the new catechetical center by Bishop Sweeney and a cultural program featuring the many diverse communities who worship at the cathedral. The celebration was held behind the cathedral on the corner of DeGrasse Street and Hamilton Street, which is the location of the new catechetical building currently under construction.

At the outdoor event, Mary Feenan, the cathedral’s longest tenured parishioner for the past 94 years, was honored and her daughter, Maura Feenan, spoke on her behalf. Deacon Jose Pomales, who was ordained in 1995 and served with Msgr. Giordani as a deacon until Msgr. Giordani’s retirement as rector at the Cathedral, spoke about the late rector of cathedral in Spanish, sharing memories of serving alongside him. Msgr. Sylva blessed a portrait of Msgr. Giordani and his motorcycle vest that will hang at the entrance of the Rodimer Center, which he built 20 years ago.

After the Bishop blessed the building, fireworks erupted from the Passaic County parking garage, which was coordinated by Garden State Fireworks to top off the occasion. A dinner catered by the Brownstone and cake from Shop Rite of Passaic treated the attendees.

The Bishop thanked all those attended and Msgr. Sylva for his dedication in coordinating the event and his work at the cathedral. “The beauty of this night is the beauty of our faith. We come from different places, we speak different languages. We have different stories but there is nothing that divides us tonight. We are just God’s family saying our prayers, having a good time and about to share a meal. We shouldn’t take that for granted,” Bishop Sweeney said.