The Church of St. Joseph is the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

for St. Joseph Parish, a

national parish National parish is a type of Catholic parish distinguished by liturgical rites or nationality of the congregation; it is found within a diocese or particular Church, which includes other types of parishes in the same geographical area, each parish ...

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founded in 1873 to serve the German-speaking residents of the Yorkville neighborhood on the

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Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

History

After the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, many German families sought more pleasant surroundings than were to be found in their original enclave of Little Germany on the city's

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

and found it in Yorkville. The German

Redemptorists The Redemptorists officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer ( la, links=no, Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris), abbreviated CSsR,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brother ...

, who served the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer in their old neighborhood, opened St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum at Avenue A and East 89th Street to provide the children more open and green space. It was staffed by the

School Sisters of Notre Dame School Sisters of Notre Dame is a worldwide religious institute of Roman Catholic sisters founded in Bavaria in 1833 and devoted to primary, secondary, and post-secondary education. Their life in mission centers on prayer, community life and mi ...

, based in

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, who taught their students entirely in German. At that time, the only Catholic Church in the area was the Church of St. Laurence O'Toole, which was run by the Jesuit Fathers on what was to become

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. The German Catholics who moved into the area relied for church services in their native tongue on a chapel at the orphanage. In 1873 a delegation of the German Catholic community in Yorkville approached Thomas Ouellet, S.J., the

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of St. Laurence Parish, who by

Church law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

was their official

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

, and requested that the Jesuits provide a German-speaking priest for a new

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

be established to serve their needs. They agreed and referred this request to

John McCloskey John McCloskey (March 10, 1810 – October 10, 1885) was a senior-ranking American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first American born Archbishop of New York from 1864 until his death in 1885, having previously served as Bishop of ...

, the

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, who authorized the establishment of the Parish of St. Joseph. The Jesuits were initially entrusted with its administration and Joseph Durthaller, S.J., was sent to serve as its first pastor. A small church was quickly built and dedicated by McCloskey in 1874. A school for the children of the parish was opened in the orphanage in December 1880. The

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assumed complete control of the parish in 1888, and assigned

Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

Anton Lammel as the first pastor from among the clergy of the archdiocese. Lammel soon felt that the current church was no longer adequate to the needs of his growing congregation and started to plan for a new church. Construction on the new church began in 1894 under the architect J. William Schickel and was completed the following year. The new church boasted of an organ made by the noted firm of

Müller & Abel Müller & Abel was an American firm founded in New York City which was notable in the field of building pipe organs. It operated from 1893 to 1902. History Oscar Müller and George Abel were German immigrants who had been employed by Roosevelt Org ...

, which is still in use. Lammel served as pastor until 1911, when he was succeeded by Monsignor Gallus Bruder (1911–1943). Among various other improvements which Galler made to the parish facilities was the building of a

parochial school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...

to accommodate the large expansion of the German population moving into the neighborhood after the ''

General Slocum The PS ''General Slocum''"PS" stands for "Paddle Steamer" was a sidewheel passenger steamboat built in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891. During her service history, she was involved in a number of mishaps, including multiple groundings and collision ...

'' disaster of 1904 and the completion of the church's bell tower. Both were completed in 1926.

Current

The German community for which Yorkville was long known began to disperse in the 1970s, as the many German eateries in the area began to disappear. The parish currently numbers some 700 parishioners.

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

in German, however, continues to be celebrated at the church monthly. Additionally, with the closing in August 2015 of the nearby Church of St. Stephen of Hungary, which had served the Hungarian population of the city, services in the Hungarian language began to be celebrated at St. Joseph's Church on September 6 of that year.

References

External links

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"Manhattan Pastor Faces Up to Drug Dealers, With Prayer and a Petition", NYT
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Joseph's Church, Yorkville National parishes Romanesque Revival church buildings in New York City Roman Catholic churches in Manhattan Religious organizations established in 1873 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1874 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1895 German-American culture in New York City Yorkville, Manhattan 1873 establishments in New York (state) 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States