| A Brief History of St Henry Parish |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| Saint Henry's Parish was organized in 1889 by about fifty families. A plot, comprising thirteen city lots at the northeast corner of Avenue D (now Broadway) and 26th Street, was secured for $6,000. On December 8th, 1889, the cornerstone was laid under the direction of the late Reverend John Schandel, then pastor at Saint Paul Church, Greenville. The dedication occurred on the second Sunday of the following April. The edifice cost between $9,000 and $10,000. The first pastor, selected by Bishop Wigger for the new parish, was the Reverend Alois Heller, who served from May, 1890 to February, 1891. He was succeeded by the Reverend Joseph Graf, who served until December, 1891. For six weeks the Franciscans from Paterson conducted services and then the Reverend W.B. Ahns became pastor. He was followed in 1894 by the Reverend George Meyer, who served until October, 1905. In the first fifteen years of the parish the administration of the parish had changed five times and except for the eleven year pastorate of Father Meyer, the term of pastorates averaged no more than one year. |
| Old Saint Henry Church, Rectory, and Sisters' Home around 1890. This site now hosts the US Post Office |
| It is reported that the first child baptized in Saint Henry Church was Adam Fink on May 13th, 1890; the first funeral service held was for the child of Isadore Rolling, and the first marriage was that of John Huber and Helen Hock on July 25th, 1890. In 1890 the Sisters' house was erected on 26th Street and on February 2, 1891, a school with fifty children was opened in the house. In the Spring of 1891 the rectory was erected at a cost of $3,450, and Saint Thomas Hall was completed in July of the same year. Father Meyer started the Saint Vincent de Paul mission in Salter's Hall on July 5th, 1895, for the convenience of Catholics living in the northern section of the city and later he purchased lots on which Saint Vincent Church was built. |
| Reverend Peter E. Reilly Pastor, 1905 - 1919 |
| The Reverend Peter E. Reilly was assigned to succeed Father Meyer in 1905. He led the parish through years of phenomenal growth, including the construction of a new church, and served for fourteen years, until his death in 1919. The rapid growth of the parish under his administration made it apparent early in his pastorate that a larger edifice would have to be provided for the worshippers of the parish. He purchased the present site for $27,000 and this site is considered one of the best locations and most valuable plots of ground in this city. The plot includes the entire block bounded by Avenue C and Kennedy Boulevard and extends from 28th to 29th Street. The ground was broken for the new church by Father Reilly on June 17th, 1911, and the cornerstone was laid by Bishop O'Connor on September 15th, 1912. The dedication on May 30th, 1915 was an occasion for rejoicing by members of the parish. |
| Saint Henry's was offered to five pastors, and finally the Reverend Michael Mulligan accepted the difficult parish assignment. Transfer occurred on October 15, 1919, and the first thing Father Mulligan did was to spend more money. He bought a modern pulpit of carrara marble for $4,000 and he used it to raise more. In fourteen months up to January 1st, 1921, Father Mulligan had managed to spend $29,500 for repairs and at the same time had reduced the church debt to $160,000. |
| In the meantime, Father Mulligan organized the Bayonne Visiting Nurses Service. The nurses worked closely with the medical profession and their work was approved by the US government. In February of 1924, Father Mulligan started a drive for a $15,000 church organ. He had committee teams so well organized that in six days he had enough money for a $22,000 organ. With a majestic church and an ever growing parish, Father Mulligan initiated several fund-raising programs to support the maintenance and expansion of the parish facilities, such as the Church Debt Society and the Repair and Improvement Fund. The last big hurdle was the acquisition of adequate school facilities. The old school on West 30th Street was a wooden structure jammed with as many as 300 students; Public School No. 8, whose locale the city didn't seem to like, was one-half block south of the church. Father Mulligan bid $20,000 for the school and won it, then spent $60,000 renovating it. When that job was completed Father Mulligan turned his attention to the old school, redecorated it and made it into Saint Henry's Social Center. Unfortunately, this was destroyed by fire in 1964. In 1966, the now Monsignor Michael J. Mulligan (he had been elevated to the Monsignorate in 1954) became Pastor Emeritus of Saint Henry's Parish and passed the active administration of his parish to the new pastor, the Reverend Charles J. Covert, on July 7th 1966. Monsignor Mulligan had been ill prior to his retirement; it was not long after that he died at the home of his sister, Margaret, in Clinton, NJ, on September 24, 1967. |
| Right Reverend Monsignor Michael J. Mulligan Pastor, 1919 - 1966 Pastor Emeritus |
| Father Covert himself had retired 16 months previously, but his retirement was from the Navy, in which he had spent 23 years as a chaplain. Father was aided in his new assignment by Reverend Richard Chilmark, who had been at Saint Henry's for six years, and by Reverend Charles McCusker, who had just replaced the transferred Father Kiernan. Certainly Monsignor Mulligan had maintained the buildings, but there had never been any renovation done. Father Covert determined, therefore, to update both the church and the school, and the modernizations he had in mind were quite extensive, with an approximate cost of $550,000 for the church and $150,000 for the school. |
| Reverend Charles J. Covert Pastor 1966 - 1979 |
| Father Covert was, of course, depending very heavily upon the financial support of his parishioners, but he envisioned this renewal as extending beyond the mere buildings to the parish itself. It was his aim that the people renew themselves as a parish community, increasing their commitment to the spiritual, social, and educational aspects of parish life. He encouraged their participation by giving his support to the various organizations which made the parish a living body. |
| No longer did a Catholic pastor reign over the parish in splendid and sole supremacy; instead, his power would be shared with parishioners competent in various fields pertinent to parish life. This arrangement is in harmony with the spirit of the Vatican council. To activate this idea of shared missions in Jesus' service and to follow the directives of the Archdiocese of Newark, the Parish Council was organized at St. Henry in 1978, with its first formal meeting being held on September 13th. The task of the council was to organize the parish and to ensure that the various facets of parish life adequately answered the needs of its members. Father Covert had been ill during this period; several times; he was a patient at Bayonne Hospital. Eventually, he became physically incapable of serving as pastor and was relieved of his duties on November 10th, 1979. Father Eugene J. Hazewski arrived at St. Henry on November 12th to take over the pastorate; shortly afterward, Father Covert died in the rectory. |
| In the autumn of 1919 the United States, finished with war, was heading towards the prosperity of the Twenties. Saint Henry's Parish was struggling under a two-fold burden: one, a deep sorrow; the other, a large debt. Its beloved Father Reilly had died, leaving the people a brand new English Gothic church and a $200,000 debt. |