Author: admin Page 9 of 17

Author: Daniel Gorman Jr.

St. Monica Roman Catholic Church has been at the corner of Genesee and Monica Streets since 1913.

St. Monica Roman Catholic Church was formed to serve 65 Irish Catholic families, many of them farmers.[i] In 1895, Bishop McQuaid split the new parish from Immaculate Conception, which had grown too large, and charged Monsignor John Brophy with caring for Catholics in southwest Rochester.[ii] Details about Monsignor Brophy are scarce. He was 30 years old when the parish opened in 1898.[iii] A 1984 Landmark Society of Western N.Y. report says that he was known for bicycling.[iv] Parish lore holds that he took a bicycle tour through the neighborhood when he learned that he would be leading a new church there.[v] St. Monica launched as a full parish in June 1898, even though the combined church-school building at 838 Genesee Street was not completed until January 1899.[vi] At the New Year’s Day, 1899, Mass (a Sunday, fittingly), Bishop McQuaid commented:

St. Monica’s Church is the outcome of an idea I have had for some time past of placing in the outskirts of the city small parish churches. Yet I must say that you have erected here a larger church building than I expected. Still if you were able to put up such a splendid building, you will, I think, be able to sustain it….[vii]

SM-McCarthy-1949-History

Charles L. McCarthy, “Foundation of Saint Monica’s Church of Rochester” (1949)

Three nuns from the Sisters of St. Joseph ran the school, with its total of 67 students. Although nuns worked at St. Monica from its inception, the church did not open a convent until 1907.[viii] Previously, the nuns had lived at the St. Patrick’s Girls Orphanage and walked a mile to school every day, as they could not afford the trolley fare.[ix]

SM-Historic-Parish-Boundaries-no-date

St. Monica Historic Parish Boundaries (no date)

 In 1913, Brophy supervised the construction of a new St. Monica, which cost $75,201.26, and a rectory at the southwest corner of Genesee and Monica Streets.[x] This project better accommodated the more than 3,000 people who attended the parish.[xi] John T. Comes, a Pittsburgh architect, designed the new Italianate-style church, which held its first Mass on January 30, 1915.[xii] While Comes designed a bell tower, it was not built.[xiii] Tradition has it that Brophy and George Eastman, president of Kodak, went to New York City together to obtain an organ, but this story needs more evidence.[xiv] Nine years later, Brophy oversaw the installation of stencils, paintings of the saints, statuary, and paintings in the church.[xv] While the new church was under construction, a wooden annex was added to the original church to serve as a school.[xvi]

The parish continued to grow despite the Great Depression. Brophy supervised the opening of a new recreation center, featuring a gym, auditorium, and kitchen, in 1935.[xvii] The church maintained its rich culture of civil associations. A chapter, or praesidium, of the Legion of Mary formed at St. Monica in 1931, during a wave of Legion chapters forming in Rochester.[xviii] Parishioners worked with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith; in 1944, for instance, they donated $155 for adoptions, $34.02 in general donations, and $50 for “seals” to the Pontifical Association of the Holy Childhood, which funds missionary work.[xix] Additionally, the Works Progress Administration sent Arthur Purtell in 1936 to assess St. Monica’s archives for the Survey of State and Local Historical Records.[xx] Some of the documents Purtell describes, notably index cards of members and leather-bound church records, are not available for public review.

SM-WPA-Local-Historical-Records-Survey-1936

Works Progress Administration Survey of State and Local Historical Records for St. Monica (1936)

Three structural improvements — a redecorated church, a remodeled school, and a school addition — occurred in 1939.[xxi] Monsignor Brophy died the same year.[xxii] Bishop Kearney presided over Brophy’s funeral, for which the church was decorated with banners. Dozens of priests and nuns attended.[xxiii] Rev. William Bergan succeeded Brophy as pastor.

In 1947, the last full year of Bergan’s tenure, construction began on a new school, which would provide more classroom and office space, and replace the wooden school annex. Local African American architect Thomas Boyde, who built Monroe Community Hospital, contributed to the school design.[xxiv] Bishop Kearney blessed the school on its opening in 1949 and used the occasion to laud the patriotism of Catholic schools.[xxv] Specifically, one newspaper clipping said, “The bishop emphasize[d] the importance of Catholic education to the growth of American democratic principles.”[xxvi] This comment reflects the efforts of twentieth-century Catholics to overcome lingering religious and ethnic prejudice, and reiterate their commitment to democracy, despite their spiritual allegiance to the Vatican. Anti-Catholic sentiments would remain acceptable in public discourse until 1960, when presidential candidate John F. Kennedy made a concerted (and effective) attack against them.[xxvii]

Monsignor Gerald Lambert became pastor of St. Monica upon Bergan’s death in 1948. Lambert had previously run Catholic Charities for the diocese. In this position, he had directed health programming, settlement houses, Boy Scouts, St. Anne’s Home for the Aged, and the 1937–42 consolidation of diocese orphanages. Lambert and Rev. Eugene Hudson co-founded Camp Stella Maris, a Catholic summer camp at Conesus Lake that remains operational today.[xxviii] In the holy year of 1951, Lambert coordinated bus transportation for more than 1,000 St. Monica parishioners to visit special churches where indulgences were being distributed.[xxix]

More than seven million acts of Communion occurred in the diocese in 1958; 172,000 of these Communions were at St. Monica.[xxx] In their 1959 report, St. Monica’s trustees estimated that 2,000 families attended the church. The trustees called the church’s growth “steady over the years, in keeping with normal growth of City of Rochester.” “A few Negroes,” estimated at “4–5 families” and “perhaps five children in school,” attended the church; there was no mention of Latinx or Asian Americans. As of 1959, the church’s clergy had presided over 7,215 Baptisms, 5,610 first Communions, 5,754 Confirmations, 2,588 marriages, and 3,118 deaths.[xxxi] There is a gap in the church archive, unfortunately, regarding school attendance and the parish’s changing demographics in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

SM-1959-Trustee-Report

SM-1959-Trustee-Report-Better-Quality-but-Page-5-Question-39B-Missing

St. Monica Trustee Report (1959)
Editor’s Note: Two scanned copies of the 1959 trustee report are embedded here. The second copy has better print quality, but is missing the fifth page.

Still, a March 25, 1960, Catholic Courier Journal article reinforces the large population of not only St. Monica, but also the Diocese of Rochester, in the early Cold War. The prior Sunday, more than twelve hundred Legionnaires of Mary processed to St. Monica and renewed their membership.[xxxii] In 1973, the Courier Journal called the 1950s St. Monica’s peak, when the church was “about the richest in the diocese” and drew “5,000 people at Sunday Mass.”[xxxiii] After the Second Vatican Council, significant changes came to St. Monica. Like most Catholic churches, the communion rail was removed and the Mass was performed in the vernacular. Lambert retired in 1970, and Father Edward A. Zimmer succeeded him.[xxxiv]

White flight hit St. Monica hard. As the African American population of the 19^th Ward increased, wealthier white families departed, as Rev. Zimmer noted to the Courier Journal in 1973.[xxxv] Parish archivist John Curran recalls that real estate agents engaged in blockblusting tactics, circulating fliers in the neighborhood that amplified white racial fears and persuading white residents to sell their homes.[xxxvi] Upstate New York, a regional magazine, ran its own profile in November 1973 on white flight and St. Monica — a racially alarmist piece called “Parishes in Trouble: Diminishing White Catholic Congregations in Changing Neighborhoods.” The article begins with the dramatic story of how the church “began disintegrating as blacks migrated into the neighborhood.” The essay notes white St. Monica parishioners’ feelings of discomfort around black residents, and describes how a parishioner angry with local black youths threatened Zimmer, who was an advocate of racial integration.[xxxvii] Zimmer, both in this article and a Courier Journal piece on St. Monica’s diamond jubilee (December 1973), emphasized the positive changes in the parish, as young families had moved into the area and some racially biased parishioners had departed.[xxxviii]

SM-Parishes-in-Trouble-Upstate-11-4-1973

Ron Robitaille, “Parishes in Trouble: Diminishing White Catholic Congregations in Changing Neighborhoods,” with photos by Jim Laragy, Upstate New York, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Sunday, Nov. 4, 1973

St. Monica saw an increase in women’s authority, to the occasional consternation of traditional (and male) parishioners. “Pastoral Associate” Sister Barbara Moore sometimes delivered homilies at Mass, in lieu of a priest. When Although Pope Paul VI was an opponent of female ordination, female students at St. Monica lobbied the parish administration in September 1972 to become altar “servers,” in addition to altar boys. While many boys voiced their opposition, the priests and other administrators agreed to the girls’ proposal, provided that they completed the educational requirements. Sure enough, nine girls finished the course, and St. Monica became the first Rochester church to have altar servers. The first two altar servers, Julie Webster and Linda Pugliese (who told the Courier Journal she was willing to protest, if necessary, to become a server), began their work in August 1973.[xxxix]

The church sold its convent in February 1973. The building became the Westside Health Center, a joint project by Zimmer and the Rochester Health Network.[xl] This clinic offered family medicine, lab testing, dental care, and X-ray scans to area residents.[xli] Out of necessity, the 21 Sisters of St. Joseph moved into the church rectory, and the priests moved to a house down the street.[xlii] This arrangement ended when nuns stopped teaching in the parish school in 1979. The nuns moved elsewhere, and the male priests reclaimed their rectory.[xliii] As early as 1973, however, sisters were working at other facilities in the city, reflecting the growing presence of women religious in American communities, instead of leading cloistered lives.[xliv] St. Monica’s school still had an SSJ principal, Sister Mary Ellen Cragan, in the 1980s.[xlv] 

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which by the 2010s was known for its political conservatism, endorsed this activist orientation in the early 1980s. In a study of 64 urban Catholic schools, including St. Monica, the League found that Catholic schools resolved budget troubles and experienced renewal when they served the whole community, not only Catholics. St. This commitment to urban activism and social services, in practice, meant taking the Catholic Church beyond white enclaves to help people of color, who suffered from disproportionate levels of poverty and de facto discrimination. Parent involvement in the schools was also crucial. St. Monica’s school, which had seen its enrollment drop into the low hundreds because of white flight, had a growing student body by 1983.[xlvi] The transition from a racially homogenous parish to a racially inclusive one rejuvenated St. Monica’s culture. Financial support from grocery CEO Robert Wegman and his wife Peggy was instrumental in keeping St. Monica School and other city Catholic schools open in this period.[xlvii]

The April 1985 parish review captured the 19^th Ward’s changing demographics. St. Monica was now:

a central city parish serving a racially and economically diverse geographical community. Parishioners tend to be white, middle-income persons, although an increasing proportion (45%+) are retirees on fixed incomes. U.S. census data indicates that the majority of persons age 50 and over in southwest Rochester have completed some or all of high school. Few persons in this age group have attended college. A majority of the younger (age 40 and below) parishioners joining St. Monica’s in the last ten years are professional persons and have attended or completed college.

The school even more than the church reflected the neighborhood’s changed demographics: “School serves app. 200 students (over 90% non-white and non-Catholic).” Financial trouble weighed upon the report’s authors:

Pastor and staff must be capable of operating programs and ministry within tight budget constraints. Ability to work with racial minorities and non-Catholic persons is essential. Ability to recruit, train and motivate volunteer personnel is essential due to lack of paid support staff. Pastor and staff should be comfortable with inter-parish (St. Augustine’s -St. Monica’s) cooperation and shared programming.

Nonetheless, the church leadership had plans for the future. In the long term, church officials hoped “to brighten our liturgical programs to continue to attract people… To provide high quality elementary education to area youth… To increase membership from area residents through local evangelization.” In the short term, church officials hoped “to put available space to the most efficient use… To seek a larger funding base… To promote continuing evaluation of present and projected programs to promote best use of assets.”[xlviii]

SM-Parish-Review-4-19-1985-Better-Quality

St. Monica Parish Review (Apr. 19, 1985).

Diocesan budget problems intensified in the 1990s. The diocese ended its financial and direct administrative support for St. Monica School in 1991, although the parish kept the school open until 2008. To help its financial situation, while still meeting neighborhood needs, St. Monica sold its old convent to West Side Medical Services.[xlix] This house clinic later evolved into Sojourner House, which sought “to help young women in transition,” as a 2003 church history booklet put it.[l] Specifically, Sojourner House provides services to single mothers and their children who are transitioning to a more stable home environment.[li]

In 1992, at the direction of Father Bob Werth, St. Monica joined a cost, facilities, and priest-sharing venture with St. Augustine and Our Lady of Good Council called the FIRST Cluster. The cluster was later renamed the Roman Catholic Community of the 19^th Ward (RCC19).[lii] The churches in the cluster maintained their individual identities, however. St. Monica celebrated its centennial in 1998 with much fanfare. Former priests and nuns who had worked at St. Monica over the last few decades returned to the church to deliver guest homilies. A time capsule from the original St. Monica’s cornerstone was opened, revealing lost artifacts. The May 17, 1998, bulletin ran a historical overview of the parish.[liii] Werth, quoting Father Avery Dulles, S.J., wrote to parishioners that the church must embody multiple models — Institutional, Mystical Communion, Sacramental, Herald, and Servant — to do its work properly.[liv] Bishop Matthew Clark led a centennial Mass on May 17.[lv]

SM-Newsletters-with-Centennial-Info-1997–98

RCC19 Newsletters with St. Monica Centennial Information (1997–98)

In the early 2000s, RCC19 added Ss. Peter and Paul.[lvi] Per Bishop Clark’s mandate, the four RCC19 churches would have three weekend Masses at two locations, but only one priest would serve all the churches.[lvii] Sister Marie Susanne Hoffman, known as “Sr. Sue,” SSJ, was installed as St. Monica’s “pastoral administrator” to run daily affairs.[lviii] In fall 2004, the Bishop recommended a new round of pastoral planning for all urban churches, building on the late-1990s “Pastoral Planning for the New Millennium” initiative.[lix] The 19^th Ward/Corn Hill/Bull’s Head Planning Group, formed to consider RCC19’s future, recommended in November 2005 the closure of OLGC, St. Augustine, and Ss. Peter and Paul. Parishioners took a vote on this proposal and upheld it. After the closures, parishioners would report to St. Monica, which would also become home to Emmanuel. Some parishioners of the closing churches reported a feeling of loss, while others were resigned to the change, the given declining Catholic population.[lx] Father Ray Fleming of Emmanuel took over St. Monica after Sister Hoffman’s resignation and faced the task of forming a “New St. Monica” community.[lxi] Roxie Sinkler, a passionate African American social activist who was hired as a parish administrator, was widely credited with bolstering the new parish’s identity and prioritizing diversity. Her sudden death in 2011 inspired an outpouring of praise in local newspapers and from civic organizations.[lxii]

SM-Roxie-Sinkler-Hiring-Flier-2008-09

Roxie Sinkler Hiring Announcement Flier (Circa 2008-09)

Volunteer work also helped to create a new community. The “Blooming Optimists,” a group devoted to gardening and urban beautification, installed a flower garden near the entrance to the Susan B. Anthony District in October 2006. This act honored an old story about former diocesan priest Father Howard Geck, who died in 1993 at age 97. As a child, Geck was an elementary student at Ss. Peter and Paul’s school. In May, one student per day had to bring flowers for their classroom’s Marian shrine. When it was Geck’s turn, he had no flowers. Desperate, he asked an old woman on Madison Street if he might borrow flowers from her garden. Susan B. Anthony said yes. Nearly a century later, the former parishioners of Ss. Peter and Paul felt they were returning Anthony’s favor, while also getting to bond with the parishioners of the combined St. Monica.[lxiii]

SM-Blooming-Optimists-Documents-2006

St. Monica Blooming Optimists Documents (2006)
Editor’s Note: The final page of this PDF reproduces a newspaper article, but the periodical name is not included. We are placing it on here for the moment, and will be happy to modify the PDF if the publisher contacts us.

In 2008, St. Monica affiliated with the Westside Farmers Market, which remains a popular summer attraction at the parish. The same year, the church began to rent its old school to Rochester Academy Charter School.[lxiv] This revenue has been indispensible in maintaining the parish. The parish has staged two major retrospectives in the 2010s. In January 2011, GeVa Theatre celebrated former students of the Upstairs Youth Agency, a joint project of composer Tony Falzano and Sister Shelia Walsh, SSJ. The agency had produced several original musicals performed by local teenagers in 1977–83. Thirty-plus years later, Falzano, Walsh, and the now-grown students performed Second Time Around, a revue of songs from the old shows.[lxv] On August 19, 2012, St. Monica collaborated with local theatre group Women of the Well for a celebration of Rochester diocese nuns on August 19, 2012. Marilyn Catherine, a St. Monica parishioner and member of Women of the Well, wrote the script.[lxvi] The event emphasized the importance of women religious, despite the Catholic Church’s ban on female ordination.[lxvii]

SM-Second-Time-Around-Playbill_January-2011_compressed

Second Time Around Playbill (January 2011)

SM-Celebration-of-Our-Sisters-August-19-2012

“A Celebration of Our Sisters,” St. Monica Church (August 19, 2012)

There have been a few scandals in the parish. When youths vandalized cars parked at the church in fall 2010, parishioners expressed an interest in restorative justice instead of criminal justice, although the families of the youths were reluctant to get involved.[lxviii] In 2013, Father Fleming notified the public about several hundred thousand expropriated dollars.[lxix] The theft raised concerns in the diocese about parishes potentially failing to follow anti-fraud protocols. Similar scandals had plagued the St. Mark and Our Lady of the Americas parishes in Rochester, and the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance & Christian Charity in Buffalo in recent years.[lxx] Marlo Santini, the former St. Monica business manager, was indicted in 2014 for stealing at least $50,000 in 2008–13.[lxxi] The number was later put at $240,000.[lxxii]

Today, St. Monica has a robust civil culture, with adult formation classes, programs focused on black and Caribbean Catholicism, youth groups, and sustainability/climate change initiatives.[lxxiii] The annual celebration of Our Lady of Fatima of Portugal echoes the Legionnaire events of 70 years ago.[lxxiv] In 2017, recalling his service for multiple parishes in the early 2000s, Father Fleming became the pastor for the merged churches of Immaculate Conception and St. Bridget’s. He continues to serve St. Monica and Emmanuel, as well.[lxxv]

St. Monica’s church sanctuary retains much of its historic artwork, although the facility was updated in March 1976 to accommodate the liturgical changes of Vatican II. Further renovations for greater accessibility and sustainability occurred in 2009–10 and 2013.[lxxvi] A large, neutral-colored screen has been placed behind the pulpit to increase the visibility of sign language interpreting.  The church no longer has an organ — the most recent organ was sold in 1999 to pay down the church’s debts — but a music ministry continues to accompany services. The church also has an adult contemporary choir, a Gospel choir, and a youth choir.[lxxvii]

---

Endnotes

In the endnotes that follow, SMA stands for the St. Monica Roman Catholic Church Archive, 34 Monica Street, Rochester, N.Y., 14619. Open-access back issues of The Catholic Courier, in its various iterations (Courier Journal, etc.), are available at http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/.

[i] St. Monica 1959 Trustee Report, SMA. Church historian Charles L. McCarthy notes, “At first there were but 65 families willing to support the new church — and many unwilling” (“Foundation of Saint Monica’s Church of Rochester,” 1949, SMA).

[ii] McCarthy, “Foundation”; Arthur T. Purtell, Church Records from St. Monica’s Church, Survey of State and Local Historical Records, Works Progress Administration, 1936, copy in SMA; St. Monica Historical Write-up, n.d. (Circa 1939), SMA; St. Monica 1959 Trustee Report; St. Monica 2003 Booklet, SMA; St. Monica Draft Parish History, n.d., SMA.

[iii] McCarthy, “Foundation.”

[iv] “Review of Buildings in the South West Area” (Rochester, N.Y.: Landmark Society of Western N.Y., 1984).

[v] Daniel Gorman Jr., interview with John Curran, Sept. 20, 2018.

[vi] Robert F. McNamara, The Diocese of Rochester in America, 1868–1993, 2nd ed. (Rochester, N.Y.: Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, 1998), 187; St. Monica 1959 Trustee Report; St. Monica 2003 Booklet; Draft Parish History, n.d.

[vii] McCarthy, “Foundation.”

[viii] St. Monica 1959 Trustee Report. The convent was located on Genesee Street, opposite the modern St. Monica school building [Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018].

[ix] Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018.

[x] St. Monica 1959 Trustee Report.

[xi] St. Monica 2003 Booklet.

[xii] McNamara, Diocese, 303; Robert F. McNamara, Questionnaire, Survey of Parish Archives and Architecture, Diocese of Rochester, 1992. See also: James Sarkis, “St. Monica,” Rochester Churches, accessed June 22, 2017. http://dorchurches.com/stmonica.

[xiii] Draft Parish History, n.d.

[xiv] McNamara, Questionnaire, 1992.

[xv] Draft Parish History, n.d.

[xvi] Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018.

[xvii] Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018; St. Monica 1959 Trustee Report.

[xviii] McNamara, Diocese, 438.

[xix] Society for the Propagation of the Faith (Rochester), “Confidential Report of Monies Received, Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 1944,” in The Society for the Propagation of the Faith: Fides Vincit Mundum (Rochester, N.Y.: St. Bernard’s Institute, n.d. [1945]), 18, copy in Rush Rhees Library stacks, call no. BX1417.R6 C37 1945; John Willms, “Association of the Holy Childhood,” The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 7. (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910), http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07399a.htm.

[xx] Purtell, Church Records.

[xxi] St. Monica 2003 Booklet.

[xxii] Draft Parish History, n.d.

[xxiii] Monsignor Brophy Funeral Photographs, newspaper clipping (periodical unlisted), 1939, SMA.

[xxiv] “Bishop Kearney Dedicates New St. Monica School,” newspaper clipping (periodical unlisted), Apr. 18, 1949, SMA; St. Monica 1959 Trustee Report; Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018.

[xxv] “Bishop Blesses St. Monica School,” newspaper clipping (periodical unlisted), circa Apr. 21, 1949, SMA.

[xxvi] “Bishop Blesses.” See also: “Formal Rites Dedicate St. Monica’s School,” newspaper clipping (periodical unlisted), April 18, 1949, SMA.

[xxvii] See: John F. Kennedy, Speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, Sept. 12, 1960, NPR, Dec. 5, 2007, accessed Jan. 8, 2018, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16920600.

[xxviii] “Monsignor Lambert Named Pastor of St. Monica’s Church,” The Catholic Courier (Rochester, N.Y.), Jan. 22, 1948, SMA copy; St. Monica 1959 Trustee Report; “Camp Stella Maris Since 1926: A Brief History,” Camp Stella Maris.org, accessed Jan. 6, 2017, http://www.campstellamaris.org/about/.

[xxix] “St. Monica Pilgrims Top Holy Year Visits by Bus,” The Catholic Courier (Rochester, N.Y.), Nov. 23, 1951, SMA copy.

[xxx] Frank Kelly, “1958 Communions Total 7 Million,” The Catholic Courier Journal (Rochester, N.Y.), Friday, Jan. 9, 1959, SMA.

[xxxi] St. Monica 1959 Trustee Report.

[xxxii] “Legion of Mary Rededication Rites Held, Expansion Reported,” The Catholic Courier Journal (Rochester, N.Y.), Friday, Mar. 25, 1960, SMA.

[xxxiii] Barbara Moynehan, “St. Monica’s: From Convent to Health Center,” The Catholic Courier Journal (Rochester, N.Y.), Feb. 21, 1973, SMA.

[xxxiv] John Dash, “St. Monica’s Will Note Its Diamond Jubilee,” The Catholic Courier Journal (Rochester, N.Y.), December 12, 1973, SMA.

[xxxv] Moynehan, “St. Monica’s.”

[xxxvi] Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018.

[xxxvii] Ron Robitaille and Jim Laragy, “Parishes in Trouble: Diminishing White Catholic Congregations in Changing Neighborhoods,” Upstate New York, Sunday, 4 Nov. 1973, 4–9, copy in SMA; quote from page 4.

[xxxviii] Dash, “Diamond Jubilee”; Robitaille, “Parishes in Trouble.”

[xxxix] Pat Petraske, “‘Servers’ Join Altar Boys at St. Monica,” Courier Journal (Rochester, N.Y.), August 22, 1973, NYS Historic Newspapers.org, accessed Jan. 11, 2018, http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/np00020004/1973-08-22/ed-1/seq-17.pdf; copy of photograph from article in SMA. 

[xl] Moynehan, “St. Monica’s.”

[xli] “Convent Remodeled for Health Center,” The Catholic Courier Journal (Rochester, N.Y.), Wednesday, Jan. 9, 1974, copy in SMA.

[xlii] Moynehan, “St. Monica’s.”

[xliii] St. Monica 2003 Booklet.

[xliv] Moynehan, “St. Monica’s.”

[xlv] Joan M. Smith, “Schools Are Part of Dramatic Change in Urban Ministry,” Courier-Journal (Rochester, N.Y.), March 23, 1983, copy in SMA.

[xlvi] Smith, “Schools.”

[xlvii] “Robert B. Wegman: A Great Merchant, 1918–2006,” Wegmans, last modified Jun. 18, 2007, acc. Sept. 20, 2018, https://www.wegmans.com/about-us/company-overview/robert-b-wegman.html.

[xlviii] St. Monica Parish Review, Apr. 19, 1985, SMA.

[xlix] Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018.

[l] St. Monica 2003 Booklet.

[li] Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018.

[lii] St. Monica 2003 Booklet.

[liii] Roman Catholic Community of the 19^th Ward Bulletin, May 17, 1998, SMA.

[liv] Rev. Bob Werth, Cover Letter, in Roman Catholic Community of the 19^th Ward Bulletin, May 17, 1998, SMA.

[lv] St. Monica’s Parish Centennial Mass Program, May 17, 1998, SMA.

[lvi] Mike Latona and Tamara Tirado, “City Churches Cope With Change,” The Catholic Courier (Rochester, N.Y.), November 2005, copy in SMA; Roman Catholic Community of the 19^th Ward Lent Schedule (“Be Still… and know that I am here”), 2003, SMA; Roman Catholic Community of the 19^th Ward Lent Schedule (“Shatter the Hardness of Our Hearts”), 2004, SMA.

[lvii] Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018.

[lviii] Sister Marie Susanne Hoffman Installation Mass Booklet, n.d. (Early 2000s), SMA.

[lix] Daniel Gorman Jr., interview with John Curran, Dec. 20, 2018.

[lx] Gorman, interview with Curran, Dec. 20, 2018; Latona, “City Churches”; Marketta Gregory, “Catholics to Shut Down 11 Churches,” Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.), Saturday, 19 Nov. 2005, copy in SMA; Marketta Gregory, “Closures Sadden Resigned Faithful,” Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.), Saturday, 19 Nov. 2005, copy in SMA.

[lxi] Latona, “City Churches”; “St. Monica Ideas to Action Minutes [Incomplete] (Oct. 26, 2007),” SMA.

[lxii] Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018; Roxie Sinkler Memorial Items (March 2011), SMA; Roxie Sinkler Center Dedication files (Dec. 2011), SMA.

[lxiii] “Father Howard W. Geck, Dead at 97,” The Catholic Courier (Rochester, N.Y.), Thursday, Dec. 9, 1993, SMA copy, featuring annotations about the Blooming Optimists by John Curran; Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018.

[lxiv] “New St. Monica Year in Review Sept. 1, 2008 – Aug. 31, 2009,” SMA.

[lxv] Gorman, interview with Curran, Dec. 20, 2018; St. Monica “Second Time Around” Playbill (January 2011), SMA.

[lxvi] Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018.

[lxvii] St. Monica “A Celebration of Our Sisters” files (2012), SMA.

[lxviii] “New St. Monica Parish Meetings, January 15–16, 2011,” SMA.

[lxix] Amy Kotlarz, “Police Investigating Funds Missing from Rochester Parish,” Catholic Courier (Rochester, N.Y.), Sept. 9, 2013, acc. 4 July 2017, https://www.catholiccourier.com/articles/police-investigating-funds-missing-from-rochester-parish.

[lxx] Amy Kotlarz, “Robbing Peter: Missing Money Prompts Focus on Controls,” Catholic Courier (Rochester, N.Y.), 19 Nov. 2013, acc. 4 July 2017, https://www.catholiccourier.com/articles/robbing-peter-missing-money-prompts-focus-on-controls.

[lxxi] Amy Kotlarz, “Charges Filed against Former St. Monica Business Manager,” Catholic Courier (Rochester, N.Y.), last updated 10 Sept. 2014, acc. 4 July 2017, https://www.catholiccourier.com/articles/charges-filed-against-former-st-monica-business-manager.

[lxxii] Patrice Walsh, “Police say woman who stole from local church had major debt,” 13 WHAM (Rochester, N.Y.), Thursday, 14 Apr. 2016, acc. 4 July 2017, http://13wham.com/news/local/police-say-woman-who-stole-from-local-church-had-major-debt.

[lxxiii] “St. Monica 21^st Annual Celebration of the Diocesan Caribbean Mass (June 12, 2011),” SMA; “St. Monica 23^rd Annual Diocesan Caribbean Celebration Program (June 9, 2013), SMA; “St. Monica Church Progress Report (January – December 2013),” SMA.

[lxxiv] “St. Monica Fatima Veneration Articles (Courier June–Nov. 2006” file, SMA.

[lxxv] Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018.

[lxxvi] Amy Kotlarz, “Planned Projects Help Foster Unity,” The Catholic Courier Magazine (Rochester, N.Y., Jan. 2009), copy in SMA; Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018; McNamara, Questionnaire, 1992.

[lxxvii] Gorman, interview with Curran, Sept. 20, 2018; St. Monica Organ Sale Documentation, 1999, SMA.

Author: Daniel Gorman Jr.

This map shows the location of the New Progressive Cathedral (COGIC) from 2006 to present.

In November 2005, the Roman Catholic Community of the 19^th Ward, a cost-sharing venture of four neighborhood churches, concluded a process of pastoral planning. Three churches — Our Lady of Good Counsel, St. Augustine, and Ss. Peter and Paul — would be closed and sold. Parishioners would report to St. Monica, which would also become home to Emmanuel Church of the Deaf.[1] Once St. Augustine closed, the Diocese of Rochester sold the church to the New York Western First Ecclesiastical Junction of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), which converted the building into the New Progressive Cathedral.[2] Originally named the Progressive Church of COGIC, the congregation was first located at 537 Post Avenue in the 19^th Ward from 1981–84, and then at 270 Cumberland Street (near the Rochester Amtrak station and main post office) from 1984–2005.[3]

SA-Closing-Mass-Information-2006

St. Augustine Closing Mass Information (2006), c/o the St. Monica Archive.

SA-Stained-Glass-Picture-Royal-Chamberlain-2006.pdf

Royal Chamberlain, Photo of St. Augustine Stained Glass (2006), c/o the St. Monica Archive.

COGIC is a Pentecostal denomination. Pentecostalism emerged from the holiness movement of the late nineteenth century. Protestant holiness adherents believed in a theology of sanctification, or a growing disinclination to sin, leading one toward spiritual perfection. Biblical literalism and a belief in miraculous practices akin to those of the Biblical apostles — speaking in tongues, healing through prayer, etc. — characterized the holiness Christians. Two cases of spiritual gifts galvanized the movement. Theologian Charles Parham reported in 1901 that the Holy Spirit empowered him to speak in tongues. In 1906, his student, African American preacher William J. Seymour, reported that the Holy Spirit had given him and his multiethnic parishioners extraordinary abilities at the Azusa Street mission in Los Angeles. Seymour’s revival is generally accepted as the point at which Pentecostalism solidified as a separate form of Protestantism. marked the beginning of the Pentecostal movement.[4] Charles H. Mason, the African American founder of the Church of God in Christ, accepted Pentecostal theology in 1907. Under Mason’s leadership, COGIC became wildly popular, with millions of adherents by century’s end. Mason’s followers were primarily, but not exclusively, African American.[5]

In 1917, Mason tasked three female administrators, Sisters Maydie Payton, Charlotte Brown, and Maude Jackson, and a male Elder with running the first New York COGIC congregation in Lackawanna, near Buffalo. The number of churches in Western New York eventually grew so large that the church leadership split the region into two jurisdictions in 1969.[6] Today, the New York Western First Junction consists of 90 churches spread across much of Upstate New York.[7] Bishop Leroy R. Anderson ran the First Junction (including Rochester) from 1969 to April 2004, when Bishop James R. Wright Sr. took over from him as jurisdictional prelate.[8] Wright had founded Rochester’s Progressive Church in 1981, while he still worked as the director of the city’s Phyllis Wheatley Library.[9] As such, Wright has directed Rochester’s New Progressive Cathedral, in its three iterations, for almost forty years. He received a Renaissance Award from Mayor William A. Johnson Jr. in December 2005 and participated in the interfaith invocation at Mayor Robert Duffy’s inauguration on New Year’s Day, 2006.[10]

As detailed on the New Progressive Cathedral’s website, COGIC members believe in Biblical infallibility, the rapture at the end of time, spiritual gifts from the Holy Ghost, and a process of personal sanctification, or an increasing resistance to temptation after being saved. COGIC church doctrine also reflects a complementarian conception of gender.[11] Only men are ordained as ministers, but ministers’ wives are accorded great respect as the first ladies or mothers of their congregations. Mother Maritha J. Wright, Bishop Wright’s wife, is the First Lady of the New Progressive Cathedral. The Western First Junction has a separate Department of Women, with a female executive who serves under the bishop. From 2013 to the time of this writing (spring 2019), Mother Althea Chaplin has run the Department of Women. Women also serve as evangelists and missionaries in the community.[12] Distinct ministries for men, women, and youth are offered at the New Progressive Cathedral.[13] Esteemed City Court judge and civil rights activist Roy W. King served as the cathedral’s assistant pastor and chairman of the Board of Trustees from his retirement to his death in January 2018.[14]

The Western First Junction’s Bishop James R. Wright Sr. Institute of Christian Education, which frequently hosts events at Roberts Wesleyan College, regularly coordinates continuing education programs with the cathedral. The Institute supports the “development of children’s and adult’s social, health/wellness and academic-wellbeing, particularly in the Rochester city community.”[15] It has hosted several “NYW#1 Health Fairs,” featuring medical and holistic medicine tutorials, at the cathedral.[16] Rev. Dr. Kenneth and Lady Nicole Newman, who lead the COGIC New Hope Family Life Center in Rensselear, currently supervise the institute.[17]

Preaching at the New Progressive Cathedral tends to be dramatic and punctuated with organ music, reflecting the revivalist origins of the Pentecostal movement. Members of the congregation attend worship in formal attire, unless the service is a baptism, in which case the person to be baptized wears all white. It is common for church members to exclaim, dance, and participate actively in worship, rather than remain seated.[18] Every August, the Western First Junction hosts the “Annual Holy Convocation,” a multi-day conference with worship and sessions on a variety of Christian topics. The cathedral is the primary venue, but events also occur at downtown sites such as the Riverside Convention Center.[19]

Much of the New Progressive Cathedral’s programming prioritizes education, civic participation, and public health in the 19^th Ward. The church is a member of Rochester’s Interfaith Action network.[20] In the weeks before Election Day, 2008 — the day Barack Obama was elected president — Bishop Wright urged congregation members to vote. Thirty New Progressive Cathedral volunteers, led by St. Monica Roman Catholic Church administrator Roxie Sinkler, registered voters and publicized the upcoming election. Over 1,000 more residents of the surrounding four city districts voted in 2008 than in 2004.[21] After the infamous 19^th Ward mass shooting of August 20, 2015, Rochester mayor Lovely Warren led a “Clergy on Patrol” march from the cathedral to the Genesee Street Boys and Girls Club.[22] The Alzheimer’s Association Rochester & Finger Lakes Region held “Brain Health and Mental Health Seminar: A Community Aging Well Together,” a program for local Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers, at the cathedral in October 2016.[23]

In 2012, the cathedral petitioned the City of Rochester to open the Mary L. Wright Preparatory Charter School for Health and Legal Careers (Wright Prep) at their complex. The application to the New York State Department of Education emphasized the need to support a “student population similar to that in the Rochester City School District,” with particular attention to students who have fallen behind.[24] Wright Prep has not opened as of Spring 2020.

---

Endnotes

[1] Marketta Gregory, “Catholics to Shut Down 11 Churches,” Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.), Saturday, 19 Nov. 2005, copy in St. Monica Archive, St. Monica Roman Catholic Church, Rochester, N.Y. [abbreviated SMA]; Marketta Gregory, “Closures Sadden Resigned Faithful,” Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.), Saturday, 19 Nov. 2005, copy in SMA; Mike Latona, “Newcomer Priests Settle in at Diocesan Posts,” The Catholic Courier (Rochester, N.Y.), Thursday, Mar. 24, 1994, 5A, copy in SMA.

[2] Amy Kotlarz, “Ministries Continue in 19^th Ward,” The Catholic Courier Weekly (Rochester, N.Y.), 8–9 Sept. 2007, 2, copy in St. Monica Archives, St. Monica Roman Catholic Church, Rochester, N.Y.; “Our History,” New Progressive Cathedral COGIC, Rochester, N.Y., acc. 29 Apr. 2019, https://www.npccogic.com/history.

[3] “Leaders,” New Progressive Cathedral (COGIC), Rochester, N.Y., acc. 29 Apr. 2019, http://www.nywfj.org/leaders.html; “Our History,” New Progressive Cathedral COGIC; 270 Cumberland Street today is home to the Prayer House of the Church of God by Faith, another Pentecostal denomination [“Articles of Faith,” Church of God by Faith, Inc., acc. 6 Jun. 2018, www.cogbf.org/index.php/about-us/our-fellowship/beliefs; “Prayer House Vision,” Northwestern New York Church of God by Faith (COGBF) District, acc. 6 Jun. 2018, www.nwcogbfdistrict.org/prayer-house.html]. A church called the Word of Life Fellowship Ministry occupies 537 Post Ave, but little information about the ministry is available online [“Jeff Anderson [Obituary],” Legacy.com, last modified Nov. 2014, acc. 6 Jun. 2018, https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/jeff-anderson-obituary?pid=173220099&view=guestbook; “Elsie Young [Obituary],” Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.), 12 Jan. 2014, acc. 6 Jun. 2018, http://obits.democratandchronicle.com/obituaries/democratandchronicle/obituary.aspx?n=elsie-young&pid=169023184&fhid=27509; “Word of Life Fellowship Ministry,” Cmac.ws, acc. 6 Jun. 2018, http://word-churches.cmac.ws/word-of-life-fellowship-ministry/530/; “Word of Life Fellowship Ministry [Facebook Location Tag],” Facebook, acc. 6 Jun. 2018, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Word-of-Life-Fellowship-Ministry/113436122024341].

[4] Paraphrased from: Catherine L. Albanese, America: Religions and Religion, 5th ed. (Boston: Cengage, 2013), 112, 125–28.

[5] Albanese, America, 128, 148–49.

[6] “Our History,” New York Western First Ecclesiastical Junction (COGIC), Rochester, N.Y., acc. 20 Apr. 2018, http://www.nywfj.org/about-us.html.

[7] “Events/Education,” New York Western First Ecclesiastical Junction (COGIC), Rochester, N.Y., acc. 20 Apr. 2018, http://www.nywfj.org/events.html.

[8] “Leaders”; “Our History,” New York Western First Ecclesiastical Junction; “Our Pastor,” New Progressive Cathedral COGIC, Rochester, N.Y., acc. 29 Apr. 2019, https://www.npccogic.com/our-pastor.

[9] “Leaders”; “Our Pastor.”

[10] “2005 Mayor’s Renaissance Award Winners,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.), 7 Dec. 2005, B4, ProQuest Document ID: 441806444; Joseph Spector, “Duffy Team Moves In,” Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.), 30 Dec. 2005, A1, ProQuest Document ID: 441808036.

[11] “The Affirmation of Our Faith,” New Progressive Cathedral COGIC, Rochester, N.Y., acc. 29 Apr. 2019, https://www.npccogic.com/about1.

[12] “96^th Annual Holy Convocation [Flyer],” New York Western First Ecclesiastical Junction (COGIC), n.d. [summer 2015], https://www.facebook.com/216936488977/photos/a.10151873921583978/10153198157053978/?type=3&theater; “97^th Annual Ministers & Workers’ Conference [Flyer],” New York Western First Ecclesiastical Junction (COGIC), n.d. [summer 2016], https://www.facebook.com/216936488977/photos/a.10151352576403978/10153702832813978/?type=3&theater; “Leaders”; “Our First Lady,” New Progressive Cathedral COGIC, Rochester, N.Y., acc. 29 Apr. 2019, https://www.npccogic.com/our-first-lady; “Mount Calvary to Host Women’s Day Services,” Finger Lakes Times (Geneva, N.Y.), 2 Mar. 2018, acc. 7 Jun. 2018, http://www.fltimes.com/briefs/mount-calvary-to-host-women-s-day-services/article_911f1765-2cb0-57df- a70b-bc7a34b888eb.html [link no longer functional]. 

[13] “NPC Ministries,” New Progressive Cathedral COGIC, Rochester, N.Y., acc. 29 Apr. 2019, https://www.npccogic.com/ministries-galleryPage.

[14] Will Cleveland, “Roy Wheatley King, former Rochester City Court judge, dies at 81,” Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.), 5 Jan. 2018, acc. 15 Apr. 2018, https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2018/01/05/roy-wheatley-king-former-rochester-city-court-judge-dies/1009301001/; William Morehouse, “Remembering Roy King,” His Branches, 11 Jan. 2018, acc. 15 Apr. 2018, http://www.hisbranches.org/site/remembering-roy-king/; Amber Roberts, “MLK Day Festivities Recognize Three Kings,” The Highland Echo (Maryville College, Maryville, TN), 30 Jan. 2013, acc. 15 Apr. 2018, http://highlandecho.com/mlk-day-festivities-recognize-three-kings/. 

[15] “Events.” See also: “Events/Education,” New Progressive Cathedral (COGIC), Rochester, N.Y., Internet Archive Wayback Machine, captured 28 Jun. 2016, acc. 26 Apr. 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20160628144840/http://www.nywfj.org/events.html.

[16] “Events.”

[17] [Spring?] 2014 newsletter, Bishop James R. Wright, Sr., Institute of Christian Education, New York Western First Ecclesiastical Junction (COGIC), acc. 6 Jun. 2018, www.nywfj.org/uploads/1/3/9/6/13966548/institute_journal_cover_letter_newman_final_2014_1.pdf; Homepage, New Hope Family Life Center (COGIC), Rensselaer, N.Y., acc. 6 Jun. 2018, www.newhopeflc.org.

[18] Example: “Bishop Hartsfield preaching @ New Progressive Cathedral COGIC,” YouTube, uploaded by OfficialMTVideos, uploaded 16 Oct. 2011, acc. 6 Jun. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRlUd2JF4ZE; “Evangelist Patty Larke, Preaching @ New Progressive Cathedral COGIC – Part 1,” YouTube, uploaded by OfficialMTVideos, uploaded 19 Feb. 2012, acc. 6 Jun. 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNNsiWiNKXo; “Prophet Weaver preaching at New Progressive Cathedral COGIC,” YouTube, uploaded by Christian Pavilioncogic, uploaded 2 Jun. 2010, acc. 6 Jun. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWESrBpvg8I.

[19] “92nd Annual Holy Convocation, August 15th–19th, 2011,” Our Lord’s Temple (COGIC), Ithaca, N.Y., uploaded 15 Mar. 2011, acc. 15 Apr. 2018, https://www.ourlordstemplecogic.org/mod/news/print.php?article_id=63; “Prayer, Praise Ring Out at Convocation,” Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.), 28 Aug. 2006, B3, ProQuest Document ID: 441871720.

[20] “News Beat,” Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.), 25 Oct. 2007, B4, ProQuest Document ID: 441975772.

[21] “COGIC Cathedral mobilizes over 1,000 new voters in Rochester,” PICO National Network, 15 Nov. 2008, acc. 15 Apr. 2018, https://www.piconetwork.org/news-media/news/2008/a-0403 [note: link no longer functional, so see https://web.archive.org/web/20160415173935/http://www.piconetwork.org/news-media/news/2008]; Jim Mandelaro, “Roxie Sinkler ‘Gave Her All’ to Rochester,” Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.), 30 Mar. 2011, ProQuest Document ID: 859231336.

[22] Allison Norlian, “Clergy On Patrol Walks Through Genesee Street Neighborhood,” Rochester First.com, last modified 24 Aug. 2015, acc. 17 Apr. 2018, http://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/local-news/clergy-on-patrol-walks-through-genesee-street-neighborhood/220268104.

[23] “Brain Health and Mental Health Seminar: A Community Aging Well Together, Saturday, October 29, 2016, 8:30 AM–2:00 PM, New Progressive Cathedral, Church of God in Christ, 384 Chili Ave., Rochester, NY… [Flyer],” Alzheimer’s Association, Rochester & Finger Lakes Region, circa 2006.

[24] Mary L. Wright Charter School Proposal, 15 Aug. 2012, New York State Department of Education, acc. 17 Apr. 2018, http://www.p12.nysed.gov/psc/documents/marylwrightRedacted.pdf; quote from page 3.