On April 18, Pope Benedict XVI will meet with leaders of various Christian denominations at an ecumenical gathering at Saint Joseph’s Church in the Yorkville neighborhood of New York.
This parish was established in 1873 to meet the spiritual needs of the growing number of German immigrants who had settled in the area. The parish grew out of a community worshipping in the chapel of Saint Joseph’s Orphanage, established on the Upper East Side to give the orphans access to fields, forests, and fresh air.
From its earliest days, the parish emphasized the education of children, using a hall in the orphanage. By the time a school opened in 1880, the student body numbered 500.
Construction of the present church building dates to 1894. The congregation had outgrown the previous building.
Though now the spiritual home to Catholics of many nationalities, Saint Joseph’s remains a special place for German Catholics in New York.
Source: Saint Joseph’s Church.
Although it is lovely that the Holy Father will be visiting this Yorkville church, I would have liked it if he visited another German-founded Catholic church. St. Joseph of the Holy Family Church on 125th Street and Morningside is perhaps too small, of course, a rather dilapidated red brick building. Built by Germans, staffed by German-speaking Bohemians, attended by Irish, and now largely African American, it is my family’s original parish.
As one of the many Austrian Jesuits, who had in the time of Msgr. Harry Burnes and afterwards the chance to serve the community of St. Joseph’s of Yorkville and to enjoy there hospitality during summer times I would like to send my best regards to the present Pastor, his collaborators, the sisters and all the parishioners. It has been a pleasure to hear that the Holy Father visited you for an Ecumenical Service at St. Joseph’s Church and left his special blessing for all of you. I unite myself in prayers with you and send my best regards from Innsbruck where I serve for the moment as Rector of the Collegium Canisianum.
Yours in Christ
Fr. Gerwin Komma SJ