In 1863, the Rev. William McNulty, after a school of preparation in small things, if anything can be called small that belongs to a priest's ministry, was assigned to Paterson. We come now to the fourth stage in the history of Catholicity in this town. It is the period of large developments and remarkable growth. It needed in the pastor, youth, energy, zeal, disinterestedness and a spirit free and unfettered by old ways and traditions. It found all these in the young and almost untried priest. His Bishop in calling him to this responsible post did not blunder into his choice, but made it in full knowledge of what was needed to build up religion in Paterson as well as of the fitness of the selection he was making. It was precisely the capability and exactness of the young priest in the fulfilment of his duties in Seton Hall as chaplain to a convent, and as pastor of a small rural mission, which led his Bishop to believe that the same qualities fitted him for a more onerous and trying field of work. This young priest never disappointed the well founded expectations of his first Bishop, nor has he failed in the estimation of Bishop Bayley's successors, nor has he left it in any parishioner's power to complain that Paterson lagged behind in the race to the goal of great works in which the earnest, generous and self sacrificing priests and people of the United States were running. No one of the causes indicated by Bishop England in explanation of the losses of the Catholic Church can be cast as a reproach at Paterson since the present pastor took charge of this mission. If there are any losses here they must be accounted for by other reasons.
This new church, so large, substantial and grand, worthy of Keily's architectural skill, is Father McNulty's enduring monument. I am not an admirer of large churches in America, except where they are demanded in cathedral cities by the necessities of special functions. I would not hesitate for one moment to withhold all praise even here, if I did not know that this church has not been built at the expense of other religious interests; if I did not know that school-houses giving room for all the Catholic children in the parish were provided; as well as homes for orphans and hospitals for the sick. Nor would I lavish commendation on my friend, the pastor of this parish, if I did not know that other parts of this growing city had been cared for and that new parishes had been formed as they were needed. Within the limits of Paterson are the daughters of the mother church, are St. Boniface's and St. Mary's; St. Joseph's, St. Bonaventure's and St. Agnes'. Beyond these limits are the churches at Macoupin, Passaic, Lodi, Hohokus, Bloomingdale and Germantown. There are pastoral residences everywhere; schools in all the parishes; an asylum for orphans; a hospital for the sick; consecrated cemeteries for the dead.
Yet the works above ennumerated, praiseworthy and necessary though they be, would be as dross, so much are they in the material order, were they not beautified and enlivened by that spiritual life and glory which make them acceptable in the sight of God. All these material things are but as helps to grace and spiritual advancement. When a congregation flocks to the church, blocks up the way to the confessional and crowds around the altar rail, all know that there is spiritual power in that mission; when homes are Christian, when father, mother and children kneel together in prayer, when the sanctuary of the house is sacredly guarded like the sanctuary of the church, a race of Christian people is preserved. From such Christian homes come forth Christian men and women—come forth priests for the altar, brothers and sisters for the schools. It is the glory of this congregation that religious communities have been largely recruited here; it is the crowning glory of the pastor of this church, as it is unspeakable joy to his heart, that his labors bring forth such fruit, for his work will not end with his days on earth; but will be continued long after by those that have learned from his lips and drawn spiritual life from his example and the outpouring of his own soul.
It is a withered and dead parish that yields no laborers for the Lord's vineyard. He is a barren pastor who brings forth none to take his place when he is gone, or who has never summoned to his aid one recruit of his own drilling.
For the work accomplished, for blessings received, for a growth and prosperity wondrous indeed, it is a duty for the children of the early Catholic settlers of Paterson not to forget their fathers who "were men of mercy, whose godly deeds have not failed;" it is a joy for them and their children, and for their pastors, and the church, "to show forth the wisdom and declare the praise" of those who builded that Church of St. John in 1833.
Blessings on their memory! Prayers for their souls! We pray for the souls of all who in their day helped this church; to-morrow with solemn dirge and rite this duty will be yet more markedly fulfilled. The performance of this sacred duty honors and helps the Bishops, the priests, the people, who toiled under adverse and trying circumstances to lay good foundations for future building; it gratifies the loving hearts of a grateful posterity to acknowledge the rich inheritance of religion that has come down to them, as it will be their earnest endeavor to transmit to their children the glowing faith, the warm piety and the noble spirit of self-sacrifice inherited from "men of renown, and our fathers in their generation."
