St. Teresa
141 Henry Street
Recently, Catholic New York covered the 150th anniversary of the parish of St Teresa – one of those stark survivors (like St. Mary’s, Transfiguration or St James) from the distant foundational age of New York Catholicism. Truly there is much to celebrate in a parish that has lived through such tremendous vicissitudes yet come down, apparently intact, to us in the twenty-first century! For the external appearance of St. Teresa is very much as it was in 1863. 1)
And the parish had taken over an existing building of an even older congregation, that of the Rutgers Presbyterian church (which congregation, after several migrations, still exists on the Upper West Side). The Presbyterians had built their first church on this site in 1797; the present building dates from 1841. Within a few years of its completion the neighborhood was overrun by the “Romans.” These were the Irish of the great wave of migration in the 1840’s: the era of the Famine. The growth of the Catholic population was such that a new parish had to be erected out of the overwhelmed St Mary’s. Thus was St. Teresa founded; in 1863 the Presbyterian church was purchased and the new parish established.
St Teresa soon became one of the largest parishes in New York. Like her sisters (except for the German national parishes) it was overwhelmingly Irish. By 1878 this parish had over 1500 students in its parochial school and “academies.” 2) But towards the end of the 19th century a radical reversal of fortune followed. The neighborhood of St Teresa became heavily Jewish. By 1914 there were only 1000 parishioners – fewer than the number of students in the parish schools in 1878 – and only 250 students in the school. 3) By 1942 the parochial school had closed. 4)
We lack specific details on the subsequent period but the story was undoubtedly similar to that of St Mary parish. After the Second World War a new wave of Hispanic immigration settled in the area. The Lower East Side developed a fearsome reputation for poverty, violence and drug trafficking. Yet despite it all the Hispanic population saved the parish. But St. Teresa’s situation remained precarious. And so it looked like the end for St Teresa’s when the roof collapsed in 1995.
But, once again, Providence came to the rescue of St Teresa’s. From the 1990’s onward the economic situation in the LES started changing dramatically and consistently for the better. Much of this has to do with the relentless expansion of the highly successful Chinese community. The parish was able to sell for a considerable sum the real estate on which its old school had stood. With the proceeds the entire church could be repaired. 5)
Now, at least according to Catholic New York, the parish finds itself in quite a flourishing condition. The population is still relatively poor. Ethnically, the parish is predominantly Hispanic and (undoubtedly increasingly) Chinese. A number of years ago, St. Teresa took over the older yet faltering Nativity parish – a prisoner of its abominable building. Reflecting its immigrant population, there seems to be an unusually high number of adult conversions and baptisms. 6)
Such a long eventful history and the untouched exterior of the church raise the expectations of the visitor. Alas, the bare interior is disappointing. The architecture of he 1841 church is transitional: an early, somewhat timid Neo-gothic exterior enclosing a traditional meeting house. Unlike its mother parish of St. Mary’s (built as a Catholic church but in a native “Yankee” style, St Teresa remains as it was in Protestant times: a purely functional preaching hall with galleries. We can say of this interior that it is spacious, light and airy. The main “Catholicizing “ touches are the large murals against the wall of the apse dating from the 1880’s. These have been newly restored after the 1990’s disaster. 7)
We would have expected to see more physical remnants of efforts made over the generations – limited by the poverty of the parish – to more fully adapt the interior of this church to Catholic ritual. Such subsequent Catholic accents found in other similar churches include a much more pronounced sanctuary, impressive altars, stained glass windows and, of course, a host of statues. In that regard, I suspect that St. Teresa’s present barren appearance owes as much to post-conciliar “renewal” and the post-1995 restoration as it does to the non-Catholic liturgical needs of the Presbyterian builders and the permanent economic limitations of the neighborhood. The very recent restoration of St. Brigid’s is clear evidence of that. Thus, the original architectural vision of the Calvinist church and the current liturgical and aesthetic ideas of the Catholic Church seem to converge. What does exist, however, is maintained in very fine condition.
(above) The stone work of the exterior witnesses to the great age of this church.
(above and below) Remnants of the original Irish heritage that was disappearing by 1900.
Constant change, demographic and economic – such has been the lot of the poor parishes of the LES and adjoining neighborhoods since the first half of the 19th century. St. Teresa’s – which was and still is a church of the poor and of the immigrants -has shared with her sister parishes the ups and downs of fortune and prosperity – at least if we consider “prosperity” as the size, not the wealth, of the congregation! Yet, in the past at least, there was no question of giving up, of retreating from the ancient, ungainly structure that had been purchased so long ago in 1863. And this commitment proved justified, for in the course of time the parish found new congregations to continue Catholic worship here and even regain some modest degree of material success. “Keeping the faith” has enabled St. Teresa’s to endure and overcome the adversities of fortune; are New York Catholics today capable of understanding this lesson?
1) Chicoine, Christie, St Teresa’s, a Beacon on the Lower East Side, Turns 150, Catholic New York at 32, 27 (6/27/2013)
2) ) Shea, John Gilmary, The Catholic Churches of New York City at 679 -680 (Lawrence G. Goulding & Co., New York, 1878).
3) The Catholic Church in the United States of America, Vol. 3 at 376 (The Catholic Editing Company, New York, 1914).
4) http://www.stteresany.org “The History of St. Teresa’s Parish”
5) Ibid.
6) Chicoine, op.cit at 27.
7) http://www.stteresany.org; “The History of St. Teresa’s Parish”
Related Articles
3 users responded in this post