Welcome, visitors to the Church of Saint Joseph in Greenwich Village!
On first visit, many folks remark about the interior: “It doesn’t look very Catholic…was it always a Catholic church? Indeed it has! This edifice, our first and only church, opened in March of 1833. With post-Vatican Two renovation it actually resembles the simplicity of that period. The mural, a copy of the upper portion of Raphael’s “Transfiguration of Christ with Moses and Elijah” by an unknown traveling artist, was discovered painted on the wall at the time of the renovation. Our first Mass featured music by an orchestra and it was estimated that a third of the congregation were of Protestant traditions who came to see and hear the novelty of an orchestra in church! With excellent acoustics, the church has continued high quality music programs, our own choirs and various choruses and chorales which visit us frequently. Our adult vested choir sings the classic Catholic repertoire each Sunday at the 11:30 A.M. Mass , and our contemporary choir, composed of university students performs at the 6:00 P.M. Mass. We celebrate four Masses each weekend and two on weekdays at 12:10 and 5:30 P.M.
Another original element besides the mural is the balcony railing, still protecting our worshippers especially at the student Mass on Sunday evening. Parish lore has it that our balcony was used as a hiding place before the Civil War for slaves trying to escape the South and avoid the bounty hunters of our fair city. The life of this Parish has been traced in frank detail by Thomas Shelley in his “Greenwich Village Catholics: the Evolution of an Urban Faith Community, 1829-2002”. He writes in the Preface:
“The history of this Parish is worth telling for its own sake as a collective journey of one faith community from immigrant mission to pillar of society and then to spiritual outpost in the Secular City. However, it has significance far beyond the boundaries of Greenwich Village because it documents at the most basic and vital level of Catholic communal organization the interaction between change and continuity that has been one of the most prominent features of urban Catholicism over the past two centuries.”
Today we are experiencing yet another transformation of our neighborhood. The fabled Village bohemian culture has faded into Chelsea art galleries, into Soho and Noho and Tribeca. Resale, renovation and indeed new buildings have served the desires of new-comers but distressed some long-time residents, including our own senior congregants. Surely the appearance of young families in the past decade is most welcome, and the Parish is once again in the ministry of infant Baptism. Our adult program for persons preparing to enter the Catholic Church thrives, as does our expanding children’s catechetical ministry, with strong parental involvement. Meanwhile, our social outreach to the less fortunate continues with a “soup kitchen” serving several hundred each Saturday and our involvement with the Holy Name Center for Homeless Men, and Nazareth House for Mothers and children.
When the Parish and University ministries merged in 2003, the Archdiocese invited the Order of Preachers (the “Dominicans”) to care for the new composite. Presently, four friars serve Church of Saint Joseph in Greenwich Village. Our website links to a wide variety of information about the origins, spirituality, and contemporary apostolates of this medieval Order.
Our parish school closed in June of 2005. The Archdiocese of New York opened a new entity in the former school building after a complete reconstruction which is known as Saint Joseph Academy and which functions apart from the Parish.
Our parish website is: www.WashingtonSquareCatholic.org
