St. Joseph Parish started as a mission church when, in 1908, Father George
Breckel, pastor of Immaculate Conception Church, took a census in East York and
discovered that over 300 Catholics lived in the area.
Bishop John Shanahan authorized him to build a chapel not to exceed $5,000 in East York.
In the spring of 1909, they broke ground and the construction started. With a capacity
crowd of 180 people the first Mass was celebrated on Christmas Day 1909. Bishop
John Shanahan dedicated the church in the spring of 1910. For the next few years
Reverend Arthur J. Wittman, who was then assistant pastor at Immaculate
Conception Church, served the spiritual needs of St. Joseph Parish.
1913 was significant in the life of this mission church. On January 1, 1913,
Bishop Shanahan officially declared that St. Joseph was a parish and appointed
Father Arthur Wittman, ordained in the Seminary Chapel at Lyons, France, as its
first pastor. On March 19, 1913, the Feast of St. Joseph, ground breaking
occurred for the construction of a rectory that cost the parish $4,500. One year
later, on March 19, 1914, again the Feast of St. Joseph, ground breaking for the
construction of a parish school and hall occurred, costing the parish $8,000.
The school opened on August 30, 1914, with sixty pupils and two Sisters of St.
Francis. They lived at the Immaculate Conception convent until a double house on
the southeast corner of Norway and Princess Streets was purchased for $5,000 and
remodeled for an additional $10,000.
In 1950 when Father Wittman celebrated the 50th anniversary of his
ordination, the parish had a three day celebration in his honor. He resigned in
1951 due to ill health; he continued to live at St. Joseph's rectory until his
death in 1952.
On January 4, 1953, Bishop Leech appointed Reverend Joseph Bradley as the
parish's second pastor. 1953 was an exciting year for this active two
thousand-member parish. Demolishing of the original frame church to make room
for additional classrooms took place in February. Ground breaking took place for
the existing church on Princess Street on March 8 costing $370,000. On Saturday,
May 1, 1954, Bishop Leech celebrated the first Mass.
Bishop Leech, foreseeing the spiritual needs of Catholics living in Spring
Garden and Springettsbury Townships, purchased fifteen acres in East York at a
cost of $44,967 on March 25, 1959. Parishioner population continued to rapidly
grow at St. Joseph Parish increasing the number of students at the parish
school.
September 1963, one month after Father Vincent J. Topper was appointed the
parish's third pastor, St. Joseph School opened with 750 students in fifteen
classrooms. Twelve rooms were in the parish school building and three rooms were
rented in the school building at Immaculate Conception Parish, the mother parish
of St. Joseph. In September 1964, the parish discontinued the arrangement with
Immaculate Conception and opened six classrooms in the old York Catholic High
School building on West King Street.
In early 1965 a Parish Building Committee conducted a study regarding the
educational needs of the parish. Four plans were discussed.
They included a consolidated elementary school for the overcrowded Catholic
schools of the city; an addition to the school on Princess Street; a new parish
in the area of East York; and, a new elementary center on the fifteen acres of land
in East York purchased by the Diocese. Diocesan officials and the Building Committee
decided that a new school for the upper elementary grades would be built on the grounds
owned by the Diocese that was already in the jurisdiction of St. Joseph Church.
In August 1966 construction began for the parish school at a cost of $712,000.
The first students enrolled in September 1967. Sunday Mass started in the new
school gymnasium in August before the school opened in order to alleviate the
overcrowding church and parking facilities at the East Princess Street complex.
The convent needed to have an addition built to house the twelve Sisters of
St. Francis. In May 1967 construction began to build a brick addition to the
wood framed house.
Father Frederick A. Farace was appointed the fourth pastor of the parish on
April 21, 1967, and remained with the parish until August 10, 1979. During the
time of Father Farace the parish continued to steadily grow which meant there
was a need to have a larger office area and additional living accommodations for
the priests. The need was becoming greater for the Sisters of St. Francis to be
in closer proximity to the new school building on Kingston Road. On October 6,
1977, settlement took place for a house on Quaker Drive located across the
street from the school; to be converted into a convent. The Princess Street
convent became the rectory and office area. The original rectory between the
church and the school was designated as office space for the various ministries
of the parish and a nursery on Sunday mornings.
Due to the increasing population of the parish a second mass was added to the
existing Sunday liturgy at the school gymnasium.
A new historical moment began for St. Joseph Parish in August 1979, when the
Capuchin Franciscan friars of the Province of St. Augustine, headquartered in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania assumed the responsibilities for the pastoral care of
the parish at the invitation of Bishop Joseph T. Daley, Father Roman Kozacheson,
O.F.M. Cap., accepted the duties as the fifth pastor and served in that capacity
until July 7, 1983. Father DeSales Young, O.F.M. Cap., was appointed the sixth
pastor on July 7, 1983, until June 5, 1988, when our current pastor, Father John
Daya, O.F.M. Cap., became the parish's seventh pastor.
By 1989 the parish had grown to nearly 1900 registered households with close
to 900 children in its education programs and gave every indication that the
parish would continue to rapidly increase. It was already averaging one hundred
twenty new families each year. The parish found it necessary to respond to a
twofold need: to provide facilities that would accommodate its growth and to
centralize its facilities by way of a new church building and parish center at
its Kingston Road property.
In December 1989 the parish began its capital campaign to raise $3,200,000
that would include the construction of a new church. parish offices, meeting
rooms, rectory and social hall.
After several town hall meetings, the Parish Council, Finance Committee and
Building Committees decided, in February 1994, to scale down the project to only
include the new church, parish offices and meeting rooms. Plans for the social
hall are on hold. The new cost for the building project came in at
$2,727,922.00. At that February meeting, Bishop Nicholas Dattilo informed the
parishioners that the parish must have $1,600,000.00 in cash by January 1, 1995,
in order to break ground that year, and the project could not exceed $2,800,000.
January 1, 1995, arrived and the parish had gone beyond the goal of
$1,600,000.00. It reached $1,644,872.81! Groundbreaking was set for Sunday,
April 23, 1995, at 1:00 p.m.. Bishop Nicholas Dattilo dedicated the new Church
on Sunday, May 5, 1996. The final bill was paid on November 30, 1996. The
project came in over budget at $2,869,678.00.
Some noteworthy items to mention: The Worship Space Committee made up of
Father John Daya, O.F.M. Cap. (Pastor), Sister Jean Holtz, SSJ, Jerry and Evelyn
Abenshon, Laurie Overmiller, Jane Ann Dobish, Phil Beebe, Marcia Manga and Steve
Olkowski were responsible for the interior design of the worship space. The
committee felt strongly that items from the Princess Street Church be
incorporated into the design of the new church. The stained glass windows were
placed in the daily Mass Chapel. The crucified Christ and Mary with child and
Joseph statues were given their own devotional chapels in the rear of the
church. The Stations of the Cross occupy a space on the walls of the Church. The
tabernacle was refurbished and found its place in the Blessed Sacrament chapel.
Through the efforts of the many dedicated parishioners, the church at 2935
Kingston Road is a reality. The move from the church at 825 E. Princess St.,
which holds memories for many of the parishioners, was sentimental. The move
resulted in the consolidation of the parish into one spiritual body. The parish
was blessed in that it had people who had the wisdom and foresight to plan and
prepare for the future. The dedication of sisters, priests, brothers, assigned
to the parish, and the numerous parishioners willing to share their talents in
many ways helped make a thirty-nine year dream come true. It is with gratitude
that God has blessed us with parishioners who follow his lead and who continue
to reach out and touch those in the community around us.
