St. John the Evangelist celebrates 175 years

By Ginny Privitar
GOSHEN — St. John the Evangelist Church in Goshen is flourishing, and the reasons are not hard to find. On a recent Sunday, several parishioners talked about the special nature of this church and congregation.
"Everyone’s like a family," said Cecilia Lahiff. "We do things for other people.”
Her family has long served the parish. Her grandmother, Maureen Lahiff, was accountant there for 33 years.
Part of the reason for the church’s success lies in the generous gift of volunteer time given by its members. Lee Quaranta is a member and former head of the local Knights of Columbus, who are involved in many fundraising activities.
“It’s the people that congregate here," said Quaranta. "They’re all very nice people.”
Kathy Valerio has been a parishioner for 45 years. All three of her children attended St. John’s Elementary School. She is a member of the Catholic Daughters, serves on the parish council, and is one of the co-leaders of the youth group.
“There’s a camaraderie here," she said. "Everybody kind of knows each other.”
Her friend Linda Vinti agreed: “It’s just a nice small family — a small family, but a big family.”

Beginnings in New York City
This year St. John's celebrates its 175 anniversary. But in the beginning, establishing a Catholic Church in Orange County was a long time coming for members of the faith who were here long before the Revolution.
St. John's traces its origins to St. Peter’s Church in New York City. Established in 1785, St. Peter’s, on Barclay Street, was the city's first Roman Catholic Church.
Four of the men instrumental in founding St. Peter’s were also knew Orange County well. One of them, layman Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, lived in Chester previously and published a book, "The American Farmer," about his experiences. He had been harassed during the Revolution when he declined to take sides. He left Chester, went back to France, then returned to New York City as French consul in 1783.
De Crevecoeur chaired the board of trustees of St. Peter’s. The other three men were priests with connections to Orange County as visiting missionaries: Father Charles Whelan, whose brother lived in Montgomery; Father Ferdinand Steinmayer (known as "Father Farmer"), and Father John Powers. All held mass in the homes of local Catholics.
As immigrants arrived from Europe, fleeing famine, persecution, or military strife, the Catholic population grew. The building of the railroad brought more. But there was no place of worship for them. Aware of the need, Bishop John DuBois named Goshen, because of its central location, as a Catholic mission in 1820. In 1837 it was designated a parish.

A church grows in Goshen
Episcopalian George D. Wickham owned much of the land in the Village of Goshen. Wickham and his Irish-born wife, Bridget, in 1844 sold a land deed for $1 to Bishop John Hughes of New York. That land, then called Fiddlers’ Green, and later St. John’s Place, became the site of the first church. Bricks for the church were made in the local brickyard. The cornerstone was laid in 1844, and the building, where the parking lot in the back of town hall is today, was occupied late in 1847.
The parish extended from Suffern to Warwick to Port Jervis. Father Stephen Ward was the first pastor in residence, in 1849.
In 1861, Bridget Wickham conveyed land adjoining the church for a school. A new frame building was attached to the church for that purpose. St. John's went on to establish its own mission churches in Chester, Monroe, and Warwick. Still more parishes would be created out of the area covered by the original St. John's.

A magnificent Gothic church
Land purchased on Murray Avenue became the site of the new church, rectory, and convent. Father John J. Keoghan, who came to St. John in 1875, had within 10 years built St. Columba’s Church in Chester and hired an architect, Col. Arthur Crook, to build the new Gothic-style St. John's in Goshen. The splendid new church on Murray Avenue was dedicated on Sept. 27, 1885.
The first Catholic high school in the Archdiocese of New York was established in Goshen in 1899, staffed by the Sisters of Charity. Both school and convent were located in the former rectory. At different times in the history of the church, the Ursuline Sisters, Sisters of Charity, Dominican Sisters, and Sisters of the Presentation were in charge of Sunday School.
The buildings on St. John’s Place, including the first church, were sold in 1902.
Catherine Garr donated $8,000 for a new school building at the corner of Erie Street and Murray Avenue. The cornerstone was laid in 1904. St. John’s Academic School would now be called Garr Institute. Parishioners Peter Connors and Sen. John J. McCarthy also contributed to the cost of the new building. In 1946, the school name reverted to St. John’s High School.
On June 5, 1918, a great fire gutted the church. Many splendid features were lost forever, including the carved altar and pipe organ and brass light fixtures. Firemen worked till 9 a.m. the next morning, trying to save the tower. Services were held in Garr Hall while the church was being rebuilt.
At some point, Father William A. Fogarty found 13 of the original Stations of the Cross salvaged from the fire, and had a 14th made in the same style. They are in the church today. He purchased a Hammond Electric organ and property next to the church, which was used as a garden.
Fire and smoke damaged the church again in June 1951, but the damage was soon repaired and the church repainted.
In 1955, a new elementary school, built on the former garden lot, was dedicated by Cardinal Francis Spellman. Enrollment increased beyond expectation, and a second floor was added in 1960. Today the school is headed by a Dominican principal, Sr. Lucy Pavilonis, O.P.
Over time, the financial burden of the high school became too great, and in 1942 it became a Diocesan high school rather than a parish one.
In 1964 Garr Hall was sold. In the same year, the new John S. Burke Catholic High School opened on land purchased from the Gabilla family. Money for the school was donated to the Archdiocese by benefactor John S. Burke, who was chief executive of the B. Altman and Co. department store chain. According to Maureen Lahiff, former longtime employee at St. John’s, all the students marched with desks, chairs, and other furniture over to the new high school.
Fire struck the church two more times. A rectory fire in 1974 was set by a troubled 13 year-old boy. In 1986, a rectory fire of unknown origin killed Rev. Monsignor John F. Sexton.

Later years
In the 1970s, the church, along with the rest of the country, experienced hard economic times. There was the oil crisis and gas rationing. High interest rates made borrowing money difficult.
In 1981 Cardinal Terence Cook came for confirmation and to bless the new McCaffrey parish hall. Six years later, in 1987, St. John’s celebrated its 150 anniversary with Cardinal John O’Connor in attendance.
The greatest tragedy in the church's history happened in the early 1990s, when some of St. John’s children were abused by a pedophile priest. It was later discovered he had done the same while assigned to Sacred Heart Church in Monroe. He pled guilty to federal and state charges of sodomy and sex abuse, served seven years in prison, and was released in 2000. He is still alive, living as a registered sex offender in a suburb of New York City.
Many parishioners left the congregation at that time. It has taken years to regain the trust of many parishioners.
Fr. Richard Adams was pastor from 1992 to 2002. Parishioners speak of him as a very unifying pastor who accomplished much spiritually and renovated the church.
The present pastor, Father Tom Dicks, came in 2002. By that time the nuns had left. Under his direction, the old convent was renovated in 2007 and turned into a parish center. Today, the rectory, religious education offices, and after-school programs are located there.
On Sept. 15, at the 5 p.m. Mass, St. John’s will joyfully celebrate its 175 anniversary. Current and former members of the church will welcome Cardinal Timothy Dolan who will concelebrate the special Mass. A reception will be held afterwards in McCaffrey Hall.

Editor's note: Information for this article came from “St. John the Evangelist: A House for Worship in Goshen, NY” by T.J.V. Cullen (1962); from notes, clippings, reminiscences and photos from Maureen Lahiff, from the files of the Goshen Library and Historical Society, and from Father Tom Dicks and parish archives.