A History of Catholic Elementary Education in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey

351 Pages·017.854 MB·English

by  Sullivan, Daniel C

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FORDHAM UNIVERSITY
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GRADUATE SCHOOL
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................................... .
This dissertation prepared under my direction by
Daniel... C. Sullivan.....................
entitled His.toiy o.f....Ca.tkQl.i.c...El.em.e.n.tar^:...Ednc.a.ti.o.n..
i n . t h e . A p c l i d ^ ^ ..........
has been accepted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
Degree of ..D..QC.t.0.r.....0.f...Philosophy.............................................................
.
(Facility Adviser)

A HISTORY OF CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY
EDUCATION IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF NEWARK,
NEW JERSEY
BY
DANIEL C. SULLIVAN, A.B. , M.A.
DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE GRADUATE
DEPARTMENT OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION OF
FOKDHAM UNIVERSITY
NEW YORK
1942
ProQuest Number: 13846659
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
1. INTRODUCTION .............................. 1
11. HISTORICAL, ECONOMIC BACKGROUND . 8
111. GROWTH OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NEW JERSEY . 26
IV. CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PRIOR TO 1853 . 62
V. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 1853 TO PRESENT . . . . 112
Episcopacy of Bishop James Bay ley . . . . . 112
Episcopacy of Bishop Michael Corrigan . . . 154
Episcopacy of Bishop Winand WIgger . . . . 179
Episcopacy of Bishop John O’Connor • • • • 218
Episcopacy ofB ishop Thomas W a l s h ......... 264
VI. PRESENT CONDITIONS ...................... 280
»
vll. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS................. . 325
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............. 332
APPENDIX .................................. 338
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LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
1. Catholic Population of Counties in the
Archdiocese ........................ 14
11. Population of New Jersey from 1790-1850 . . . 17
111. Comparison-Total Population and Catholic
Population in New Jersey, 1880-1940 . . . . 24
IV. Catholic Population in Diocese,
: 1906, 1916, 1926 59
V. Comparison-Catholic Growth 1882 and 1937 . . . 61
VI. Schools Opened 1872-1881 . . . . . .......... 178
Vll. Schools Opened 1881-1901............. 217
VI11. Schools Opened 1901-1927 . ................ 262
IX. Schools Opened 1927-1940 .............. 277
X. General Statistics of Teaching Orders . . APPENDIX
XI. Parochial School Enrollment in Arch-
diocese, ......................... APPENDIX
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Going therefore teach ye all nations.,.,
teaching them to observe all things what­
soever I have commanded you, and behold I
am with you all days even to the consum­
mation of the world. 1
With these words the Master Teacher of all times sent
forth his disciples to labor for the greater glory of God
and the salvation of man. That their trials and tribu­
lations were many history readily verifies, just as she
presents undying monuments of their successes. But such a
task, accomplished amid hardships and sufferings, with only
a love of God and the words of Christ to support and reward
them, can never be truly chronicled and still do them
justice. Those first disciples of Jesus and the countless
thousands of men and women who followed in their footsteps,
preaching and teaching the true way of life, had no easy
mission to fulfill. It was not merely a matter of dissemi­
nating the words of Christ to a world eager and waiting for
such enlightment; on the contrary, theirs was the duty to
sow and cultivate, and numerous were the times, when their
words fell upon barren soil.
However, the staunch zeal and relentless endeavor of
1 Matthew, XXV111, 18,19,20.
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these good men and women, enrolled in this holy undertaking,
was not without success as this thesis will endeavor to
show. The history of Christianity, the rise of the Church
and the subsequent growth of the Catholic parochial school
system attest this fact. In speaking of the effects of
these endeavors in America, Archbishop Spalding has said:
The greatest religious fact in the
United States to-day is the Catholic
School System, maintained without
any aid except from the people who
love it.
These words, uttered by a clergyman and educator of
renown, are jbst as applicable to-day as they were in 1S90.
But such a statement is not to be wondered at because:
Popular education has always been a
chief object of the church's care;
in fact, it is not too much to say
that, the history of civilization
and education is tne history of the
church's work. ^
In pursuing and recording the history of Catholic edu­
cation, particularly during the first years in America, it
is impossible to escape or to minimize the reality of the
struggle, the hardships endured and the persecutions indulged
in by those opposed to the growth of the Catholic Church and
1 Edwin Slosson, The American Spirit in Education (Hew
Haven: Yale Press, 1922J, p. 181.
2 Pastoral’Letter of the Archbishops and Bishops of the
United Sta.tes Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (Press of the
Baltimore Publishing Co., Oct. 7, 1884), p. 14.
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and school. Nor is it possible to belittle or disregard the
amazing results which have been achieved. In tracing and
recording the evolution of the Catholic elementary school^in
the Archdiocese of Newark is seen a story that is merely a
reflection of what took place in other American dioceses.
Although the major purpose of this thesis is to record
the development of parochial elementary education in the
archdiocese, it is the hope of the writer that two other
aims will be achieved, viz., Cl) that the material presented
will substantiate the claim that the elementary school system
set up by the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Newark
is comparable to that of any in the United States, whether
religious or secular; (2) to show the extent to which the
diocese has complied'and is complying with the two objectives
set up by the Third Plenary Council:
....to multiply schools, and to
perfect them. We must multiply
them until every Catholic child
in the land shall have withiijpits
reach the means of education."
Regardless of the degree to which these aims are met
in presenting the data in this thesis, one fact, however,
cannot be lost sight of, namely, the people who labored and
1 All schools offering academic work below the usual
first year of secondary school will be considered as elementa­
ry schools.
2 Pastoral Letter. Oct. 7, 1884, p. 16.
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