St. William Parish LawnCrest

= St. William Parish - Founded January, 1920=

Quick Facts:
*Address: 6200 Rising Sun Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa 19111
*Current Church Built: 1955
*Lower Church Dedicated: 12/25/1956
*Upper Church Dedicated: 6/23/1963
*Current Registration: 5,050 People/1,953 Households
*School Opened: 1924
*Current School Enrollment: 390
*Current Pastor: Rev. Msgr., Nelson J. Perez

History

The Beginning of The Parish

In the early part of the 1900s, the area currently comprising Saint William Parish in the [http://archphila.org/home.php Archdiocese of Philadelphia] , made up of the communities of Lawndale and the Northern part of Crescentville, was part of [http://www.presentationbvm.org/ Presentation BVM Parish] in nearby Cheltenham, Pennsylvania which was under the leadership of Rev. William A Motley. When the Diocese began planning for a new parish in the developing part of Lower Northeast Philadelphia, Archbishop Dennis Dougherty asked Rev. Motley if he wished to remain at Presentation or would he like to lead a new parish?...his answer was clear.

On January 20,1920 St. William Parish was founded under Motley’s Leadership. Immediately, a worship location was secured at the Germania Maennerchor Hall (**) at 514 Devereaux Ave with the first mass being held on Jan 23. The new Parish comprising 70 families, spread out within the boundaries of; Cottman Ave to the North, Tookany Creek to the West and Roosevelt Boulevard to the South and East. A Rectory was established at 415 Levick Street that included a small chapel. In 1922, a move to 909 Levick street would be prompted by need for additional space.

In 1921, ground was broken for the combination Church/School at Rising Sun Avenue and Robbins Street. The first mass was said on December 8, 1921. In 1923, the parishes of St. Ambrose and [http://www.smtparish.org - St Martin Of Tours] were established which ate up a large portion of St. William’s Southern and Eastern parts. New (and current) boundaries were Magee Ave to the North, Phila/Mont.Co Twnshp Line/Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad/Newtown Branch of the Reading Railroad Company to the West, the Oxford Branch of the Pennsylvania Railrad now Pennway Street/Air line through the [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/philadelphia-nad.htm/ Naval Supply Depot] to the East and Allengrove Street To the South. The Parish grounds are now nearly centered within the boundaries. In 1924, St William School opened with 102 students under the direction of the [http://www.ihmimmaculata.org/ Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary] . Two sisters commuted back and forth from [http://www.stjoachims.org/ St Joachim’s Parish] in Frankford to teach. As far back as 1925, fundraising was begun to build additions to the school, and by 1929 two additional floors were built to the existing building to give a total of 12 classrooms for the 450 students enrolled in the School at that time.

A new “basement church” was constructed closer to Devereaux Avenue, completed in the 1930’s, of stone construction with a traditional gothic look on the interior, along with a new rectory. In 1948, construction was begun on a new convent building. Up to this time the Sisters had been housed in a group of row homes behind the Lower School on Robbins Street where the current Memorial Hall now stands.

(**) Some 60 years later, this same building was bought by the Parish and converted into the parish day care center. It was sold in 1999.

The World War

During this time, as our country was in the midst of the second world war, St William Parishioners did their part by selling war bonds, collecting scrap metals, rolling bandages and serving as civilian air raid wardens. They also used every available plot of land in the community to plant food gardens. In May of 1943, a welcome home party was conducted under the Holy Name Society in honor of the ex-military service personnel of the Parish. 12 men were honored with a bronze plaque at a special mass on May 30 of that same year for heroically giving their lives for our country.

317 names appeared on the Roll of Honor of St. William parishioners who served in the armed forces during WWII.

Times of Change

The 1950s and 60s saw many changes come to the physical plant of the Parish. With Many of the original "Motley Buildings" being completely replaced. The Middle School (Junior High/Upper School) building was built and later an additional floor was added. When consideration was had for the completion of the Upper Church, it was found that the basement church was not structurally sufficient to support additional construction. In 1955, the old church was demolished to make way for the current granite and sandstone building. The first mass was said in the new church (lower) on December 25, 1956. This Church, now the parish's third, seated 800. All of the stained glass windows and some appointments were used from the second church. While structurally complete the parish was still without a "Main Church" as construction debts prohibited completion of the interior of the Upper Church (seating 1,100) until June of 1963.

In 1965 with school enrollment now at over 1500, plans were drawn up for a new school building with 12 classrooms to be built behind the Lower School on Robbins, again where Memorial Hall now stands. A fire in early 1966 that destroyed the Rectory shelved those plans and the building was never built. A temporary Rectory was established at 6145 Argyle Street. The current Rectory was completed in 1967.

All substantial changes to the parish physical plant were during the 24-year reign of Father William Boyle - a quiet, deeply religious man, a strong administrator well liked and commonly known by parishioners as "The Builder." It was also during his administration that the parish population nearly tripled in size.

The 1970s were relatively quiet construction years for the parish but that's not to say they were not busy ones. The most notable "beginning" during this time was the Parish Carnival, started by Fr. Kimble in 1974. As a source of funds for expansion and maintenance of the Parish facilities, the Carnival would last for well over a decade with its largest year being in 1986, when over $50,000 was netted from this week long event. The Carnival had had its' last hurrah when the decision was made to construct a much needed hall in 1988 which took up half the grounds used for the event. It was also under the leadership of Fr. Kimble, that the Home and School Association, the CYO, the Boy Scout Troop, and the St. William Senior Citizen's Club were all either started or reestablished in the Parish.

New Leadership

In 1980, St William’s 6th Pastor, Monsignor James E. Mortimer took the helm, a post he would hold for 22 years. In 1981, under his leadership, school tuition was established with minimum weekly payments required by parents. The School Hall (1st floor) was renovated to provide additional classroom space over the summer, but this work was quickly undone by a devastating fire that gutted the entire 1st floor in the fall of the same year. By February of 1982, the hall had once again been renovated. Both Churches saw renovations, with new carpeting, sanctuary appointments, pew refurbishment and complete repainting in 1982.

In 1986, the Kindergarten Building was completed. It was designed and built by parishioners. Also that year, the “St. William Creche” was dedicated. The 6 x 26 foot case was built in the Narthex of the Upper Church to house the 2 foot tall statues which were hand carved by Gregor Betz, also a parishioner, who was schooled in Germany as a woodcarver. Rotated throughout the year, the display incorporates each major event of the liturgical year with the Nativity being the largest and most impressive.

In 1988, "Memorial Hall" at Robbins and Argyle was completed at a cost of $1.25 Million and dedicated by Archbishop Bevilacqua.

In 1989, The Adoration Chapel was opened on Ash Wednesday. Dedicated to Mother Katherine Drexel, the Chapel is located behind the Lower Church Altar with the entrance off of Argyle Street.

In 1991, the Lower Church was renovated once again to meet with Liturgical Norms under Vatican II with the main Altar moved closer to the congregation, side pews turned to face the altar and new locations for the shrines established. New statues of the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, Sacred Heart, and Katherine Drexel were brought over from Italy. Seating capacity was reduced to 700 with these renovations. All work was again done by Parishioners.

To alleviate overcrowding, the vacant Annex of the old Lawndale Hospital (now [http://www.kindredphila.com/ Kindred Hospital] ) at 6200 Palmetto Street was purchased and renovated by parishioners into 14 additional classrooms. Completed in 1993 it was known as the Primary School. School enrollment at this time was over 1,300 but shortly after this building opened, school enrollment started to drop.

During his 22 years, Msgr. Mortimer made his mark on the Parish. Most notably was his flair for decoration and stage design. Both Churches saw quite elaborate decorations for the various holidays over the years. He kept the parish women busy sewing and hemming various draperies and decorations. The most visible aspect of his touch was the Christmas light display which saw every parish building and tree lit up over the holiday. This tradition continues under current leadership. A large painting of the Nativity, made up of five 6 x 10 foot panels was created by parishioner Jim Gallagher and has been hung on the outside of the church every year since. Mr. Gallagher also carved the rendition of the Last Supper that adorns the main altar of the Lower Church and the processional crosses and candles used in both churches.

Parish Hits Its' Peak

The early 1990’s saw the “Peak” of the Parish. With over 9,600 parishioners on the register, weekend attendance at the fourteen masses was well over 40% or close to 4,000 people. The Parish, which had started off some seventy years earlier in a small room in a rented property, now was a complex composed of nine separate buildings and two large churches. In 1995, St William celebrated its' 75th anniversary with a gala celebration of events that stretched over an entire year. What seemed to be the top of the world for the parish was short lived.

Starting in the mid 90s, white flight began to take hold on the Lower Northeast. The strong German, Irish, Polish and Italian make up of the parish was being augmented by Hispanic, Asian and African Americans who were moving into the community. St William Parish welcomed the newcomers. Still, registration dropped to 8,900 by 1997 then down to just over 7,000 by 2002 and the school enrollment dropped from 1,100 in 1997 to just over 700 in 2002.

The primary reason for the drop in registration numbers is those moving in were and are not necessarily of the Catholic Denomination.

LawnCrest in the late 1800's was originally a small German community known as Marburg and reflecting this heritage, it has always had a presence of the Protestant Church throughout. In fact, the oldest Protestant Church in LawnCrest dates back to the year 1698. However, in the later half of the 20th century with nearly 2/3rds of the neighborhood populous registred at St. William, it always was considered a large Catholic community.

Change of The Guard

In 2002, Msgr. Mortimer retired and Msgr. Nelson Perez was installed as the 7th Pastor of St William. While the young Msgr. Perez came into a parish full of life and vigor, he also came into a parish burdened with major debt of over a half million dollars and a physical plant neglected. Since his arrival, over $360,000 in repairs have been made to the various buildings, including repair of the heating systems for both churches, repairs to the air conditioning in the Lower Church (the Upper Church does not have A/C), stone repointing, repainting the Lower Church (led by the Parish's Scout Troop), plaster & paint repairs to the Upper Church, replacement of the sound systems in both churches, replacement of the Convent heating system, repair and reconstruction of an entire corner of the Lower School building, replacement of roofs on both school buildings. Through the generosity of a local company, an alarm system was installed in the church, new carpeting was installed in the Lower Church, along with new seats for the Chapel. The Primary School was closed and the building leased out to the Sisters of the IHM for a [http://www.ihmimmaculata.org/ministries/northamerica.html#ProfCenter- Ministry Center] . The debt that welcomed the new pastor at the door has been reduced significantly and all bills are current. This could not have been accomplished without the dedication of the Parishioners of St William. Their generosity of time, talent and treasure given to the Parish (the full meaning of the word Tithe), is unmatched.

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=The Parish Today=

With 8 Sunday masses, attendance is still strong at around 1,800 people or 35% of the current registration of 5,100 people. Masses are said in 3 languages - English, Spanish and Urdu (Pakistani) with the latter being a result of the assignment of the Archdiocesan Pakistani Community to St William Parish. Three Daily masses see an additional 1,500 people attending each week, many from the surrounding business community and the Navy Depot. St. William Parish also hosts a weekly mass and Sunday communion calls at the [http://www.pphfamily.org/ Philadelphia Protestant Home] which is a large retirement community within the Parish that despite its name, has a very large population of Catholics.

The Parish also offers the "last chance mass" which simply put, is the latest mass available in the Northeast part of Philadelphia on a Sunday at 8PM. Not surprisingly, this is one of our largest attended masses.

Photographs

Music

Music has always been an integral part of Parish life over the last 88 years and with the current diversity in cultural make up, comes a diversity in our Liturgical Music. Over 80 people make up the Music Department at St. William, including; a 20 member Adult English Choir, 11 Member Spanish Choir, 35 member Children’s Choir and 8 member Pakistani Choir. There are 4 Organists and 5 Guitarist available as are 5 professionally trained cantors and 3 volunteer cantors. Both Churches are equipped with 2 manual [http://www.rodgersinstruments.com/ Rodgers Organs] installed in 1981 under the direction of famed Philadelphia Organist, Keith Chapman. Piano's are also on hand in both churches. Many of the larger special events often see combined choirs, such as Holy Thursday, Easter Vigil, Easter Sunday, Heritage Mass, Irish Mass and of course, Christmas.

The Parish also hosts visiting choirs on occasion, such as the Archdiocesan Boys Choir and the St. Augustine Filipino Choir. Another choir, known simply as the "Nevilairs" is an amazing group of Alumni students from the Overbrook School for the Blind, under the direction of Catherine Deraco. They traditionally sing for our Veterans Day Mass (the closest Sunday to) at 10am in the Lower Church, among other occasions, and are well received.

Current Liturgical Music Schedule: {*}

Weekdays
*..6:30AM LC-Low Mass
*..8:00AM LC-Low Mass (Organ/Piano & Children's Choir for monthly School Mass)
*12:00PM LC-Low Mass

Saturdays
*..8:00AM LC Low Mass
*..5:00PM LC-Organ/Piano & Cantor

Sundays

*..6:30AM LC-Low Mass
*..8:00AM LC-Organ/Piano & Cantor
*10:00AM LC-1st & 3rd Sun; Organ/Piano & Cantor, 2nd & 4th Sun; Guitar Mass
*10:00AM UC-Spanish Choir, Guitars and other traditional instrumentation.
*11:30AM UC-(Oct-May only) Organ & Children's Choir 1st Sun. Organ & Adult Choir 3rd Sun. Organ & Cantor 2nd & 4th Sundays.
*11:30AM LC-(June-Sept only) Organ/Piano & Cantor.
*..4:00PM LC-Harmonium & Pakistani Choir
*..8:00PM LC-Low Mass

{*} "LC-Lower Church, UC-Upper Church"

=Art Within=Over the last 88 years, many parishioners have lent their hand in the creation of the various artifacts that are seen throughout the Parish buildings. Within the last 30 years, several noteworthy creations were gifted to the parish.

Hand Carved

As stated earlier, two Parishioners, Gregor Betz and James Gallagher created some of the most seen artifacts in the Parish. In addition to the Creche in the Upper Church Narthex, the Nativity painting seen hung outside of the church, the Last Supper adorning the Lower Church Altar (seen at left), the processional crosses and candles used in both churches, there are other custom works of their art. In the Lower Church are displayed 4 hand carved plaques depicting the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders and Anointing of the Sick, which were created by Mr. Gallagher with a personal story behind each one. While all this work is extremely beautiful, it's certainly not to say that they are alone in their "one of a kind" creations.

Hand Crafted

Centered within those 4 carvings listed above, is the Ambry that contains the Holy Oils. This Ambry, or case, was created and built by Parishioner William O'Donnell and takes the shape of the Church itself to house the 3 oils; the Oil of Catechumens, the Chrism and the Oil of the Sick. Unfortunately, Mr. O'Donnell passed away before he could complete the case and for years, the case hung on the wall of the church "as is" until the upper portions were completed last year by another parishioner in honor of Mr. O'Donnell. A Parishioner also created the altar on which the tabernacle of the Upper Church now sits, on the Main Altar. Agian, a Parishioner, in addition to creating the Creche Cabinet itself, created the crucifix that hangs under the baldachin of the Upper Church to hold the life sized Corpus Christi that was gifted to the parish by another long time Parishioner.

Hand Painted

Mr. Gallagher also created a set of "O Antiphons" which were hung in the Upper Church for years during Advent. Unfortunately, they were not thought of as significant at the time of their creation and the materials on which they were painted have not withstood the test of time very well. Restoration of these now invaluable pieces of art work is in process.

Another Parishioner has taken on the task of restoring and repainting the original statues of The Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, The Sacred Heart and St. Anthony that were from our first Church, which had long been stored away as well as the similar statues within the tower of the Main School.

"Señor de los Milagros"

Another Parishioner painted our version of the "Lord of the Miracles", as seen to your left, which hangs in the Lower Church in a hand made frame created in Peru. It is a gift to St. William from the Peruvian Community of the Parish. Each year in October, the Peruvian Community of St. William celebrates this feast with a procession around the neighborhood in which they carry a palanquin with a much larger version of this painting, on their shoulders. With traditional music and prayer, while much smaller, this event is an echo of the same procession that takes place in Lima Peru each year. It draws people from not only across the city, but from as far away as New York to participate.

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Hand Sewn

During the pastoral years of Msgr. Mortimer, decoration of the churches for the various liturgical holidays took on an entirely new meaning. In order to accomplish the ideas in his head, Mortimer tapped into the sewing talents of the women of the Parish. Over the course of nearly a decade, women in groups of up to 20 could be found working on projects for Monsignor at any given time. Several sets of draperies were made for Easter and Christmas, in addition to other special events, so that a rotation could be had for 3-4 years without seeing the same thing each year. Each set was designed for the Upper Church, but could easily be adapted for use in the Lower Church. Many of these hand sewn projects can still be seen hanging in the church during these occasions, such as the dark blue drapes that hang in the photographs to the right of the Upper Church and Baldachin, with the individually sewn on silver stars, which is joined by ten, 20 foot long panels on which navy blue, light blue and silver fabric was sewn to use as a backdrop for each of the O Antiphons mentioned above that would hang from Advent through Christmas. Of other noteworthy sewing is the set of ten, 20 foot long panels of Tulips that are hung at Easter Time in the Nave of the Upper Church as well. There were many other sets made and seen throughout the year. While today, this work may not seem all that unordinary, it was a frist in the Diocese and the Parish was known City wide in the 1980's for the elaborate decorations that were seen within. Today, much of it has been scaled back to allow the proper focus on the Liturgical aspect of the Church, vrs. elaboration.

Many of the women who worked on the creation of these decorations have long since passed on, but several can still be found at Sunday mass, critiquing the work of the newer generations who put up these displays.

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Comics

One normally does not enter a school to find comic strips hanging all over, but St. William Parish is home to many special gifts from a former Student and Parishioner, William (Bil) Keane, the Creator of the widely syndicated comic strip, "Family Circus." Bil, in recognition of the parishes 75th anniversary in 1995, not only paid a special visit to the parish that year, but also created several 'one of a kind' posters related to our parish life that can be found throughout the school buildings. There are even been some recent additions gifted to us within the last year.

=Stained Glass=

Lower Church

All of the stained glass windows that are within the Lower Church, are expansions of the windows from the predecessor gothic style church building that occupied the same site and are of 1930's vintage. It's commonly said that to enlarge these windows to fit the new openings, the blue bands were added to each window.

There are 8 sets of 3 windows in the Nave and 4 sets of 2 in the Transepts that make up the traditional 12 seen in most churches, which account for the 12 Apostles. The center of each large windows depict several saints, including St. William, St. Peter, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Katherine of Sienna, St. Ann, St Joseph and Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The smaller windows depict Sts. Matthew, Mark, Luke John, Teresa and Bernard. In addition, there is the often unseen "hidden windows" of the Holy Name Society. Additional windows from the preceding church are found within the Sacristies of both churches.

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Upper Church

To many, the windows of our Upper Church are bland and un-adorning, not typical of what would be seen in the "Main" church of a large parish. While this may be what is first perceived, this is not true, they are very significant, if not rare. One must realize that the age difference between the Lower Church and Upper Church windows and how it exemplifies the age of their creation...there is nearly a 40 year difference.

Before you enter the Church itself, you will see in each stairwell leading up to the Narthex, 5 windows dedicated to the Blessed Mother for a total of 10, same as in a decade of the Rosary. There are 8 additional windows in the Narthex of which 6 are hidden behind the Creche, These too are dedicated to the Blessed Mother. It is often said that the dedication of St. William Parish to the Blessed Mother is unmatched and the numerous windows, statues and shrines within the Buildings and on the grounds show that.

Once you enter the Upper Church you see the traditional 12 windows, 4 on each side of the Nave and 2 in each Transept. The 8 in the Nave depict the movements of the Celebrants hands as the Eucharistic Prayer transpires during the Mass. This is an extremely unique set of windows. One can literally follow along with the priest at mass by watching the windows and see the correlation.

The Rose window above the choir loft, while not overly elaborate, nor large and sometimes referred to as the phone dial ("call on the Holy Spirit"), depicts the Holy Spirit shining down upon those who enter the Church. This window faces East and in the morning, when the sun shines brightly through this window with its' deep red, gold, golden yellow, bright white and beige colors, the effects of its' symbolism is quite inspiring.

In the Apse, behind the Baldachin, are 5 windows of somewhat more colorful glass than the rest, which depict the life of Christ. They are as follows: (L-R) Nativity, Presentation, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension.

An interesting note is while the traditional church is meant to be built with the Altar to the East, St. William is polar opposite. This is not uncommon though in large cities where land value often stipulated construction abilities. The current substantial church building cost nearly $450,000 to build in 1955, not including all interior furnishings. That is an amount equal to over $3.6 million in today’s dollars.

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=The Future=

Now in it’s 88th year, the future of the parish remains vibrant. Saint William Parish continues to be a strong, central part of the Lawncrest, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaCommunity. Most parishes in the Lower Northeast have seen similar reduction in numbers all around, as has the Catholic Church as a whole in most major cities.

St. William is still home to many descendents of its' original Parishioners and on any given Sunday you can still find those 2nd, 3rd & now 4th generations of German, Irish, Polish, Italian, French, Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Hungarian decent attending mass with the new 1st & 2nd generation parishioners from Peru, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Jamaica, Pakistan and India.

All buildings are in good order, both churches have seen and will see more work done to them to preserve their integrity. While the Upper Church is not used as often as liked, primarily due to the lack of an elevator, it is in good shape and will see additional work in the near future. It is interesting to note the Upper Church was officially closed under prior leadership due to the mechanical issues regarding its' heating system and the aging population of the parish. It was officially reopened in 2003.

St William remains dedicated to serving the LawnCrest Community for years to come. The School, still under the direction of the Sisters of the IHM, has held its' enrollment to just around 400 for the last few years. There is a strong Alumni Association recently founded that has successfully reached generations of past Parishioners and Students alike who continue to support the Parish and School.

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=Pastors=

*1920-1928 Rev. William A. Motley

*1928-1935 Rev. Austin C. Grady

*1935-1944 Rev. Richard W. Gaughan

*1944-1968 Rev. William J. Boyle

*1968-1980 Rev. Francis J. Kimble

*1980-2002 Rev. Msgr. James E. Mortimer

*2002-(___) Rev. Msgr. Nelson J. Perez

Note: Rev. William A. Motley is supposedly buried between the Parish Church and Rectory in the small garden where a tombstone marks only his tenure here at the parish, not his actual birth and death dates. While the church was built with two crypts (one on the North side and one on the South side of the building) neither have ever been used.

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=Notable Parishioners=

William (Bil) Keane, Creator of Family Circus The Family Circus, [http://www.familycircus.com/ Official Web Site] SWS Graduation Class of 1936.

Vocations from St William

Over 100 men and women have taken vocations from St William Parish, including Monsignor Joseph Tracy and Bishop Martin Lohmuller.

=External links=
* [http://www.churchofstwilliam.org St. William Parish]

* Aerial Map of Parish – [http://maps.live.com/#JnE9eXAuNjIwMCtSaXNpbmcrU3VuK0F2ZSUyYytQaGlsYWRlbHBoaWErUGElN2Vzc3QuMCU3ZXBnLjEmYmI9NTQuMjEzODYxMDAwNjQ0OSU3ZS00Ny42MzY3MTg3NSU3ZTIyLjE4NzQwNDk5MTM5ODglN2UtMTAyLjY1NjI1 Map of LawnCrest with Birds eye view avail.]

References