The Faith Community at St.Alphonsus is more than simply a collection of buildings or a meeting place for people. It is a gathering together of people with a common will and a collective desire to , worship, celebrate, and share together in a living faith that embraces each and every Child of God. This is an ever-evolving process as we continue to find God in the society in which we live today. St. Alphonsus is a tribute to the many thousands of people who, over 157 years, have put God first in their lives.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of St.Alphonsus Parish, the pastor, Fr. Straub, paid tribute to the brave immigrants who one hundred years before: "decided to have a church of their own in which they would worship with understanding". St.Alphonsus Parish, the second Roman Catholic Parish in Auburn, was founded on May of 1853. Prior to that time, the Redemptorists of St. Joseph's Church of Rochester had made a special out-reach to the German Catholics of CNY. About 15 German and 5 Irish families formed the first congregation. Later many of the Irish helped form Holy Family parish. These same Redemptorists now run Notre Dame Retreat House in Canandaigua NY. Indeed they have been prominent in leading most of our Parish Missions for the last 145 years.

The first Mass was held at Frank's Hotel on May 5, 1853.J. H. Frank, the hotel proprietor was a founding member of the Parish.

 

 

Water Street Church
The first church was located at 10 Wall St. near State St. It was formerly a barn that was used as a cooper shop. The barn and lot cost $400. The young parish continued to grow and soon there was need for a church building they could call their own. On March 26, 1861, property was purchased on Water St. for the new church which cost $1900. It was completed in 1868 and was used by the parish until 1930 when we moved to our current location.

The Parish continued to grow and in 1866 Bishop Timon visited the parish to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation for the first time. There were 46 children in the class, showing the , increase in the size of the parish.

Father Vogel, a locally popular pastor, noted in his records in 1874 that the parish was free of debt and that there was $300 in the church treasury to be used for new sidewalks. The tower and bell expenses were paid for with "chip-in" collections where almost every Auburn businessman, regardless of religion, contributed. In early journals it was worth noting that many Auburn Protestants were very generous during our parish's early days.

It was about this time that St.Alphonsus became part of the new Diocese of Rochester. Until this time it had been part of the Buffalo Diocese. Bishop McQuaid became the first Bishop of Rochester in June of 1868. On November 26, 1871 he traveled to Auburn to dedicate St.Alphonsus Church. Fr. Peyer, the Pastor of St. Boniface, delivered the sermon in German. The dedication coincided with Thanksgiving week and allowed Fr. Vogel to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass with the many members of his flock as they thanked God for the culmination of their efforts to obtain an acceptable House ofWorship.

Many of the early celebrations combined fun and fund raising. The Auburn Daily Bulletin announced on November,28, 1871 that there would be a "Fair in aid of St.Alphonsus' Church" held at the Academy of Music. The paper went on to say, "The floor was filled with dancers..." "the supper provided by the ladies of the church had all the good things of the season to invite and tempt the appetite."

The people of the parish now moved their ambitions into a new direction. After a number of short-lived efforts at maintaining a school, an effort was made to form a permanent institution. In 1886, the pastor, Fr. Ulrich purchased land at the corner of Franklin and Seminary Streets for a new school. St. Joseph's Union was formed to recognize those who contributed $1 for the new school. On September 7, 1887 the new school was opened with 126 children.

1888 was the 35th anniversary of the parish. Bishop McQuaid came to celebrate the event. Money was raised for stained glass windows and a Christmas creche for the church. It was also the year that, Father John Van Ness, the first of many priests from St.Alphonsus, was ordained. Other priests from our Parish include Fathers John Kleintjes, David Simon, ,Anthony Gamble, Joseph T. Gaynor, C. Richard Nangle, Charles Bennett, John and Paul Morgan, Peter C. Clifford, Robert Egan, Robert Miller, John Quinn, R.Adam Forno, and Bernard Casper. Additionally at least 23 women from St.Alphonsus entered religious life.

In 1890 a parish census showed that there were 160 families in the church. Twelve families were Polish. As St. Hyacinth's was not organized until 1905, the Polish Catholics of Auburn were members of St.Alphonsus. As a result of the census Fr. Ulrich persuaded many public school students to transfer to St.Alphonsus School. The school was enlarged at the expense of $2000. {$1800. was raised at a Parish fair).

By 1901 the need for a new school was apparent and Fr. Regenbogen went about raising the money for its construction. On July 29, 1905 Bishop Hickey came to dedicate the new school.

Some items of interest at the time include the following:The first meeting for the Holy Name Society was held on April 30, 1907 with more than 100 members attending. At Forty Hours in 1909, Fr. Wissel, who had been Pastor at St.Alphonsus 50 years earlier attended the service. An item in 1909 relates to the purchase of a 200 Ib. bell for the convent that was named St. Marie Clement Hofbauer.

On March II, 1910, the church was severely damaged by a fire that destroyed the organ and damaged the galleries and towers. Mention is made of the fundraisers later that year to repair the church and purchase a new organ. A scarlet fever epidemic closed the school for two months in Februaryand March of 1913.

In the early years there were many Sisters who shared their talents and abilities with the stu- dents of the school. Indeed the earliest records point out that Sister Tecla of the Sisters of St. Joseph was teaching at a early school located in a room at the Academy of Music in September of 1874. Indeed, between that date and 1950 more than 96 Sisters of St. Joseph worked with our children.

The first assistant pastors started in 1921 and there have been 23 assistants between 1921 and WWII. That war took many of our Diocesan priests on assignments as chaplains and often left St. Alphonsus without weekend priests. When this happened the Basilian fathers from Rochester came to celebrate our weekend masses. These priests who later founded St. John Fisher College also came to act as summer counselors at Camp Columbus, on Owasco Lake, during the war.

Father Straub became pastor in 1924. He soon realized that his congregation was outgrowing the Water Street Church. By the 75th anniversary of St.Alphonsus in 1928 Fr. Straub was well on his way to his dreams. On November, 3, 1929 he announced the purchase of three pieces of property on Genesee St. and plans were made to build a new church. Records show the costs of con- struction as electric- $1494, heating and plumbing- $5608, mason and carpentry- $67 ,085, and the roof- $6356. Only stopping for extreme cold weather and the prison riot of December II, 1929 the work was completed in just 54 weeks. Completion was Dec. 21 st, 1930.

An elderly parishioner,Angelina Baker, placed the flowers on the new altar. Angeline, as a young girl, has placed the first flowers on the altar of the Water Street Church when it was dedicated 62 years prior.

Here we find many records of youth activities. Boy Scout Throop 12 has been here since 1932 and Cub Scouts came in 1934. The first basketball team was also formed in 1932. The Columbian Squires Band was active as early as 1934.

These were also Depression Years. The people of the Parish were great in supporting the new church. Fr. Straub knew the hardships many of his parishioners faced. He would often say: "If you can't give. God Bless You! But give us your prayers!"

Next came the War Years. On December, 7, 1941 the parishioners established a "Prayer Front". "No meetings, no officers, no dues in this organization. Only one requirement; invite someone to come to Church once a week to spend one half hour praying for the protection of our Boys and for a speedy and lasting peace. .." Letters to parishioners serving in the war, Red Cross work, cloth- ing and food drives were just a few ways our parishioners helped.

Nine men from St.Alphonsus gave their lives in WWII. It is little wonder that within a few min- utes of the announcement of the end of hostilities in Japan that a spontaneous service of Thanksgiving was held at St. Alphonsus with her bell tower pealing out the news to the whole east end of Auburn.

The first mention of the new school was in a bulletin from 1938. The war held up the plans and when it ended Fr. Straub started a school bond program for the school telling the people: "It's patriotic to buy War Bonds, and doubly patriotic to prepare your children's education now". The chil- dren raffled off turkeys, chickens, rabbits and pigeons to raise money. By 1948, 444 students had registered for the Franklin Street School that had room for only 390.

Groundbreaking was September 19, 1949 and by October, 11, 1950 the students were transferred to the new school. A Parade led by a Drum and Bugle Corps and Fr. Straub marched from Franklin St. to John St. to Genesee St.. Two new innovations were to be found at the school. The first was the addition of a kindergarten. Next was the introduction of a textbook rental system. Each person paid $1.75/semester to rent his or her books. This did not include their religious books that they must buy.

Fr. Clarence Gardner was ordained in 1942. He was first assigned to St.Alphonsus as an assistant pastor in 1946 and stayed until 1954. He mentioned how hospitable the Rectory was toward all who came to visit. Fr. Struab had an open house policy that has remained with us to this day. Indeed for all the years he can remember the Rectory has hosted a Wednesday luncheon for the area priests.

Over the years St.Alphonsus has always had a food pantry to help those less fortunate. Fr. Gardner remembers even in the 1940's how the people of St.Alphonsus always were witnesses to Christ in sharing many hundreds of thousands of meals over the years.

It seems that one of the pastimes for the priests was to play pool on the table that was installed at the Rectory. Fr. Gardner mentioned that as a young priest with a limited income he had to get very good at pool or he could easily lose his shirt.

There was also a talking parrot at the Rectory for many years. When the priests would return from a late night visiting the sick the parrot would greet them with a raucous series of "Hello' Hello" that would be heard throughout the Rectory.

Youth activities included the Columbian Squires, Girl and Boy Scouts, a Drum and Bugle Corps, summer camp at Camp Columbus, Minstrel Shows, and Girls and Boys Basketball.

In the years following Msgr. Straub ( 1924-1958), these men have served as pastors: Fr. Francis Waterstraat ( 1958-62), Fr. John Merklinger ( 1962-69), Fr. Raymond Wuest ( 1969-73), Msgr. Joseph Gefell (1973-76), Fr. EdwinWedow (1976-78), Fr. Clarence Gardner (1978-86), Fr. Foster Rogers ( 1986-98), and Fr. Louis A. Vasile ( 1998-Present).

The history of the parish is deeply intertwined in the ever wider history of the Church. Vatican II (1962-1965) brought about a renewal within our parish as well as throughout the entire church. We began to see ourselves as the People of God and our lay ministries began to take shape after the Council:Altar rails were removed, an altar facing the congregation was installed, Masses were celebrated in English and folk groups joined the ranks of Church Musicians. Lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, Cantors, Servers (male and female) became common fixtures within our faith community.

The role of St.Alphonsus in the community as well as in the region became more significant with such programs as the Food Pantry, Blessed Trinity School which later became St.Joseph's School (grades 1-8).

Our parish Church was renovated in 1990 and has been maintained through the generosity of our parishioners. The parish recently celebrated two historical events: the 70th Anniversary of the Church Building and the 50th Anniversary of the School Building on Genesee Street. Bishop Clark presided at a Liturgy on September 30, 2000 to thank God for our life here as a faith community. The liturgy was followed by a reception at St. Joseph's School as well a dinner at Highland Country Club.

In 1996 The Blessed Trinity School became St. Joseph School with the schools of St. Alphonsus and St. Mary consolidating.

On June 30th 1998 Rev. Louis A. Vasile becomes the pastor.  On September 30th 2000 Bishop Clark presided at a joint celebration of St. Alphonsus School Building's 50th anniversary and the St. Alphonsus Church Building's 70 anniversary on Genesee St. 

In 2002 Fr. Lou celebrated his 30th year of Priesthood in April and Fr Gardner celebrated his 60th year in June. Our 150th year jubilee was celebrated in May, also marking the 30th anniversary of the food pantry.  We officialy marked our 150th anniversary on May 5th with Bishop Clark presiding our celebration at the noon mass.

There is much more that could be said at this time about the men and women who have served our nation and community over the last thirty years, but we will have to wait for another opportu- nity to share the ongoing history of our parish.

We are at a point in our history where community cooperation means collaboration with all the parishes in our community. Hospitality and generosity have long been the trademarks of our parish and will serve us well in meeting the opportunities and challenges in the days ahead.