Address: 864 Main St, Rochester NY 14605


Early History
 

CORPUS CHRISTI was the l4th parish to be established in Rochester. It was organized in l888 to take care of the east end of the city. It comprised, in area, part of the “Irish” parishes of St. Mary’s and St. Bridget’s. It embraced the district from the east side of North Street and the north side of East Avenue. Much of this area was still unsettled, particularly east of the railroad bridge by Goodman Street. Those who dwelt within the boundaries were mostly people of moderate means; but it also included a number of prosperous Catholic families in the East Avenue neighborhood, like the John Kellys, the Patrick Coxes, the Cunninghams, the Hones, the Devines, etc., who became active in parish affairs.

FR. JAMES LEARY was the founding pastor (1888-1901). Under him, this parish corporation acquired a site on Main Street where C.C. school now stands. J. Foster Warner was architect of the combination church-school building (church upstairs, school downstairs) which was dedicated by Bishop McQuaid in 1888. The school was not opened until September 1889. (Eventually, after 1902, the whole building was adapted to school use, and new wings were added on either end. So the central part of the present school is the original school-church building of 1888-89.)

MSGR. DENNIS J. CURRAN was the second pastor (1901-1922). He built the present church on the corner property already purchased in 1899 by his predecessor. The church was designed by the Rochester firm of Gordon and Madden, and dedicated by Bishop McQuaid on June 14, 1903. The present rectory was built at the same time.

Msgr. Curran was vicar-general of the Diocese, and Corpus Christi was by now a parish of magnitude appropriate for such an official. Under Father Leary, the parish population had grown rapidly. By 1910 it was 3100; by 1918, 4000. By 1941 it had rises to 5275. Parish income, $22,510 in 1909, was $45,214 by 1941.

Among the parish activities was considerable work with the poor. The Ladies Aid Society (1903) made clothing for the needy. Later, a Catholic Men’s Charity League was established in the Diocese, with a good representation of Corpus Christi parishioners in its membership. Women of the parish had already joined other Rochester women to found, in 1912, a diocesan Catholic Charity Guild to integrate Catholic welfare activities in Rochester. Out of this grew the present Catholic Charities organization. Most of the leading parish participants in these developments were Catholics of means.

Meanwhile, the Italian immigrant population had grown rapidly in the neighborhood around the public market. There was already an Italian parish on the west side of the River, St. Anthony’s. Now a parish was deemed necessary on the east side of the city. The congregation of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was organized in 1904. Two years later the first Mass was celebrated fore the new parish in the basement of the new Corpus Christi Church by Father J. Emil Gefell, founder and pastor of St. Anthony’s. From 1906 to 1909, either Fr. Gefell or his assistant, Fr. Oreste Canali, offered Sunday Mass there. On August 1, 1909, the dedication of Our Lady of Mount Carmel church and school building on Ontario took place, and Corpus Christi said good-by to its Italian guests. By 1911, Mount Carmel had become one of the most populous churches in town: 1344 families and 5600 members.

MSGR. JOHN F. O’HERN 3was pastor from 1923 to 1929, when he was named third bishop of Rochester. He was also vicar-general while at Corpus Christi, presiding over an active and still growing congregation. He has the support of an active staff of priests; but knew all the parishioners, high or low, by name, and was very much loved.

MSGR. WILLIAM M. HART, likewise vicar general, was pastor from 1929 to 1962. A man of high intelligence and great wit he was a power behind the throne of Bishop O’Hern and Archbishop Mooney and Bishop Kearney, who succeeded O’Hern.

MSGR. JOHN E. MANEY was not the vicar general but the chancellor the Diocese. He was administrator of Corpus Christi during the long illness of Msgr. Hart (1956-1962) and pastor from 1962 to 1976.

REV. JOSEPH W. DAILEY was administrator 1976-1977.

REV. JAMES B. CALLAN was named pastor 1977-

CONCLUSIONS:

The picture that emerges of Corpus Christi Parish is that is early became and long remained a “good” parish. It was sizable. Its parishioners blended a certain number of wealthy with a majority of middle class persons and probably a minority of poor. The members of the parish were almost totally white and principally of Irish background. They responded loyally to the guidance of unusually competent pastors and assistant pastors. The school formed them in this loyal Catholicism, and it was a large school (577 in attendance in l941).

One indication of good parochial life is the number of religious vocations. Forty-eight priests and forty-three sisters were listed in 1978 as former parishioners.

The extent and type of parish interest in charitable work shows that before World War II the people had a sense of their duty to help others, and discharged that duty according to the needs and means of social charity available at the time. They were patriotic, too.

Unfortunately, the post-1941 diocesan records of the parish’s financial status and population statistics have been destroyed, so there are no figures available (at least in the pastoral office) to serve as the basis of a graph of population shift and decline. What the population reports have indicated in the past ten years should still be available at the Pastoral Office. At all events, it is clear that by 1963 the total had dropped to 263. One is led to the conclusion that after World War II, Corpus Christi saw the same migration of its people to the suburbs as other downtown parishes did, and their replacement in many neighborhoods by poorer people of other backgrounds, blacks and Spanish-speaking. Today’s pastor, therefore, has to tax his brain to find new pastoral approaches to a decreased and altered flock.

I have one 8” by 10” glossy photo of Msgr. W. J. Naughton’s first mass in Corpus Christi in 1927, which I think would reproduce fairly well. There are three good histories of the parish: the Golden Jubilee book, 1938; and two from the 1970’s by Grace Murray. These have some other illustrations in half-tone. I have photos of Curran, Hart, O’Hern.

-- Robert F. McNamara, 3/3/81

Pastors

• Fr. James J. Leary. 1888-1901
• Fr. Dennis J. Curran, 1901-1922
• Bp. John Francis O'Hern, 1922-1929
• Msgr. William M. Hart, 1929-1955
• Msgr. John E. Maney, 1955-June 23, 1976
• Fr. Joseph W. Dailey, June 23, 1976-1977 [Temporary administrator]
• James B. Callan, 1977-Sep. 6. 1998 [Administrator]
• Charlotte Bruney and Kathleen Cannon [Co-administrators], Sep. 6, 1998- Oct. 17, 1998
• Fr. Daniel McMullin, Oct. 17, 1998-June 26, 2001
• Vincent Panepinto, June 26, 2001-2010 [Upon suspension]
• Fr. Paul Gitau and Deborah A. Housel, 2010-Sep. 1, 2011 [Co-administrators]
• Deacon David Palma, Sep. 1, 2011-July 2012 [Administrator]
• Frs. William F. McGrath and Robert Werth, July 2012-June 25, 2019 [Co-pastorate]
• Fr. William F. McGrath, June 25, 2019-June 29, 2021
• Father Daniel Ruiz-Sierra, June 29, 2021 - Present