It's a Family

August 13, 1998 
Catholic New York Feature Story

St. Mary's in Poughkeepsie, 125 years old, reaches out to all

By JOHN BURGER

At the end of a Mass marking the 125th anniversary of St. Mary's parish in Poughkeepsie in May, Father John J. Brinn, the pastor, introduced priests who had grown up in the parish. As they stood, he asked their relatives to stand with them, and parishioners applauded.

Then the other parish priest took the microphone and, with a bit of flair, said, "I'm Father John Hunter, and I'd like my family to stand up."

Everyone in the church stood.

That's the way it is at St. Mary's. It's a family to those without a family of their own, like Father Hunter. "We have many, many friends," he told CNY. "We depend on the parishioners to be our family."

So do many others. Margaret Spingler, 95, a lifelong parishioner who is wheelchair-bound, said she lives for the weekly visit from Rena O'Connor, a Eucharistic minister.

"She's wonderful," Miss Spingler said. "She's never missed a Sunday. I don't know what I'd do without her."

Of St. Mary's, Miss Spingler, who in earlier days was a Monday morning collection counter at the church, said, "It's part of me. It's like the reason you like your home."

The goal of the parish is simple: "We want to help people get to heaven," Father Brinn said.

Over the past 125 years, the histories of St. Mary's and Poughkeepsie have been intertwined, and the town has shared the church's triumphs and tragedies as if they were its own. The parish has a "fantastic" relationship with the larger community, Father Brinn said.

Take the case of Jaime Gil Tenorio, a Mexican immigrant who was killed in an April road accident. Poughkeepsie Detective Karl Mannain began a fund-raising effort to help his family, and St. Mary's was the collection point. The Dutchess Vicariate donated the $4,500 needed to have Tenorio's body shipped home to the Mexican state of Oaxaca for burial, and many parishioners contributed toward the more than $22,000 ultimately raised. Mannain personally delivered the money to the family in poverty-stricken Oaxaca. Bankers and policemen volunteered to write thank-you notes to donors.

Many of Poughkeepsie's Mexicans come from Oaxaca, taking the most menial of jobs and sending money home so their children can eat and get an education. At a Memorial Mass for Tenorio at St. Mary's, Father Brinn, Mayor Colette Lafuente and Mannain told Mexicans they want to serve all residents, no matter where they come from or how they got there. "We don't look to see if they have their green cards," Father Brinn said.

Another Mexican worker, Benito Torres, was killed in June when he was hit by a cement truck. The parish again sprang to the grieving family's assistance, raising $2,900.

In 1992, when thousands of Albanians were fleeing turmoil in their homeland, St. Mary's helped a refugee family get settled in Poughkeepsie.

The parish was founded by immigrants in 1873. The Irish in the area worshiped in two different buildings before a proper church was constructed in 1887. John McCann, a feed and grain dealer and a founding member of the parish, deeded his property on South Hamilton Street to St. Mary's, and a Gothic-style church built there was dedicated in 1893.

A burgeoning enrollment in the school, founded in 1878, demanded a new building, which was dedicated in 1917. A post-World War II boom made it necessary to add eight classrooms. But the school, staffed by Sisters of Charity and later by Dominican Sisters of Newburgh, started to see a declining enrollment in the 1970s as the neighborhood changed after the construction of a mall and families began to leave. The school was forced to close in 1994 because of great financial problems.

The church was destroyed by fire in 1968, an event Father Brinn remembers as "devastating, terrible." He was serving at St. Martin de Porres parish in Poughkeepsie at the time and chaplain to the volunteer fire department, which he still is.

Msgr. Matthew J. Cox, pastor of St. Mary's from 1970 to 1982, guided the parish through the four-and-a-half-year process of rebuilding. James McCann, whose father had given the land for the church, died a year after the fire. But before his death, the younger McCann, who had made a fortune in the stock market, set up a philanthropic foundation. One of its first donations was $330,000 for the new church, which was more than matched by parish donations.

John J. Gartland, an attorney who is president of the foundation, salvaged the baptismal font, the only item from the old church still in use. He and his wife also donated a 34-foot-high mosaic of Christ Triumphant that serves as a backdrop to the altar. The work was designed by American artist Lumen Martin Winter, who also sculpted the marble statue in front of the church depicting Mary holding the Christ Child above her head.

The mosaic is an object of contemplation by worshipers who "always see something additional in it," Father Brinn said. "It gives them a greater appreciation of Christ becoming man and dying for our sins."

Incorporated into the mosaic design are the original church and the Mid-Hudson Bridge, which parishioners see as a symbol of their call to build bridges with others and spread the faith.

Msgr. Thomas J. Bergin, now archdiocesan vicar for education, succeeded Msgr. Cox as pastor, serving only a year, from 1982 to 1983. Msgr. Harold E. Hicks was pastor from 1983 to 1989, and Father Philip W. Hill, from 1989 to 1994.

The inner-city neighborhood surrounding St. Mary's has had its share of problems, with drug dealers and prostitutes flourishing, but it has been making a comeback. "Thanks to the police, there's been a great improvement," said Father Brinn, pastor since 1994.

Gartland feels the parish played a role in revitalizing the neighborhood and that Father Brinn has played a big role in evangelization. "His personality and charisma have brought a lot of people back to the Church," Gartland said. Sunday Masses are attended by about 700 people.

St. Mary's participated in the three-year Renew program for spiritual development recently, and that led to the formation of a "cell" to lead parish efforts in evangelization. Led by Nancy and William Eidle, the cell is planning a number of events designed to spread the Gospel: a health screening and music fair Sunday, Aug. 16; a novena to the Divine Mercy in September; regular Masses for the deceased and the infirm, beginning in November, and a series of discussions about the Second Vatican Council during Advent.

The Hispanic presence also has contributed to the buildup. About 60 people attend the Sunday 1 p.m. Mass in Spanish, most of them Mexicans. Father Anthony S. Marian, a chaplain at Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie, celebrates the Mass. Father Brinn said the parish outreach to Hispanics is "to invite them to a place where they can pray, get closer to God and enrich their spirituality."

The parish is also served by Deacon Richard J. Dingee, a chaplain at Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Wallkill.

Therese O'Connor coordinates the Parish Caring Ministry, a caregiver support and respite program.

There is a sizable number of elderly people in the parish, and a number of parishioners, including 30 Eucharistic ministers, visit the homebound and the sick at Vassar Brothers and St. Francis hospitals and Eden Park Nursing Home. New York state recently gave Mary Coons a Volunteer of the Year Award for her regular visits to about 50 people at Eden Park.

The parish Legion of Mary has nine members who pray the Rosary and visit the sick at hospitals and nursing homes. They also pray in front of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic not far from the church. Led by Marie Miller, the president, they recently started home visitations to encourage Catholics to return to the sacraments.

St. Mary's also is the central parish for monthly meetings of the Cursillo movement in Dutchess County.

The parish prides itself on its outreach to the poor and elderly, participating in an ecumenical meals program and running a second-hand shop.

The school building is used by the religious education program, which has 16 volunteers teaching about 150 children from pre-kindergarten through high school. Father Hunter, who was a teacher for 33 years before entering the seminary, is moderator and teaches confirmation. He is also in charge of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

Michael Molinaro, director of religious education, reported that the program will offer the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a Montessori program, in the fall, and take children as young as 3 years old. He also tries to mainstream children with mental and physical disabilities.

"You don't know how thankful you are for your own life until you've sat down to work with someone with a disability," Molinaro told CNY. "It's a very moving moment when you hear someone like that say a Hail Mary for the first time."

John F. Theysohn, parish council president, said part of the reason St. Mary's is so vibrant is the readiness of parishioners to get involved. "There's never a problem getting people to take on something that needs taking on," he said.

"I love every brick in St. Mary's church," said Ann Brady Rupsis, a lifelong parishioner. "It's always been a wonderful, warm, family parish. We've had a series of priests who are true shepherds of the flock. We've been blessed."