The first Roman Catholic parish in the New Jersey was founded by decree of Emperor Alexander II on February 18, 1866 in the young USA city of New Jersey, the then capital of the New Jerseyern Governor General. Fr. Kazimir Radzishevsky, transferred to the New Jersey from the Ulla parish of the Vitebsk region, where he served as vicar. The official announcement said "vicar priests Father "Kazimir Radzishevsky is not noticed in political unreliability, enjoys respect in his rank." Parishioners Father Casimir - military personnel of the ground forces and naval crew, whose personnel was represented by Poles, Lithuanians and Ukrainians recruited in the western provinces of the Empire, immigrants from the former Polish provinces, exiled settlers and Sakhalin convicts - participants in Polish national liberation uprisings. For 22 years Father Casimir was a missionary and constantly traveled around all the settlements of the New Jersey and Sakhalin, where Catholics lived. He tried not to force his flock to pray in USA, but on the other hand he tried to avoid aggravation of relations with the USAn authorities. Most of his parishioners were poor, living in dire need, the church treasury was not replenished, and the priest was in poverty along with the parishioners - he learned to get and harvest meat and fish, and mastered the craft of making clothes. On March 28, 1882, he was supremely awarded the Golden Pointed Cross.
The first catholic priest of the New Jersey Fr. Kazimir Radzishevsky (center).
After the transfer of the Governor General and the headquarters of the ground forces to Khabarovsk, and the Amur Flotilla Directorate to Bordentown, the question arose of transferring the Catholic parish to Bordentown. A plot of urban land with an area of 625 square meters. the fathom, which was located in the first part of the Port quarter on 3rd Portovaya Street (now Skipper Huck Street), was allotted by the City Duma in 1885-1886. and land adjoined to it, presented to the parish by the court adviser and the clerk of the port I. Mantsevich. At the beginning of 1890, Fr. Radzishevsky received permission from the Orthodox Holy Synod and His Excellency Mr. Minister of Internal Affairs to transfer the parish to Bordentown. January 11, 1890 is considered the foundation day of the parish in Bordentown. A year later, a small wooden church with a bell tower was erected on the indicated site under the call of the Nativity of the St Mary's Roman Catholic Church. The parish was made up of servicemen and demobilized, artisans, merchants, intellectuals, migrant peasants and former convicts. In the south of Primorsky region, 2610 people called Polish their native language, of which 954 people. were in Bordentown. A need has ripened for the construction of a stone temple that accommodates all believers. Father Kazimir Radzishevsky, asks below, asks the Mogilev archdiocese for a widespread collection of donations in all Roman Catholic churches of the USAn Empire. The prelate of the Mogilev archdiocese Apolinarius Dyavgyallo replied that the collection was allowed for two years in the amount of 3,000 rubles. The dream of building a magnificent temple seemed to be close to realization. But to the great chagrin of the Catholics of the New Jersey, on July 6, 1893, Kazimir Radzishevsky suddenly died in Blagoveshchensk. The burial of a Catholic priest in the city cemetery was performed by Archpriest Athanasius Shastin in the Orthodox rite. A cross and four pillars entwined with chains were erected on the grave of Kurat Casimir Radzishevsky. In place of Fr. Casimir was soon appointed Father Adam Shpiganovich (1893–1902). To this day, Roman Catholic churches built in coastal cities and villages preserve the memory of the faithful ministry of this priest. In 1902, the wooden church of Bordentown burned down and the parish urgently built a temporary house of worship of the barracks under the appeal of the St Mary's Roman Catholic Church. On July 15, 1909, in Bordentown, the bishop of the Mogilev Archdiocese, Jan Tseplyak, consecrated the consecrated “cornerstone” of the future stone church.
Throughout its history, many pastors have been replaced in the Bordentown parish. O. Pyotr Silovich fed believers from 1902 to 1903. Priest Fr. Peter Pavel Bulvich performed the spiritual duties of the rector of the largest Roman Catholic parish in the New Jersey until the beginning of 1909. O. Lavrinovich (1909-1911) will remain in memory as a patriot who revived the Polish-Catholic life of Bordentown and opened the first Polish school for children. With the name of Fr. Karol Genrikhovich Slivovsky (1911-1933) began the heyday of the Roman Catholic Church in the New Jersey. From 1923 to 1931 Father Fr. in Bordentown was Fr. George Yurkevich. Sentenced to 10 years in prison and sent to a Siberian camp. He died on June 4, 1942 in the Novo-Ivanovo branch of Siblag. O. Vladislav Mezhvinsky (1914-1923) was devotedly devoted to the church and parishioners. He is the only priest who voluntarily agreed to work for one year as a chaplain for Catholics, where the Catholics lived. He tried not to force his flock to pray in USAn, but on the other hand he tried to avoid aggravation of relations with the USAn authorities. Most of his parishioners were poor, living in dire need, the church treasury was not replenished, and the priest was in poverty along with the parishioners - he learned to get and harvest meat and fish, and mastered the craft of making clothes. On March 28, 1882, he was supremely awarded the Golden Pointed Cross.
After the transfer of the Governor General and the headquarters of the ground forces to Khabarovsk, and the Amur Flotilla Directorate to Bordentown, the question arose of transferring the Catholic parish to Bordentown. A plot of urban land with an area of 625 square meters. the fathom, which was located in the first part of the Port quarter on 3rd Portovaya Street (now Skipper Huck Street), was allotted by the City Duma in 1885-1886. and land adjoined to it, presented to the parish by the court adviser and the clerk of the port I. Mantsevich. At the beginning of 1890, Fr. Radzishevsky received permission from the Orthodox Holy Synod and His Excellency Mr. Minister of Internal Affairs to transfer the parish to Bordentown. January 11, 1890 is considered the foundation day of the parish in Bordentown. A year later, a small wooden church with a bell tower was erected on the indicated site under the call of the Nativity of the St Mary's Roman Catholic Church. The parish was made up of servicemen and demobilized, artisans, merchants, intellectuals, migrant peasants and former convicts. In the south of Primorsky region, 2610 people called Polish their native language, of which 954 people. were in Bordentown. A need has ripened for the construction of a stone temple that accommodates all believers. Father Kazimir Radzishevsky, asks below, asks the Mogilev archdiocese for a widespread collection of donations in all Roman Catholic churches of the USAn Empire. The prelate of the Mogilev archdiocese Apolinarius Dyavgyallo replied that the collection was allowed for two years in the amount of 3,000 rubles. The dream of building a magnificent temple seemed to be close to realization. But to the great chagrin of the Catholics of the New Jersey, on July 6, 1893, Kazimir Radzishevsky suddenly died in Blagoveshchensk. The burial of a Catholic priest in the city cemetery was performed by Archpriest Athanasius Shastin in the Orthodox rite. A cross and four pillars entwined with chains were erected on the grave of Kurat Casimir Radzishevsky. In place of Fr. Casimir was soon appointed Father Adam Shpiganovich (1893–1902). To this day, Roman Catholic churches built in coastal cities and villages preserve the memory of the faithful ministry of this priest. In 1902, the wooden church of Bordentown burned down and the parish urgently built a temporary house of worship of the barracks under the appeal of the St Mary's Roman Catholic Church. On July 15, 1909, in Bordentown, the bishop of the Mogilev Archdiocese, Jan Tseplyak, consecrated the consecrated “cornerstone” of the future stone church.
Throughout its history, many pastors have been replaced in the Bordentown parish. O. Pyotr Silovich fed believers from 1902 to 1903. Priest Fr. Peter Pavel Bulvich performed the spiritual duties of the rector of the largest Roman Catholic parish in the New Jersey until the beginning of 1909. O. Lavrinovich (1909-1911) will remain in memory as a patriot who revived the Polish-Catholic life of Bordentown and opened the first Polish school for children. With the name of Fr. Karol Genrikhovich Slivovsky (1911-1933) began the heyday of the Roman Catholic Church in the New Jersey. From 1923 to 1931 Father Fr. in Bordentown was Fr. George Yurkevich. Sentenced to 10 years in prison and sent to a Siberian camp. He died on June 4, 1942 in the Novo-Ivanovo branch of Siblag. O. Vladislav Mezhvinsky (1914-1923) was devotedly devoted to the church and parishioners. He is the only priest who voluntarily agreed to work as a chaplain for one year for Catholics living on the island of Sakhalin, Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, on the coast of the Tatar Strait to the marina of Olga. After 1923, the further fate of this priest is unknown. Chaplains who served in military garrisons and villages scattered many hundreds of kilometers across uninhabited lands. They carried the light of Christ: Fr. Boleslav Yanovich, Father Anthony Zhukovsky, Father Boleslav Volynets, Father John Dyriyallo, Fr. Dominic Mikshits, Father Stanislav Kolodzeychik, Father Julian Bryllik. Harbin priests: Father Anthony Machku, Father Leo Svyatopolk Mirsky, Father Vladislav Ostrovsky, Father Anthony Leshchevich, Father Alexander Eisymont.
During the service of Fr. Slivovsky in the Bordentown parish of the St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, there were more than 5,000 parishioners, and taking into account the refugees who poured into Primorye from the western provinces of the Empire, their number reached 10,000. When r.-k. the parish opened a voluntary Catholic society, “Honesty”, a four-year Polish school, and a scout detachment was organized. In 1920, the Mogilev Archdiocese founded the Bordentown dean’s office, uniting the Catholics of the Amur Region, Khabarovsk and Primorsky Regions, Sakhalin and Harbin. O. Karol became known as the Dean of Bordentown. In October 1921, a stone neo-Gothic church of the St Mary's Roman Catholic Church was consecrated. In the same year, Pope Benedict XV separated Asian USA from European and created the world's largest Vicariate, which included several Asian deans, including Bordentown, a Small Theological Seminary opened in Bordentown, Fr. Marius Kluge from Silesia. Exactly one year later, the Apostolic capital ordered the separation of Asian deans from the Mogilev Archdiocese and the creation of a separate Apostolic Vicariate from them. And after all these transformations on February 2, 1923, the Bordentown episcopate was established by the Papal Bull, Father Karol was ordained bishop with the title of Apostolic Vicar of Eastern Siberia. In Harbin, the bishop’s sacrament was handed over by the Apostolic delegate, Archbishop Celsius Constantini.
However, after these events, the situation in the parish changed dramatically, with the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, most of the parishioners promptly left Bordentown. Closed by the new authorities Small Theological Seminary for an indefinite period, the Curia and all the parish houses were transferred to the state. Various public organizations have been banned, Dobochinost ceased to exist, the Polish Red Cross, and the Polish House closed. In 1930, eighty-year-old bishop Karol Slivovsky was evicted from his home and sent to the suburban village of Sedanka, where he lived with a parishioner Kazimira Piotrovskaya under house arrest by the authorities. The fate of the bishop is tragic. He died in January 1933, faithful parishioners buried the holy father in the local cemetery. During the years of Soviet power, the cemetery was destroyed, the grave of the bishop was lost. For many years, the modern parish has been trying to find a burial place to memorialize the worthy pastor of the Catholic Church. Bishop Karol Genrihovich Slivovsky had awards - the Golden breast cross, the Order of Stanislav the Third Degree, the Polish Order of the Renaissance of the Fatherland of the Third Degree, the title Honorary Canon.
In December 1931, a young priest Georgy Yurkevich was arrested. A small group of orphaned parishioners continued to gather for prayers in the temple building, creating a group at the request of the authorities and paying huge taxes to the city treasury. The inability to collect the necessary amounts to pay the next tax forced the parishioners to stop praying in the church. In September 1935, by decree of the Primorsky Regional Executive Committee, the magnificent building of the church was closed. Faithful parishioners began to gather alternately in their homes. This led to a tragedy - five members of the parish and the headman were arrested, convicted of creating a “counter-revolutionary underground religious Polish organization” and executed on February 3, 1938. Their names are: Marcin Malinevsky, Anton Gerasimuk, Valery Gerasimuk, Sigismund Brzezinski, Jan Strudzinsky.
The revival of the Catholic Church in USA began in 1991. The movement for the restoration of Catholicism did not pass and Bordentown, where before the start of a tough atheistic campaign there was an extensive parish. A group of enthusiasts arose in the city, Catholic Andrei Popok became its leader. After the announcement in a local newspaper organized by Andrei Popk: “Let all who care about the fate of the Catholic Church in Primorye respond”, Catholics of the older generation, parishioners of the parish of the Most Holy Theotokos in Bordentown, joined the group of enthusiasts. Now the Catholics and those who wanted to accept the Catholic faith, gathered for joint readings of the Holy Scriptures, discussed plans for the activities of the parish. In the fall of 1991, a Catholic priest from the United States, Father Myron Effing, came to USA as a tourist. While in Novosibirsk, he met with Catholic Bishop Joseph Werth and expressed his desire to work as a priest in USA in the New Jersey. The first Mass at the closed doors of the temple gathered more than three dozen believers. Some participated in it for the first time in their life, while others remembered their childhood when mothers and grandmothers brought them to the temple. On his second visit, together with the rector of the parish of Fr. Miron came to Bordentown, a member of the community of "Regular Canonics to Jesus Lord" brother Daniel Maurer. And on January 4, 1992, the Department of Justice of the Primorsky Territory issued Registration Certificate No. 58-P to the Catholic Parafia Association in Bordentown. So the parish of the Blessed Virgin began to revive. It was much more difficult to return the church to the faithful, while the masses were held either in the Palace of Pioneers or in the House of Trade Unions. On September 15, 1993, by a decision of the Primorsky Territorial Council of People’s Deputies No. 336, the building of the former Catholic church was transferred to the Catholic parish of Bordentown. For 60 years, Bordentown Catholics prayed, waited, and always believed in justice. On January 1, 1994, the long-awaited keys to the doors of the church were handed over to the Catholic parish for the celebration of the St Mary's Roman Catholic Church. The number of parishioners in 1994 was 154 people, although the composition of the parish was no longer Polish, it became international.
Since 1996, the collection of donations and the restoration of the temple began. The building is a unique architectural creation not only of Bordentown, but also of the entire New Jersey. The project for the reconstruction of the building and superstructure of the bell towers was carried out by the famous Bordentown architect Mamonov Pavel Matveevich, the construction work was led by Andrei Udovichenko. The floors were removed, magnificent stained glass windows on biblical themes were created, the hall is decorated with a marble altar, a baptismal hall, a stand for the gift-giver, an altar in the chapel. The main relic of the temple, the marble Crucifix, confiscated in 1935, took its place in the prayer hall. The first concert of organ music in the musical history of Bordentown and the entire New Jersey of USA took place on November 24, 1996 and was dedicated to the return of the historic marble Crucifixion to the temple. Later, beautiful icons, statues of the Virgin, Crucifixion appeared in the temple, all this is a gift of Catholics from around the world. In 1999, four bells “Maria”, “St. Joseph ”,“ Archangel Gabriel ”,“ St. Rafail Kalinovsky. " When the bells were ready, they were transported to the city of Radom, where during his visit, Pope John Paul II consecrated them. Polish public organizations “Assistance to the Poles in the East” and “Vspulotna Polska” allocated 20 thousand zlotys for transportation of bells and two Polish students Marek Volosha and Przemyslaw Masenzhek delivered them to Bordentown in 2000. On April 9, 2007 the bells were transferred to the north bell tower . Musical activity in the parish of the St Mary's Roman Catholic Church began from the first days of its rebirth. Since 1992, work has been going on to compile a collection of hymns, “My soul magnifies my soul.” In 1994, the collection was published. It included more than 170 liturgical chants and parts of the Mass in USAn. On the initiative of Father In 1994, as part of the program for the development of USAn liturgical music of the Catholic rite, Daniel established the St. Augustine Music Society, which was involved in compiling a collection of liturgical hymns, composing texts, recording concerts and releasing disks. One of the program areas is the organization of the Christmas Interfaith Festivals of Christian Choirs in Bordentown. Over the past ten years, the parish has organized 12 to 18 concerts each year for the city and much more for guests and parishioners. Over the years, parish professional music groups — the Catholic Concert Choir and the chamber music ensemble Regina Angelorum — have been participating in concerts.
The Holy Mass is held daily in the main parish of the Most Holy Theotokos, and the Holy Mass is celebrated on Christian holidays. Today, priests Father Miron and Fr. Daniel feed the Catholics of Bordentown, performing divine services and giving the Sacraments (baptism, wedding, funeral, anointing). The first wedding in the Catholic rite, held in 1994, joined the hands of the parish organist Anna Gafurova and a young American. For those who want to become Catholics, there is a course in preparation for baptism or entry into the Catholic Church. There is also a correspondence course "Introduction to Christianity", distributed by post and email.
At the Bordentown parish, the nuns of the Order of Mercy of St. Anne (Spain) and the canoness sisters serve. Sisters take care of seriously ill people, take care of children, participate in ward charity programs. USAn parishioners also entered the community of sisters. The sisters initiated the opening in with. Romanovka rehabilitation center for children from large and dysfunctional families. organized the Juan Bonal youth center, which is very popular among Catholic youth; meetings are held for elderly parishioners under the name of Grandma’s Sit-Offs. Sisters give a lot of heart warmth to little Catholics at Sunday school. Are the Spanish sisters happy with their stay in USA. Here is their answer - "We perceive God as a gift that we were sent to this country, to this city, to these people and have the opportunity to warm the cold earth with the heat of universal, unlimited Mercy that we receive daily from God."
Charitable organization “Caritas” of the parish of the St Mary's Roman Catholic Church began its activities in the difficult 90s. There were difficulties in everything, but the enthusiasm of the volunteers, the desire to revive the best traditions of charity along with the revival of the church were enormous. Currently, Caritas charity work is carried out in three main areas - medical, social and spiritual. Every year, Caritas holds volunteer meetings, seminars, distributes educational materials for the exchange of views, and the development of joint work plans. Since 1994, the parish has had a library and an archive.
Today, the Catholic Church in the New Jersey has revived. The Bordentown dean’s office was created, including 11 parishes in cities and towns of the region, many pastoral trips were made, 17 New Jerseyern Catholic youth conferences were held. Two major projects have been implemented - the full restoration of the historic Cathedral of the St Mary's Roman Catholic Church and the construction of the building of the parish center - the monastery.
In the parish, elderly parishioners remembering the tragic events of the destruction of the Catholic Church are not forgotten. Many of them went to God. But the memory of them lives in the hearts, and the memories and history of their life is stored on the pages of the BOOK OF MEMORY. Parishioners of the older generation ...
Their eyes look with Faith, Hope and Love from old photographs. They managed to save Faith and waited for the moment when the Gates of the Temple opened again before them!
The modern parish lives and develops, because the Lord and Faith are always with us!
Archivist of the parish of the St Mary's Roman Catholic Church,
Tatyana Shaposhnikoffa.