St. John the Baptist (Parish of Holy Cross & St. John the Baptist)

The parish of St. John the Baptist was established in 1840 as the second Catholic parish to serve German Catholics in New York City, after St. Nicholas' Church. A small timber church was dedicated on September 20, 1840. Its first pastor, Rev. Zachary Kunze, O.F.M., resigned in 1844 amid bitter disputes with the lay board of trustees and left with a portion of the congregation to found the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. The parish was placed under interdict until 1845, reopened under Rev. J. A. Jakob, closed again in 1846, and burned down on January 10, 1847. Archbishop John Hughes laid the cornerstone for a new brick church on March 14, 1847. Until 1851 the parish was administered by the Church of the Nativity; further interdicts and short-tenure pastors (Joseph Lutz, P. J. Matschejewski) followed before Fr. Augustine Danter, O.M.Cap., took over in 1852. After Danter retired in 1869, the church stood closed for some months. In 1870, Archbishop (later Cardinal) John McCloskey suppressed the troubled parish and invited the newly founded American province of the Capuchin Friars to take over. Under the Capuchins—particularly the Swiss-born Fr. Bonventura Frey, O.M.Cap., the second Capuchin pastor—animosity faded and the present substantial French Gothic sandstone church was begun. The cornerstone was laid by Fr. Frey on Pentecost Sunday (June 4 or 11) of 1871; the church was dedicated by Archbishop (later Cardinal) John McCloskey, the first American cardinal, on June 23, 1872. It was designed by the prolific ecclesiastical architect Napoleon LeBrun (LeBrun & Sons), measures 165 feet long by 67 feet wide, originally seated 1,200, and cost $175,000. Frey served 1870–1879, returned 1888–1891, and built the central bell tower in preparation for the parish's Golden Jubilee celebrated on January 18–19, 1891 with Archbishop Michael Corrigan, Bishop Wigger of Newark, Archbishop-elect Katzer of Milwaukee, and Abbot H. Pfraengle of Newark. The tower holds a carillon of five swinging bells cast by the J. G. Stuckstede & Brothers Foundry of St. Louis; the bells were blessed by Archbishop McCloskey on November 30, 1890 and rededicated in 1998. In the early 20th century, the (now) Blessed Solanus Casey served on the parish staff. By 1914 the parish numbered about 1,500 members. Economic decline through the mid-20th century eroded the parish's finances, but a 1969 all-night First Friday/Saturday Vigil honoring Our Lady of Fatima was begun by Fr. Armand Dasseville, OFM Cap., and the Bread of Life Food Pantry was started by the late Br. Paul Crawford in the 1970s. In 1991, with the roof collapsing, Fr. Francis Gasparik, OFM Cap., was appointed pastor; he launched a major fundraising campaign, opened a parish thrift store, promoted the Padre Pio Shrine and the Solanus Casey Guild, and led a complete renovation in time for the 125th anniversary. Bishop Ahearn celebrated a Solemn Mass on June 24, 1995 to culminate the restoration, and Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor re-dedicated the church on June 24, 1996 (the feast of the patron saint). On January 10, 1997, a fire destroyed the organ and choir gallery along with several statues and stained-glass windows; repairs cost over $2 million, and on April 13, 1997 the parish inaugurated "Catch the Spirit" with a parade from 31st Street to the Empire State Building. The Church of the Holy Cross was founded in 1852 by Archbishop John Hughes for the largely Irish Catholic population of what was then Longacre Square (Times Square). A first chapel was built, replaced in 1854 by a larger structure, which was severely damaged by a lightning strike and fire in 1867. The present Romanesque/Italianate Gothic red-brick church was designed by Henry Engelbert and completed in 1870; it remains the oldest building on 42nd Street. Between 1876 and 1889 the church was enlarged; a Holy Cross School for Boys and Girls was established on West 43rd Street, with a convent purchased later on 44th Street for the Dominican Sisters who staffed it. Holy Cross is famously known as "Father Duffy's Church": the Reverend Francis P. Duffy, chaplain of the "Fighting 69th" in WWI, was appointed rector in 1921 and served until his death in 1932, instituting the famous Printers' Mass at 2:30 A.M. on Sundays for newspaper workers. He is commemorated by a bronze statue in Duffy Square at Times Square. In 2013, during Fr. Francis Gasparik's second term as Provincial Minister of the Capuchins, the parishes began the process of merging. In May 2015 the Archdiocese of New York officially confirmed the merger of Holy Cross and St. John the Baptist into a single parish—Holy Cross–St. John the Baptist—served by the Capuchins and operating both churches as worship sites. Fr. Gasparik himself became the first pastor of the merged parish in 2017 and served until ill health forced his resignation; he died on November 12, 2023, at age 65, and his funeral was held at St. John the Baptist.