Immaculate Conception Roman CatholicChurch (Northern Liberties), Philadelphia

The Immaculate ConceptionRomanCatholic Churchis located at Front and Allen Streets in Philadelphia, PA19123 in the Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, Pennsyl-vania section of the city. The parish was founded in 1869,under the leadership of Bishop James Frederick Wood.Twenty-five years earlier, two Catholic parishes withinabout a mile of the church—St. Augustine Church,Philadelphia at 4th and Vine and St. Michael at 2ndand Jefferson—were burnt to the ground in violent anti-Catholic nativist riots.

1 Founding and History throughEnd of 20th Century

At the time of its founding, the area surrounding thechurch was largely composed of row houses which werehome to Irish immigrants (although the ground for thechurch complex itself had earlier housed a spoke factoryat Front and Canal (now Allen) Streets). Later the areabecame industrialized through the early part of the twen-tieth century.In the early 1970s, much of it was gutted by the construc-tion of Interstate 95 in Pennsylvania which emptied fiveblocks in the parish of houses and caused the demoli-tion of houses on many other blocks in the way of theroad. In the early part of the 21st century the area be-gan to undergo a continuing process of gentrification withthousands of newly constructed and rehabilitated housingunits as well as an increased workforce with the arrival,about three blocks from the church, of the SugarHouseCasino which anticipates an ultimate workforce of 1,500

full and part time positions and is planning an onsite hotel.(As for housing, the local Northern Liberties Neighbor-hood Association estimates an increase of close to 10,000new residents in the area since 2000.)

The Mary Altar/Shrine at Immaculate Conception Church inNorthern Liberties, Philadelphia, decorated for Christmas .

2 Twinning of Parish with St.Michael

In the spring of 2000, Immaculate Conception wastwinned with St. Michael’s parish (two of the 22 parishestwinned at the time) and a single pastor was appointedfor both churches. In 2010, a former parochial vicarat the parish, the then-Msgr. Michael J. Fitzgerald,was ordained an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese ofPhiladelphia.

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3 Suppression of Parish: Continu-ation of Church as Worship Site

Interior of Church at Dusk on 6 July 2009

In February 2011, it was announced by the then-parochialadministrator, Reverend Eugene C. Wilson, and theVicar for the Philadelphia-South portion of the Archdio-cese, Monsignor Kevin Lawrence, that the status of thechurch would be changed from that of a twinned parishto that of a worship site of St. Michael’s; this meansthat, while the church would be used for Sunday Masses,and occasional sacramental celebrations, such as wed-dings, funerals and baptisms, it would no longer be anindependent parish. This change was completed as ofJuly 1, 2011. The last administrator of the parish wasMsgr. John J. Miller, who filled the same position at St.Michael’s Parish. In June 2014, a new parochial adminis-trator for St. Michael’s, Father Arturo Chagala, who wasordained in the Diocese of Denver, Colorado in 2013,was appointed and he took up residence in St. Michael’sRectory at the end of that month. Msgr. Miller, the for-mer administrator, had retired in August 2012 but con-tinued to serve in the interim while a new administratorwas sought.There was no immediate change in the Mass schedule be-cause of the change from parish to worship site: Mass atImmaculate Conception continued to be said once eachweek, at 10 a.m. on Sundays in the church; on holydaysfrom Monday through Friday, there was a noon Mass inthe church. The daily Mass chapel in the rectory hadbeen unavailable for some time, prior to the suppression,because Auxiliary Bishop John McIntyre of Philadelphiahad begun to reside in the former parish rectory.Immediately prior to its suppression, the parish bound-aries encompassed the area from Delaware River atSusquehanna Ave. south to Green St. then west to 3rdSt., north to Girard Ave. and east to Susquehanna Ave.to Delaware River. Any Catholic living in this area wouldnormally have been a member of the parish. In additionto the portion of the parish in Northern Liberties, muchof it was in Fishtown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fol-

lowing the suppression of Immaculate Conception Parish,this territory was added to that in which residents were al-ready considered parishioners of St. Michael Parish.

4 References• Available at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary ParishHistory Collection CALL NUMBER: PH0062

• Celebrating Our 125th Anniversary, 1869 - 1994:Immaculate Conception Parish.” (1995.023)

• Immaculate Conception Parish Centennial, 1869-1969. (MC84)

• Website listing materials in seminary collection forparish

5 External links• Listing of Parish on Archdiocesan Web Site

• Map and Photo of Church from Google Maps

• Photos of interior of building on Philly ChurchProject

Coordinates: 39°57′57″N 75°08′14″W / 39.96591°N75.13736°W

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6 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1 Text• Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church (Northern Liberties), Philadelphia Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate%20Conception%20Roman%20Catholic%20Church%20(Northern%20Liberties)%2C%20Philadelphia?oldid=660256807Contributors: Bearcat, TiMike, Wmflanagan, BillFlis, Jc37, Jac16888, Jllm06, The Anomebot2, Malcolmxl5, Yobot, FrescoBot, LieutenantRamathorn, JoeHebda and Anonymous: 1

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