The McNulty clan comes to Paterson

PATERSON  Geraldine McNulty McLaughlin could not stop looking up — or around — as she stood in the center aisle of a crowded Cathedral of St. John the Baptist here on Saturday morning June 24 about an hour before the start of the Mass for its rededication by Bishop Serratelli.

A native of Ireland, the gregarious McLaughlin spent time soaking in this moment of a lifetime, taking in the rich details of the recent $17.4 million renovation of the original St. John’s built 147 years ago by her celebrated ancestor: Dean William McNulty. Also there that morning to take in St. John’s newly-renovated majesty were two other of Dean McNulty’s relatives, McLaughlin’s brother, Eamon, and her son, Seamus, who came all the way from the area of Dean McNulty’s Irish birthplace, Ballyshannon, for the cathedral’s rededication.

“I can’t believe I’m here. It’s such a wonderful cathedral,” said McLaughlin, who recalled hearing stories about Dean McNulty’s successes in the U.S. from her late grandfather, John, who was his first cousin, and her father’s late aunt. “In our family, the stories got passed down with pride that Dean built many churches, a hospital, a school and an orphanage. That was a lot for one man to do back then [before modern roads, transportation and construction equipment]. Father Willy, as he was known to us, also did the work with local men, who worked for nothing,” she said.

Again looking around at the great expanse of the cathedral, McLaughlin said, “The people in Ballyshannon wouldn’t believe all this.”

Accompanying Dean McNulty’s three Irish relatives were three of the late priest’s family members from the U.S.: Tim McNulty from Staten Island; his sister, Lynn Marie Bertinelli; and her daughter, Erica. The family on both sides of the Atlantic knew about the cathedral rededication — a product of its members keeping in touch with goings on its own McNulty clan — and contacted the Diocese to see if they could attend the event, said Tim McNulty, a retired machinist.

Known as “Father of Churches in New Jersey,” Dean McNulty was born in Ballyshannon in 1829 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1850 with many Irish, who were escaping the “potato famine.” Answering God’s call to the priesthood, he enrolled in St. John’s College at Fordham, in the Bronx, N.Y. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1857 and assigned to Seton Hall College, then in Madison. He also organized the parishes of St. James, Basking Ridge, and St. Joseph, Mendham.

In 1863, Deacon McNulty was transferred to St. John Parish, Paterson. He also founded St. Luke Parish, Ho-Ho-Kus, a year later. The congregation at St. John’s outgrew its Oliver Street church, so he started working on a new church to be constructed on Main and Grand streets. Soon, the land was purchased; the cornerstone was laid in 1865; and the church was completed and then dedicated on July 31, 1870 by Bishop James Bayley — a considerable undertaking made possible by the Dean McNulty’s ability to raise money and the free labor of many workers.

Always in constant motion, “Father Mac,” as he was also known, helped meet the needs of a rapidly growing city by founding the parishes of St. Joseph, St. Agnes, St. Mary, Our Lady of Victories, St. Michael and St. Ann. He also organized St. Agnes’ Institute, a girls’ school; and added a rectory and school buildings for St. John’s and convents for orders of teaching sisters. He also founded the former Mount St. Joseph Home for Boys in Totowa and St. Joseph Hospital in Paterson in 1867.

“Dean McNulty had a great personality. He could get anybody to do anything. It’s a McNulty trait,” said McLaughlin in a lilting Irish brogue, during her first visit to St. John’s and one of her \ visits to the U.S. “But Dean McNulty also was amazingly humble. He didn’t want any consideration from Rome. He was a very holy priest, saying two Masses a day and visiting [the sick in] hospitals,” she said.

Before the Mass, McLaughlin repeated some stories that have become lore in the Diocese and in Paterson over the years, including one about his visiting local bars, where men stopped after getting paid at work — and often drinking away their wages. He would clear the counter of mugs with his blackthorn walking stick, extract the money from the workers and give it to their wives, she said.

“Dean McNulty didn’t like anyone drinking. The publicans [bar owners] didn’t like him,” McLaughlin said.

Also prior to the rededication, the McNulty family got swept up in a whirlwind of activity. They met many dignitaries from the Diocese, including Bishop Serratelli. Among those thrilled to meet the family was Msgr. Raymond Kupke, diocesan archivist and pastor of St. Anthony Parish, Hawthorne, who wrote about Dean McNulty in his history of the Diocese, “Living Stones.”

While Dean McNulty experienced much success in his priestly ministry in the U.S., he never forgot his homeland. McLaughlin told the story of St. John’s parishioners raising money for him to visit Ireland. Instead, the priest redirected the funds to the building and shipping of an altar to his home church of St. Mary’s in Cashelard.

Before the rededication Mass, the McNulty family learned that a statue of Dean McNulty stands outside St. John’s. So they took a short excursion down the front steps to a small parcel of land to one side of the main entrance, where the statue of the priest counseling a young boy — which actually marks his grave — is situated. In a moving moment, some family members stepped up to an iron fence in front of the statue to read the grave marker — the closest that they ever will come to being in physical presence of Dean McNulty, who died on June 18, 1922.

“This [cathedral and rededication] is incredible. It seems like it was built yesterday,” said Tim McNulty, who heard stories about Deacon McNulty from his father, the late John T. McNulty, who was first cousins of McLaughlin and her brother, Eamon. Remarking on the increased security for the event with police cruisers, bomb-sniffing dogs, mounted police officers on horses and fire trucks blocking the streets around St. John’s, he said, “I didn’t think that this [rededication] was going such a big deal.”

For both the Diocese and the McNulty clan, it most certainly was an historic moment for all.