St. Peter Claver Church closing its doors
By JOANNE L. PAPAIANNI
On Sunday, Sept. 9, parishioners of St. Peter Claver Church in Asbury Park will participate in a bittersweet celebration remembering the congregations beginning and marking its closing.
The church will celebrate its 64 years in the city on Springwood Avenue. But it is closing its doors because of a decline in membership. The current congregation is being absorbed by Holy Spirit Church on Second Avenue.
Parishioner Pat Addison said she is very sad to see the church close.
Oh, its so sad, but its the way thing are going; the churches dont have the attendance, said Addison, who lives in a senior citizen housing facility on Davis Avenue in Neptune.
Donna Walker, who has attended St. Peter Claver for 30 years moved to Neptune from Brooklyn in 1977.
She raised her two children in the church, where they made their sacraments.
Walker, who is on the committee for the 64th anniversary celebration, said the Bishop of the Diocese of Trenton, John Smith will celebrate Sundays 10:15 mass when several founding members of the congregation will be honored.
The church is on the site of the original Mt. Carmel Church.
It is one of the first African/American or Black Catholic churches in the state, said Walker. It was established in 1943 and was named after Peter Claver, who was a missionary to African slaves.
Walker said of the churchs closing, Its very sad, its a small family church of very involved, very caring families. Were very involved in each others lives.
Sept. 9 is also the feast day of St. Peter Claver, who, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, worked heroically to alleviate the suffering of negro slaves in Central and South America.
Every month Claver went out to meet the arriving slave boats.
The negroes, cooped up in the hold, arrived crazed and brutalized by suffering and fear. Claver went to each, cared for him and showed him kindness and made him understand that henceforth he was his defender and father.
Claver made many enemies, including his superiors who were influenced by popular will, but he persevered.
During his life, states the encyclopedia, Claver baptized more than 300,000 negroes and declared himself the slave of the negroes forever.
He was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1888.
Parishioners recall rasising their families at St. Peter Claver.
Bill Addison, who was born and raised in Asbury Park, attended St. Peter Claver Church as a boy with his three brothers and two sisters.
Pat and Bill Addison moved to South Belmar as a young couple and raised their two children in St. Rose Parish.
Her children went to St. Rose Grammar and High School.
We divided our time between the two churches, she said.
Addison said the most special thing about St. Peter Claver Church were her fellow parishioners.
Oh, the people, it was like a family, she said.
Addison remembers selling chances for the yearly raffle at the Foodtown in Wanamassa where many people would tell her they were married in the church, when it was Mt. Carmel.
Old timers all I ever heard was my mother and father went to that church, she said.
Lois Lawson, who is on the ticket committee, said she has been a member of the church since 1952 and raised her son and two granddaughters in the church.
Oh God, I love my church, she said. Its my second home.
About the closing she said, It brings tears to my eyes.
But like others, Lawson, who serves as a Eucharistic minister and lector, accepts the inevitable.
Its something we dont want, but it cant be stopped.
Tickets are still available for the 64th Anniversary celebration luncheon will be held at 1 p.m at the Jumping Brook Country Club following the mass.
Tickets are $20 and can be obtained by calling Pat Addison at (732)869-1508 or Lois Lawson at (732)774-0399.
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