The Decline of the German National Parish

It is a testament to the multi-cultural history of these United States that there are national parishes in many of the American dioceses. National parishes serve the spiritual needs of any ethnic group not belonging to the local culture or speaking the local language. Of course there are many national parishes in Rome for the multitudes of pilgrims, but there is also a multitude of them in North America due to the many waves of immigrants that sailed to our shores. Wikipedia defines a national parish as such:

National parishes are Catholic parishes that serve particular ethnic communities. They are distinguished from the other type of parish, the territorial parish, which serve a geographic area of a diocese. National parishes have existed in North America since the late eighteenth century, when they were established to meet the needs of immigrants not speaking the language of the majority population. The first national parish was Holy Trinity German National Parish founded in 1788 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In the eastern United States the territorial parish is where the Irish-American, and the small number of English (or Anglo-) American, Catholics worship. In California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, and Louisiana, the territorial parish is often Spanish-American, Mexican-American or French Cajun. The first national parish in the United States, however, served the many German immigrants coming to Pennsylvania.

German immigration began in the mid-18th century and was so great that Congress considered making German the second language of the country (though the bill never made it to the floor of the House of Representatives) seeing as those of German stock matched those of British stock 2 for 3, respectively. The religious make-up of these first waves was mostly German anabaptist and Hussite, with only a small number of Roman Catholics and Lutherans. The most famous group to settle in America during these first waves of immigration was, perhaps, the Moravian Church (or Unitas Fratrum) who founded Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Salem, North Carolina. They brought with them the rich musical heritage of Continental Europe and are still known to this day for their musical performances, especially their Christmas concerts.

However, the largest waves of German immigration happened in the mid to late 19th century. German Lutheranism soon exploded in places like Pennsylvania and New York, and later in Wisconsin and Missouri. In the Roman Catholic Church, German national parishes sprung up all over the Dioceses of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, as well as several smaller dioceses. The many German Catholic societies or vereine also became a staple in many American dioceses.

The German Catholics were distinct from the Irish Catholics in many ways. Their brand of Catholicism had not suffered much persecution, the arts had contributed greatly to the externals of the parish church, and the celebration of public ceremonies was relatively unhampered.

As Catholics they shared the beliefs and devotions popular with Catholics throughout the world, but as Germans they added their own native touch. As one German priest said, they 'love the beauty of the church edifice, and the pomp of the ceremonies, belfries and bells, organs and sacred music, processions, feast days, sodalities, and the most solemn celebration of First Communion and weddings. These, and other like things, foster piety and are so dear and sacred to the faithful that not without great danger could they be taken away from them.'

Music played a prominent rôle in the liturgy of the Germans. Solemn occasions, such as the first Mass of a newly ordained priest and the first solemn communion of the parish youth, brought forth a variety of musical splendor. Orchestras performed, and accomplished vocalists sang different parts of the Mass. Elaborate processions were the order of the day ; bands and choirs of various societies, each distinguished by colorful banners, enlivened the celebration... It was inconceivable for German Catholics to celebrate a religious festival without a colorful procession...

In both German and Irish parishes music enhanced the Solemn Sunday Mass, but unlike the custom in English-speaking parishes, Germans also featured music at other Sunday Masses...The people followed the Mass in books printed in German and Latin, and they used similar booklets at afternoon Vesper services.

According to Catholic theology the Mass celebrated in Irish and German parishes was identical... The difference, however, was the style of worship. among Germans the sense of pageantry and the pomp of ceremony were more evident. They took obvious pride in elaborate ceremonies, which they expressed enthusiastically in frequent letters to the editor of the German paper... (Jay P. Dolan. The Immigrant Church: New York's Irish & German Catholics 1815-1865. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins U.P., 1975.)

One of the unique features of German-speaking Catholicism, both in Europe and in North America, was the Deutsche Singmesse--a Low Mass with hymns (corresponing to the different parts of the Mass) sung throughout by either a choir or the congregation. This, of course, is not odd for such a musically inclined people. Germany and Austria have given us Bach, Telemann, Händel, Mozart, Haydn, Biebl, Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms, Rheinberger, Bruckner, Wagner, Strauss, and Mahler... to name a few. Some might say that, to the German, music is "in the blood". Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that music was a very important element of German-American Catholic culture. Having been suppressed by the Protestant English for so long, Irish Catholicism had no comparable music tradition and the Irish-American Catholics often looked at their German-American counterparts' customs with either suspicion or indifference. As well, being culturally seperated from Continental European Catholicism, the Irish had, for so long, very little contact with the rich Catholic cultures of the rest of Europe.

Because of these differences there was often tension and conflict between the Irish and the Germans in America (culminating in the Cahensly Controversy), as well as with other continental Catholic immigrants. The Irish viewed assimilation into American (or rather Anglo-American) culture as a high priority, whereas the Germans viewed keeping their own German culture as a high priority. The Germans, despite not having a voice in the American hierarchy save Cardinal Mundelein, managed to stave off the most of the assimilationist tendencies running through the American Catholic Church. But as the American-born Germans increased in number, assimilation came to be viewed in a different light and bi-lingual German national parishes became more common.

Ultimately, it was not assimilationist tendencies that dealt the coup de grâce to the German national parish. The outbreak of the Great War in 1914 split American sentiments. The two largest ethnic groups were those of British ancestry (English, Welsh, Scottish, and Scots-Irish) and those of German ancestry (including those from the Austro-Hungarian Empire). At first, each group favored its own country of origin, but when the U.S. declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary the German-Americans were put in a difficult position. American anti-German war propaganda painted Germany and the Germans in an unflattering way. German-Americans were seen as an extension of the supposed German Imperial aims and their loyalty was called into quetion. Rabid, anti-German bigotry began to abound as streets lost their German names, saurkraut began to be called 'Liberty Cabbage', honorary degrees granted to Germans were revoked, and anyone speaking German on the street was harassed or worse. Poor German-American business men were forced to buy excessive amounts of War Bonds, which often bankrupted them. In a mass hysteria that foreshadowed what would later happen to the Jews in Nazi Germany, neighbors began to report on their German-speaking neighbors and turn in those whom they suspected of having pro-German or pro-Austrian sympathies. The BOI (Bureau of Investigation--predecessor to the FBI) began to round up German-Americans who were deemed 'suspicious' and placed them in detention facilities. German-American stores were boycotted, looted, or became victims of arson. German-American men were attacked in the streets. Mobs would converge on the houses of those not deemed sufficiently patriotic. It soon became very dangerous to be a German-American. The end of the war brought relief from suspicion, but the damage had already been done. German culture in America was on the decline and the pace would only accelerate again during and after the next World War. (Russell A. Kazal. Becoming Old Stock: The Paradox of German-American Identity. Princeton: Princeton U.P., 2004.)

Two world wars managed to kill off the previously thriving German culture in America. The German national parishes mostly became German in name only and are often the first to go in diocesan church closures. In the Archdiocese of Boston, the famous Holy Trinity German National Parish, which introduced the Christmas Tree to America and was the parish of the Von Trapp family in exile, has now been closed. Here in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia there are only three remaining German national parishes: Saint Mary of the Assumption, Our Lady Help of Christians, and Saint Peter the Apostle (also the home of the national shrine of German-American saint, John Nepomucene Neumann). Our Lady Help of Christians Parochial School, the last to have German language classes, closed last year. Old Holy Trinity--a national historic landmark--is still open for Mass on occassion, but has ceased to function as a parish. (N.B. there are still Lutheran parishes, such as Lutherische Kirche Alt Zion in Philadelphia, Zion Lutheran Church in Baltimore, and Zion Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Detroit, that still maintain their German identity to varying degrees.)

Being some of the most elaborate churches in America the old superfluous German national parishes are ideal for a diocesan Traditional Latin Mass and in some instances out west have been placed in the care of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest. Thus, it is tradition that may eventually save at least the buildings from closure and demolition. For those who think that the national parish system is outdated, it is best to remember the words of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI: "The Church is the preserver of cultures." Grüß Gott!