The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-11-08
INSPECTING ST. JOHNS
People Of AlIFaiths Admire the
New R. c. Church and Con-
graduate Father
Ter Woert.

Just after the mine o'clock mass had been
celebrated in the old church of st. John
the Baptist. yesterday morning, Father
Ter Woert had the doors of the new
church opened and almost Immediately
congratulations began to pour in. Hand
shakes galore and words Of praise were
hurled at him until the sun went down
in the West and the doors were closed, to
be officially opened next Sunday morning.
1t was a peculiar crowd that swarmed in
from the beginning. A crowd seldom seen
in a Catholic Church. The first thing that
struck the observer the he en-
tered the door and ~inyoluntarily tool his
hat OFF was to find hats on all the men
in the building. The Catholic observer
quickly remembered the fact that the edi-
flee had not yet put on its cloak of sane
tity, and this fact was as quickly com
municated to the visitor who did not hap
pen to belong to the Church of Rome.
And there were very many of these WIS.,
itors. Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans,
Presbyterians, Willing Workers and such
were all represented and took especial
pains to admire the works of art in the
shape of the windows, the paintings and
the sculpture. In his invitation to his
parishioners, Father Ter Woert particu-
larry reminded them that there were
many of other faiths who would like to
see the interior of the church., and he
asked that these people should be brought
along and the interior decorations ex-
planned. They came in twos n threes,
until hey reached into the hundreds, and
mingled everywhere with the parishion-
ers.
The first rush in the morning was by the
children of the parish. They took pos
session of anything and everything. They
swarmed up on the affairs, through the
yestries. into the organ loft, up in the
towers, and were g~rieyously disappointed
because there was no cellar" or dark
passages to explore. Their elders were
not a whit less curious. and not a single
thing of interest escaped their eyes. Fa-
Their Ter Woert was kept busy explaining
this, that and the other, and If he did
not retire tired out last night it was be-
cause he has learned 10 bear fatigue and
worry to an extraordinary extent.
The crowd kept pouring in and out all
day. Members of the parish who had
moved away in years past came to look
al the new cnurcn. NlSltorS from 81. 10
seph's, ST. Patrick's, st. Nicholas and
many of the downtown parishes were
there to take notes and compare with
their own church. And so it was all day
long, until finally the crowd blocked up
the big Boulevard sidewalk. Then the
sun began to sink behind the Orange
Mountains, and the crowd watched the
changing lights through the beautiful win
dows and then acknowledgements re-
gretfully-filed out the doors.
4 few details have yet to be completed
i'll the new building, but all will be in
readiness for next Sunday morning, when
q solemn Pontifical mass will be cele-
brated at half-past ten o'clock by the
Right Rev. Bishop Wigger. Father Ter
oerf IS sun very pusy arrahgang me or,
same. He is working hard to make the
dedication an event to be remembered in
the history of the Catholic Church in Hud-
SON County