Opportunity for Philadelphia to honor John Neumann & Katharine Drexel...Philadelphia Citizens.
Last week the Historical Commission of the City
of Philadelphia voted to permit demolition of the former Assumption
Parish on Spring Garden Street. Seemingly this is the end of a long
struggle to preserve the historically significant structure that has
languished for many years waiting for the final rendering to come. There
are many levels of culpability and many individual groups and
individuals that have contributed to the demise of this architecturally
significant piece of Philadelphia’s long legacy. My point is not to lay
blame or to indicate what could have been, should have been or might
have been in regards to the proper administration of the former parish.
The
facts concerning Assumption are simple and clear. The parish holds
historical significance for the people of Philadelphia because of two
individuals that were part of the life of the historical parish of the
19th and 20th centuries; John Neumann and
Katharine Drexel. As Bishop of Philadelphia, John Neumann assisted in
the solemn consecration of the newly constructed church. As a newborn
child, Katharine Drexel was baptized at the church, entering the
Catholic faith destined for a life in excess of ninety years.
Remarkably, if not for the events that happened in the years after both
Neumann’s and Drexel’s common association with Assumption Church, the
events would have disappeared into history.
We
know however, that the lives of these two Philadelphians, one a priest
and bishop, the other an heiress to a large financial legacy and later
the foundress of a community of sisters would transform life for not
only Philadelphia, but individuals throughout the world.
Bishop
Neumann, as Bishop of Philadelphia, deserves recognition not just
because he participated in the consecration of Assumption Church, but
because he was one of the most influential Philadelphians of the 19th
century. His pastoral initiatives encompassed the entire State of
Pennsylvania, Delaware and Southern New Jersey. He was the principle
driving force behind the foundation of the Catholic educational system
in Philadelphia and subsequently the entire United States. He worked as a
priest and bishop to zealously unite the multicultural tapestry of 19th century Philadelphia into a cohesive city that lived up to the ideals of Penn’s vision of a City of Brotherly Love.
Katharine
Drexel as a citizen of Philadelphia nurtured a vision of charity that
extended to peoples of all races, especially African-American and Native
American peoples. Coupled with her love of the Catholic Eucharist, a
perspective on the unity of all peoples, courage in addressing social
inequities among minorities and total distribution of her personal
inheritance to victims of poverty and racial injustices; Katharine
Drexel’s legacy straddles the 19th & 20th centuries in Philadelphia and the entire United States.
The
period of Katharine Drexel’s life was one that witnessed an incredible
amount of racial inequality between African Americans and Caucasian
peoples. In Philadelphia, Katharine Drexel provided the bedrock
foundation of the American Civil Rights Movement, long before Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., had a dream of racial equality in America. Mother
Katharine Drexel established a religious community of sisters that
exclusively ministered to the needs of what was then called, Black and
Indian Peoples.
Over the course
of her lifetime the Sisters of the Most Blessed Sacrament distributed
more than 39 million dollars to the needs of African Americans and
Native Americans in order to insure that these minorities were properly
educated and received proper care and nutrition.
Both
Bishop Neumann & Mother Katharine Drexel have been the victims of
recognition and oversight on the part of the Philadelphia Historical
Society in relationship to their participation in the life of Assumption
Parish on Spring Garden Street.
The
purpose of historical preservation is to preserve, restore and conserve
significant places in Philadelphia not simply because of their
architectural importance. The mission of the Philadelphia Historical
Commission is to accomplish these points because a historical person or
event took place at or in the place that has received a historical
designation from the commission.
In
addition to the exceptional architectural heritage with the connection
to the prolific ecclesiastical architect of the period, Patrick Charles
Keely; the Church provides the historical structure for two of the most
significant citizens of Philadelphia’s life and history since Benjamin
Franklin.
The City of
Philadelphia has been especially generous in honoring Benjamin Franklin.
The Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the Franklin Institute, the Benjamin
Franklin Bridge and so on. However, there are no streets, parks or sites
named to commemorate the lives and accomplishments of Saints John
Neumann and Katharine Drexel.
The
most significant acknowledgement of both Neumann & Drexel is of
course the Catholic Church’s elevation of both of these exceptional
individuals to the altars and designations of Sainthood. However, both
Neumann & Drexel deserve recognition from a civil perspective in
recognition of their lives and accomplishments in making Philadelphia a
city of racial and religious tolerance in the 19th & 20th centuries.
Most
notably, the battle to preserve Assumption Parish on Spring Garden
Street is now lost. The shifting demographics of Catholics in addition
to other factors contributed to its elongated process of death. However,
Philadelphia Catholics and quite frankly all Philadelphians need to
learn a lesson from this parish and the need to preserve our historical
treasures that transcend points of architectural significance but point
to a significance of the promotion of religious and ethnic harmony
between peoples of all races, creeds and colors.
The
Philadelphia Historical Committee needs to step back after this
insensitive oversight against not only Philadelphia’s Catholics, but all
Philadelphians of good will and recognize Saints John Neumann &
Katharine Drexel with a park, a street and yes perhaps even statues on
the illustrious Benjamin Franklin Parkway, not because they were and are
Catholic Saints, but because they were illustrious Philadelphians that
transformed Philadelphia and the world towards peace, harmony and racial
tolerance.
The Sisters Cities
Plaza that is directly in front of the Cathedral-Basilica of Saints
Peter and Paul would especially benefit from a new designation in honor
of Bishop Neumann & Katharine Drexel. Without diminishing the
importance of “Sister Cities”, both Neumann & Drexel as Philadelphia
Catholics participated in events at the Cathedral-Basilica of Saints
Peter and Paul. What an appropriate place to honor and recognize their
contributions than the development of a commemorative park dedicated to
the principles of religious and racial tolerance for all peoples of
Philadelphia and the nation.