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Grace Church (Newark)

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Coordinates: 40°43′50.22″N 74°10′27.77″W / 40.7306167°N 74.1743806°W / 40.7306167; -74.1743806
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Grace Church
Grace Church (Newark) is located in Essex County, New Jersey
Grace Church (Newark)
Grace Church (Newark) is located in New Jersey
Grace Church (Newark)
Grace Church (Newark) is located in the United States
Grace Church (Newark)
Location950 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey
Coordinates40°43′50.22″N 74°10′27.77″W / 40.7306167°N 74.1743806°W / 40.7306167; -74.1743806
Built1847
ArchitectRichard Upjohn, C. Harrison Condit
Architectural styleGothic Revival
NRHP reference No.72000776
NJRHP No.[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPNovember 2, 1972[2]
Designated NHLDecember 23, 1987[3]

Grace Church in Newark (Episcopal) is an active and historic Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Newark. It has stood since 1837 on Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey, US. It worships in the Anglo-Catholic tradition.

History

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Grace Church was founded on Ascension Day in 1837 at the behest of Bishop George Washington Doane. As part of what is today called the Oxford Movement, Grace's founders emphasized the sacramental worship and succession of bishops of the Episcopal Church as their direct link to Christ, the Apostolic community and its Eucharistic worship – a sister to the Roman Catholic Church. A daughter parish of Trinity Church, Bishop Doane explicitly founded the church in the growing city to be the standard-bearer for Anglo-Catholicism in the diocese.[4]

10:30am High Mass at Grace Church in Newark.

The church building, designed by Richard Upjohn, who was also the architect of Trinity Church, New York, was consecrated on October 5, 1848. It is an example of Gothic Revival architecture in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark for its architecture in 1987. The church was built on the site of the old Essex County Courthouse and Jail, which burnt down on August 15, 1835.[5] The massive, single bell in the tower was an early replacement for one purchased and installed before the consecration in 1848; the original bell produced a horrible sound, drawing complaints from parishioners and local citizens, and was replaced with a "more agreeable toned bell" purchased by Jermiah C. Garthwaite, one of the 1837 founding members of the church.[6] The bell, paid for by an Episcopalian textile manufacture in Newark, is rung for solemn occasions, and was rung to support the Federal soldiers defending Fort Sumter in 1861.[4]

The tune for "America the Beautiful," called "Materna," was written here by the parish organist Samuel A. Ward in 1882.[7]

Today

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Grace uses an Anglo-Catholic, sacramental liturgy, or order of service, at the center of which, in the tradition of the Church as said to be handed down from the Apostles, is the Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion or the Mass. Grace teaches the Catholic faith, holding that Christians gain access to the mystical body of Christ through the sacramental worship of the community and are aided by the sequential liturgy, incense, and Eucharistic sacrifice to an experience of heaven.[8] Incense, lights, and ceremonial vestments are used. The contemporary-language rite from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer (Rite II) is used. Grace holds High Mass on occasion, with liturgy sung in Latin by the ordained clergy. In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January 2020, a mass was celebrated with music performed by choirs from Grace Church and other nearby areas.[9]

The congregation includes people from Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Caucasian Americans, and African Americans of all ages and sexual orientation. The parish follows Catholic faith and practice in The Episcopal Church, but accepts the ordination of women and affirmation of same-sex marriage.

The J. Brent Bates became the parish's seventeenth rector in March 2011.

Music

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Grace has an adult choir and a chorister program, performing mass and weekly singing the Gregorian chant mass propers from the early, medieval and renaissance traditions. Grace holds choir concerts and organ recitals on the 48-stop tracker instrument built by Casavant Frères in 1990. The Grace Church Music Society, organized in 2008, each year sponsors a series of recitals and concerts. The current Director of Music & Organist is Wolff von Roos. Past directors of music have included Daniel C. Romero, Tyrone Whiting, James M. Hopkins,[10] Joseph Arndt, and James McGregor, a composer, conductor, and organist who held the position for forty-eight years and was widely known throughout the Episcopal Church.[11]

Masses and services

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The church offers masses, other forms of worship, and family and youth activities. Weekday mass is every Tuesday-Friday at 12:10pm. Weekday morning prayer is offered at 9am same days, and evening prayer is offered at 5pm. Sunday Mass is offered both at 8am and 10:30am. The 8am is spoken and the 10:30am is the Solemn High Mass with music. [12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places - Essex County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Historic Preservation Office. April 1, 2010. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 27, 2009. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  3. ^ "NPS Summary". Archived from the original on March 2, 2007. Retrieved February 3, 2008.
  4. ^ a b "Grace Church". NewarkHistory.com. April 2007. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  5. ^ "THE OLD JAIL ON NEW STREET". New Jersey History's Mysteries. Archived from the original on January 1, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  6. ^ Bataille, Edward F. (1937). Grace Church in Newark: The First Hundred Years, 1837-1937. Newark, New Jersey: The Kenny Press. pp. 47–48. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  7. ^ Di Ionno, Mark (March 17, 2016). "'America the Beautiful' began in Newark". NJ.com. Advance Local Media. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
  8. ^ "Grace Church in Newark". www.gracechurchinnewark.org. Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
  9. ^ Kiefer, Eric (January 17, 2020). "NJ Celebrates Racial Progress: MLK Day Events in Essex County". Patch. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  10. ^ "Brick City Live". brickcitylive.com. Retrieved May 5, 2021. [failed verification]
  11. ^ "James McGregor Obituary (2022) - Newark, NJ - the Star-Ledger".
  12. ^ "Grace Church in Newark". www.gracechurchinnewark.org. Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
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