It is a withered and dead parish that yields no laborers for the Lord's vineyard. He is a barren pastor who brings forth none to take his place when he is gone, or who has never summoned to his aid one recruit of his own drilling.
For the work accomplished, for blessings received, for a growth and prosperity wondrous indeed, it is a duty for the children of the early Catholic settlers of Paterson not to forget their fathers who "were men of mercy, whose godly deeds have not failed;" it is a joy for them and their children, and for their pastors, and the church, "to show forth the wisdom and declare the praise" of those who builded that Church of St. John in 1833.
Blessings on their memory! Prayers for their souls! We pray for the souls of all who in their day helped this church; to-morrow with solemn dirge and rite this duty will be yet more markedly fulfilled. The performance of this sacred duty honors and helps the Bishops, the priests, the people, who toiled under adverse and trying circumstances to lay good foundations for future building; it gratifies the loving hearts of a grateful posterity to acknowledge the rich inheritance of religion that has come down to them, as it will be their earnest endeavor to transmit to their children the glowing faith, the warm piety and the noble spirit of self-sacrifice inherited from "men of renown, and our fathers in their generation."
The Villanova University copy that this text was prepared from contains several handwritten corrections. The original text of the book has been retained for this electronic edition, but since the corrections are probably accurate, they are noted below as "VU corrections."
Some inconsistent spelling and punctuation has been retained from the original (i.e. "cooperation" vs. "co-operation," "traveling" vs. "travelling").
For this text edition, oe ligatures have been expanded to oe for Latin-1 compatibility.
Table of contents was not present in the original print edition.
Page 5, added missing "t" the "the" in "within the city limits."
Page 6, VU correction: "Father De La Motte" instead of "Father De La Mote."
Page 6, VU correction: "Rev. Phillip Larisey, O.S.A." instead of "Rev. Phillip Larissy." Note that this differs from "Larrissy" / "Larrisey" (two r's) found elsewhere in the text. This may be intentional since it is quoted from another source. Research suggests that "Larisey" may be the most appropriate spelling, but there is enough conflicting information that no attempt has been made to normalize the text in this edition; all references are left as-is.