Rev. John F. Downing — Since March, 1922, Rev. John F. Downing has been the efficient and successful pastor of St. Joseph’s Church of Pascoag, Rhode Island.
The history of the parish of St. Joseph of Pascoag reaches back to the early ’fifties, but owing to changing local conditions influencing population its early promise of separate organization was long deferred and its early history is a checkered one. Catholics in the town of Burrillville were few and scattered previous to 1850, and those few attended the nearest church, which was in Woonsocket. When, in the early ’fifties, the Catholic Church began to develop the country parishes, Pascoag was one of the first to receive a pastor. By Pascoag was meant the entire district, and on March 15, 1851, Bishop O’Reilly appointed Rev. Christopher Moore, a young priest ordained only two months earlier, pastor of that district. Rev. P. J. Lenihan went there in 1852 and stayed until September, 1853. Having determined to build a church there, he engaged Keely, the noted architect, to draw the plans. In July, 1853, Bishop O’Reilly went to Pascoag and preached to the people concerning the purchase of a church lot. When Father Bernard Tully succeeded Father Lenihan in 1853, however, the plan of building in Pascoag was abandoned because of its lack of central location, and Harrisville became the headquarters of the mission. There the church was built. When Harrisville was made a separate parish in 1858, under the patronage of St. Patrick, Pascoag, with its congregation of English-speaking Catholics, became a mission of Harrisville. It was not until 1880, when the village of Pascoag had grown in population and prosperity, that it was deemed expedient to build a church there. Rev. John Maguire was then pastor of St. Patrick’s of Harrisville, of which Pascoag was still a mission, and Father Maguire undertook to satisfy the desire of Pascoag for a church of their own. Accordingly, the cornerstone of the Church of St. Joseph of Pascoag was laid March 17, 1880, and the completed edifice was dedicated September 20 of the same year, having been erected at a cost of $13,000. Pascoag remained a mission of Harrisville until 1884, when Rev. Daniel Driscoll was appointed its first pastor; but in 1886 he resigned and Pascoag again was attached to Harrisville. In May, 1893, Rev. James Mahon was appointed pastor and Pascoag again became a separate parish. Father Mahon, who was a native of Providence, Rhode Island, where he attended the parochial schools and then worked in a factory before going to St. Laurent College and to Grand Seminary, in Montreal, Canada, built a comfortable rectory in Pascoag, installed a fine church bell, and made many improvements in and around the church. His fervid eloquence, sometimes inclined to fiery outbursts of scathing denunciation of vice and abuses, together with his gentle and persuasive zeal in the confessional, enabled him to exert a strong influence over his people, and for more than ten years, until July, 1905, he served the parish of St. Joseph faithfully and well. He was then transferred to St. Joseph’s at Newport, Rhode Island, and was succeeded at Pascoag by Rev. Bernard F. Redihan, another native of Providence, who was reared in Pawtucket and educated in Toronto and Montreal, Canada, where he was ordained December 17, 1892.
Father Redihan served in Pascoag for nearly ten years, doing excellent work, both spiritually and materially. His gentle ways and calm temperament contrasted strongly with the ways of his predecessor and won for him a large place in the hearts of his parishioners. He made many improvements about the church property, in the lawns and sidewalks, which were laid in granolithic pavement, while the hedges were kept neatly trimmed and the flowers carefully cultivated. Father Redihan served until January, 1915, when he went to St. Augustine’s at Newport, and was succeeded by Rev. John S. Dunn, S.T.L., a native of Fall River, Massachusetts, educated in Manhattan College, New York; in Grand Seminary, Montreal, Canada, and in the Catholic University at Washington, District of Columbia. Father Dunn served with effective zeal and careful financial administration. He made desirable improvements in the rectory, inside and out, and looked well to the general improvement of the property. He also brought the Sisters of the Divine Providence to teach the Catechism to the children and to teach them music and embroidery, but after a year more pressing duties of their order called them away. During Father Dunn’s pastorate came a great misfortune.
The church was destroyed by fire, in October, 1919, the basement alone being saved. The basement, however, was soon converted into a cozy chapel which has proved sufficient for parish purposes for a number of years. In March, 1922, Father Dunn was succeeded by the present pastor.
Rev. John F. Downing was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and received his early education in the public schools of his birthplace and in LaSalle Academy. When his preparatory course was completed, he entered Holy Cross College, from which he was graduated in 1887, and afterward entered the Sulpician Seminary, in Paris, where he was ordained a priest June 28, 1902. After serving as assistant in St. Mary’s parish, Bristol, for a year or two, he was appointed assistant in St. Mary’s parish, Providence. On January 11, 1917, he was made a pastor and assigned to St. Michael’s parish, Georgiaville, Rhode Island, and there he served ably until March, 1922, when he came to his present charge as pastor of St. Joseph’s Church at Pascoag. During the eight years of his pastorate here Father Downing has placed the parish upon a firm financial foundation, and he is now leading his people in the important task of building the long-hoped-for new church edifice. Since the burning of the old church in 1919 the congregation has worshipped in the chapel built on the old basement, waiting for the time when they might safely undertake the erection of a church in keeping with the dignity and requirements of this well-organized parish. It is expected that the new building will be ready for use by Easter Sunday, 1931. The building is to be of stone, and the interior trim and furnishings are to be of the most substantial character and of first quality. The polished oak seats will provide for about six hundred people, while the choir loft will be equipped with a fine-toned organ and will seat one hundred singers. The parish numbers about one thousand five hundred souls, both English- and French-speaking, and the sermons are delivered both in English and in French. In addition to the regular parish work, Father Downing ministers to the State Sanitarium, to which institution he goes every morning to talk to and cheer the inmates, all of whom have grown to be very fond of him and who look forward to his daily visits of cheer. The parish has a Sunday school with an enrollment of about two hundred twenty-five, and the parochial school is taught by about twenty lay teachers, who assist Father Downing and his able helper, Father D. J. O’Connell. Special religious instruction is given on Mondays and Fridays. The usual church societies are vigorous and prosperous and include a Holy Name Society, a Ladies Sodality, a League of the Sacred Heart, a League for the Propagation of the Faith, a thriving council of the Knights of Columbus, Daughters of Isabella, a chapter of Hibernians, and a Society of St. John the Baptist. During the World War seventy young men enlisted for service from the parish of St. Joseph, of whom four died and two gave “the last full measure of devotion” in action.
Father Downing is doing a splendid work in the community and is greatly respected by all who are associated with him, whether of his own faith or of other denominations. His sincerity and his genuine piety enable him to exert a powerful influence for good in his parish, and under his wise leadership St. Joseph’s parish is steadily growing in spiritual and material resources.
Source: Carroll, Charles. Rhode Island: Three Centuries of Democracy, vol 4 of 4. New York: Lewis historical Pub. Co., 1932.