Video Meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor

History of a Parish Priest   - one who made a difference at a parish in my home town


-- Fr. Cogan & a First Communion Class

Fr. Cogan was born in 1867 - about twenty years after his teenage father emigrated from Ireland to escape the famine - and was ordained in 1901. In July of 1929 he became the first Irish priest at a German Catholic parish. From a local history:

"The Cogan years are not remembered nor celebrated because of building of buildings but rather for the keen business and spiritual leadership he exhibited in overcoming and eventually erasing the enormous debt which hung over the parish like a cloud of poisonous gas ready to choke the life from all caught in its wake. Fr. Cogan built fiscal structures which not only removed the burden of indebtedness in his day but remain even today as major revenue sources to support the operation of parish and school.

Within two months after Fr. Cogan began to rally parishioners, the country was hit with the stock market crash. The years following the event have been called the Great Depression. To have defaulted on the loans during those years would have been understood by all - all, that is, except Fr. Cogan."

Bingo is a much-maligned Catholic fundraiser but in 1936, the success of the game at a parish festival led Fr. Cogan and the parish committee to institute what would be a weekly Bingo, one of the first in the area. It proved to be highly popular and was attended by crowds numbering up to 4,000 players. More from the history:

"Fr. Cogan's pastorate was more than debt reductions. For nineteen and a half years, Fr. Cogan was a prominent figure in the Deanery and throughout the city. He initiated and encouraged several new societies, groups and associations at St. Joseph. The parish was the focal point of the everyday life and activities of the parishioners. Numerous missions were conducted during Fr. Cogan's pastorate.
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Following a lengthy period in the hospital, Fr. John Cogan died at the age of 81 on December 7, 1948. His body was returned to St. Joseph Church to lay in state from 4:00pm on Dec. 11, 1948 until his funeral at 10:30am the next morning. The parishioners came to the church throughout the night keeping a prayer vigil for the soul of their faithful shepherd."