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How the South Bronx and Puerto Rican migration defined Fr. Neil Connolly’s priesthood as he learned to both serve and be part of his community
South Bronx, 1958. Change was coming. Guidance was sorely needed to bridge the old and the new, for enunciating and implementing a vision. It was a unique place and time in history where Father Neil Connolly found his true calling and spiritual awakening. The Kingdom Began in Puerto Rico captures the spirit of the era and the spirit of this great man.
Set in historical context of a changing world and a changing Catholic Church, The Kingdom Began in Puerto Rico follows Fr. Neil Connolly’s path through the South Bronx, which began with a special Church program to address the postwar great Puerto Rican migration. After an immersion summer in Puerto Rico, Fr. Neil served the largest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the Bronx from the 1960s to the 1980s as they struggled for a decent life. Through the teachings of Vatican II, Connolly assumed responsibility for creating a new Church and world. In the war against drugs, poverty, and crime, Connolly created a dynamic organization and chapel run by the people and supported Unitas, a nationally unique peer-driven mental health program for youth. Frustrated by the lack of institutional responses to his community’s challenges, Connolly challenged government abandonment and spoke out against ill-conceived public plans. Ultimately, he realized that his priestly mission was in developing new leaders among people, in the Church and the world, and supporting two nationally unique lay leadership programs, the Pastoral Center and People for Change.
Discovering the real mission of priesthood, urban ministry, and the Catholic Church in the United States, author Angel Garcia ably blends the dynamic forces of Church and world that transformed Fr. Connolly as he grew into his vocation. The book presents a rich history of the South Bronx and calls for all urban policies to begin with the people, not for the people. It also affirms the continuing relevance of Vatican II and Medellin for today’s Church and world, in the United States and Latin America.
The Kingdom Began in Puerto Rico is an engaging study of the dedicated and charismatic Irish-American priest of the archdiocese of New York and the vicar of the South Bronx, Father Neil Connolly, who was widely respected, far beyond the confines of his own faith community, for his efforts in the poorest congressional district in the United States. Pope Francis would have been proud of him because he shared Francis’s values and priorities, especially his commitment to the poor. Angel Garcia offers here a valuable introduction to the role of the Catholic Church in the survival and revival of the South Bronx.---Msgr. Thomas J. Shelley, Emeritus Professor of Church History at Fordham University
The Puerto Rican migration after the Second World War challenged the New York Catholic Church. Thanks to the efforts of priests like Fr. Neil Connolly, as well as the people themselves, the Church rose to the challenge, with good will and on-going discernment. Conducted with the people, organizing campaigns involving other priests and religious and lay church workers of the South Bronx, many were invited into cooperation, solidarity and spirituality by Fr. Connolly…Angel Garcia captures the spirit of the era, and the spirit of the man.---Fr. James Joyce, S.J., former Director of Social Ministries for the New York Province of the Society of Jesus and the past Chair of the Board of Jesuit Social Ministries.
The Kingdom Began in Puerto Rico: Neil Connolly’s Priesthood in the South Bronx by Angel Garcia (Dec. 1, $34.95, ISBN 978-0-8232-8926-4) follows Fr. Connolly’s career within the South Bronx, which began with a special church program to address the postwar Great Puerto Rican Migration.
Foreword | ix
Introduction | 1
1. Puerto Rico | 9
2. The New Parish | 27
3. A Changed Church, a Changed Role | 57
4. Summer in the City | 80
5. World Struggles, Parish Struggles | 105
6. Organizing Priests | 140
7. Social Action, Political Power | 165
8. South Bronx—Commitment and Abandonment | 189
9. New Ministers | 213
10. People for Change | 239
11. Another World, a Larger Mission | 264
12. New Leadership | 293
Acknowledgments | 313
Notes | 319
Index | 347