Clifton Milestones
From Botany to St. Brendan’s The 50 Year Priestly Journey of Frank Weber Continues By Tom Hawrylko
“I said my first mass in Latin, with my back to the people,” recalled Father Frank Weber. “That’s where I started from.” That starting point was a fine May day in 1962 at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church when a young man began his journey from parishioner to priest. Located on the corner of Hope Ave. and Harrison St. in Passaic, Holy Trinity was Father Weber’s home parish, and the center of the community for many Botany folks. Holy Trinity was where he was baptized, received First Holy Communion and likely the house of worship where he will make his earthly exit. Indeed, much has changed since he began that journey. The Tridentine Mass—the Roman Catholic Liturgy celebrated in Latin in which the priest turned only to the faithful when he offered Communion—is history. Old Clifton neighborhoods such as Botany where he grew up or Lakeview where he has lived for nearly 30 years have changed too. “What really remains the same?” he asked. “Memories, perhaps.” Father Weber’s memories and his priestly journey of 50 years will be celebrated on May 20 at the Brownstone in Paterson by his parishioners at St. Brendan’s RC Church. For tickets and info, call Roseanne Schultz at 973-449-4862 or Peggy Quinn at 973-772-1115. 72 March 2012 • Clifton Merchant
Father Weber in a current photo and as a young priest.
The 77 year old was born and raised in Clifton, attending the long gone School 7 which was on Parker Ave in Botany. Following his 1952 graduation from CHS, Weber focused his ambitions on the burgeoning industry of electronics. “It was a new and exciting field. They still had tubes, not even transistors yet,” he recalled of his studies at a school in Paterson. “It was what interested me at the time and I followed my dreams.” He studied there for two years. During that time, he also worked as an usher at the Hyway Theater on Broadway in Fair Lawn. At 20 years of age, he was socially active and began dating his coworker. “Her name was Betty, and we had slowly started forming some plans,” recalled Weber.
Pretty average stuff. Like most of his generation, Weber was a practicing Christian. He’d attend services at Holy Rosary, stayed active in spiritual and social events offered by the parish. And while he does not recall a specific epiphany, he does cite the steady influence of his two priests, Father John Morris and Father McGinley. “The more we talked, little by little I got more focused on the decision to become a priest,” said Father Weber. “Then one day, bam, I just jumped on it.” Weber entered Seton Hall University in South Orange for three years and attended Darlington Seminary in Ramsey for six years. He took his vow in 1962 at St. John’s Cathedral in Paterson by Bishop McNulty.
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Clifton Milestones These days, Father Weber is officially retired and his title is “Pastor in Residence.” Over the last weekend of February, he blessed and officiated a wedding, a few days earlier he presided over a funereal for a family friend and on Ash Wednesday he was placing signs of Christianity on the foreheads of the faithful at 7 am, 4 pm and then after a 7 pm Liturgy at his parish, located at the corners of Lakeview and Crooks Aves. That’s retired? “We do what we have to,” he shrugged. Facts about the changing church tell a story. “When I came here in 1981, we had three priests connected to the parish and two of us who lived here and helped out,” he recalled. “We used to have 13 sisters here,” continued Weber. “No we have none. It’s all lay people now. It’s a whole new world out there now Years ago, a girl could get an education through the convent. Now she can do it on her own.” The demographics of St. Brendan’s also changed in the three decades that he has been at the helm. “We have many Muslim neighbors and there are two mosques within walking distance,” explained Weber. “Our population that is here is very mixed.”
At Holy Trinity in Passaic in May 1967, Father Weber giving his mother, Pauline, the Sacrament of Communion.
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The Lakeview neighborhood has also seen a growth in the Hispanic population and a growing number attend services at the parish. Father Weber says the beacon of the community is St. Brendan’s K-8 School. Enrollment has actually increased because of the quality of the facilities and education, he said, adding the closure of other parochial schools in the region show the school’s viability. A strong youth community is the key to the growth of any house of worship. When Father Weber looks back at his career, he said that nurturing the next generation was one of the cornerstones of his priestly life. Following his ordination in 1962, his first assignment was a assistant pastor at Sacred Heart Church in Dover, and as a parttime teacher at Morris Catholic. One year later he became the assistant pastor at Holy Cross Church in Wayne and had the opportunity to teach part-time at DePaul High School for three years. During this same time, Weber returned to school to further his education, attending Manhattan
College for his masters in theology and religious education. He later obtained a second masters degree from Manhattan College in counseling, and began teaching full time at De Paul. Looking back at the 1960’s and 1970’s, Father Weber recalled another changing social landscape. He attended courses at the New Jersey School of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark studying a new phenomena and in 1970 he was certified as an instructor for Drug Abuse Prevention. Afterwards, he helped to create and implement a curriculum regarding drug abuse and preven-
tion for all Catholic High Schools in the Paterson Diocese. Another milestone was being named the first Executive Director of the Passaic County Big Brothers/Big Sisters in 1972. Weber arrived at St. Brendan’s in 1981, after spending time at St. Gerard’s in Paterson and then nine years at Our Lady of Consolation. While he has officially retired, he stays active ministering to the community, still living in his hometown. And in many ways, the May 20 celebration brings his career full circle. It started in Botany and ends in Lakeview—all taking place in Clifton.
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