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Rev. Thomas J. Ducey
Photo by David
H. Anderson (1827-1905), New York
(original copyright expired)
|
...During the
last twenty years as Rector of St. Leo's Father Ducey has probably accomplished
more for the “submerged tenth” than any other man of his resources in New York.
These philanthropic acts are not of
common knowledge, however, for the reason that the kindly priest will never
talk about them and if a visitor approaches such a topic the talk is diverted
to literature, the arts, or sciences, or kindred generalities adapted to desultory
conversation.
Perhaps the
newspaper men realize more fully than any other class the extent of Father
Ducey's generosity to the unfortunate. It is within the writer's knowledge that
during the last two years this notable priest has received more than twenty
thousand applications for assistance many of which were from strangers in New
York. Of these over fifty per cent
secured personal interviews and obtained material succor adapted to their
several necessities while quite as many unquestionably undeserving were sent
away.
It may truly be said that Father
Ducey is the counsellor of the rich, the brother of the poor, and a father to
humanity. He believes in community of
effort and resource. The wealth and the
woe of mankind excite him equally to establish more harmonious relations
between labor and capital. Only a few
weeks ago he demonstrated the accuracy of this estimate of his character by
visiting Hazelton, Penn., and the contiguous coal mining sections of that State
in order that the American public might learn through the medium of his pen the
exact differences existing between mine operators and their employees.
Father Ducey has been active in nearly every
movement inaugurated in New York designed to bring about municipal reform. His independence of spirit has occasionally
provoked the criticism of his ecclesiastical superiors but his views have
always been so exalted and disinterested that censure could find no lodgment.
…Since his
installation at St Leo's Father Ducey has watched his flock in that parish for
a score of years. Among his parishioners
are many multi-millionaires. distinguished scientists. and notable leaders well
as others in the various professions equally devout but lacking in acumen and
substance as compared with more fortunate fellow worshipers. A proportion of the church expense is from the
priest's private means.
A few years ago
Father Ducey had his called to the need existing in all large cities for a
place suitable for the reception of the "stranger dead" until relatives could
arrive and inter the remains. Hotels are
averse to sheltering corpses even of old time guests and they invariably refuse
to receive a body for which temporary shelter is required. Father Ducey determined to fill this need so
far as New York was concerned. The
result is the only structure of its kind in the United States. It adjoins the church
on Twenty-eighth Street, cost $75,000 and has been open for eleven months.
In inaugurating this benevolent project Father
Ducey expended several thousands from his own resources and the balance was
subscribed solely by his non-Catholic friends. “I refrained from asking
Catholics to contribute” said Father Ducey, “as I wished to be perfectly free
so to incorporate the work that whoever succeeds me will be bound to carry out my purpose in the interest of the 'stranger dead' of any and all denominations.”
And so it is that during the present year this
unique structure has been the scene of fifteen funeral services which otherwise
would have been performed in the back room of an undertaker's shop.
A.S.D.(author)
