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Grace Church
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| Location: | 950 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey |
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| Built: | 1847 |
| Architect: | Richard Upjohn, C. Harrison Condit |
| Architectural style: | Gothic Revival |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: | 72000776 |
| NJRHP #: | [1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP: | November 2, 1972[2][3] |
| Designated NHL: | December 23, 1987[4] |
Grace Church in Newark (Episcopal), located at 950 Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey was founded on Ascension Day in 1837 at the behest of Bishop George Washington Doane, who intended it to be the standard bearer for Anglo-Catholicism in the northern part of his diocese (which then comprised the whole state of New Jersey).
The church building, designed by Richard Upjohn, who was also the architect of Trinity Church, New York, was consecrated on October 5, 1848. It is widely esteemed as an outstanding example of Gothic Revival architecture in the United States. The church was built on the site of the old Essex County Courthouse and Jail which burnt down on August 15, 1835.[5]
In Grace Church's liturgy the tradition of ceremonial grandeur inherited from the nineteenth-century Catholic Revival mingles with the influence of the twentieth-century Liturgical Movement. Incense, lights, and beautiful vestments are used, but the ceremonial is intelligible, and the contemporary-language rite from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer (Rite II) is used. Active participation of the people is encouraged.
Music plays an important role in worship. At the ten o'clock Mass on Sundays most of the liturgy is sung—some parts by the congregation and others by a small choir. The chants of the proper of the Mass are sung to their proper Gregorian Chant melodies. From September through June the choir sings other liturgical music of all periods, with emphasis on Renaissance polyphony. The people ordinarily sing the Gloria or Kyrie, Credo, Sanctus, psalm refrain, andresponses.
The organ is a 48-stop tracker instrument built by Casavant Frères in 1990.
The diverse congregation includes people from Africa and the Caribbean as well as Europeans, Caucasian Americans, and African Americans. Its members are young and old, married and single, gay and straight.
The Rev. Dr. J. Brent Bates became the parish's seventeenth rector in March 2011. Joe Arndt is the director of music. He recently succeeded James McGregor, who held the position for forty-eight years.
The parish is a member of Affirming Catholicism, an organization of individuals and parishes committed to Catholic faith and practice but receptive to new insights. This organization supports ordination of women and affirmation of homosexual relationships.
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