St. Anthony's Church, a 125-year-old Catholic parish in East Newark founded to serve Italian immigrants, is permanently closing its doors. The final Mass is set for Nov. 22 at 12:30 p.m., after which the congregation will be absorbed into Holy Cross Parish, located about a half-mile away in Harrison.
A Tiny Borough Loses Its Spiritual Anchor
According to NJ.com, the closure follows declining attendance, operating deficits and winter closures caused by a broken boiler, per Archdiocese of Newark spokesperson Maria Margiotta. The church closure was approved by parish trustees and an Archdiocese of Newark committee, and Cardinal Joseph Tobin issued a decree formalizing St. Anthony's impending closure on Oct. 10, 2026. The Archdiocese said the news is difficult, especially for families who worshipped at St. Anthony's for generations.
St. Anthony's opened in 1901 to serve the borough's Italian immigrant community, and it joined Holy Cross Parish in 2018. Holy Cross itself traces back to 1865, when it was founded as Saint Pius Parish before changing its name in 1886; the current Holy Cross Church building was constructed in 1890. East Newark, where St. Anthony's has stood for over a century, is New Jersey's second-smallest municipality by land size, covering about a tenth of a square mile and home to roughly 2,500 residents. The borough was formed from portions of Kearny and Harrison.
What Happens to the Building and Its Sacred Objects
Per the same account, the decree directs the removal and careful preservation of the church's altars, sacred objects and religious furnishings, while designating the North 2nd Street church property for non-religious future use that respects its dignity as a former church. St. Anthony's statue of St. Anthony will be enshrined at a side entrance of Holy Cross Church, preserving at least one visible piece of the parish's identity for worshippers who make the move. Church members will travel the half-mile to Holy Cross after the farewell Mass, and the parish's website notes reconciliation at St. Anthony is available by appointment or at Holy Cross Parish.
Margiotta said generations who worshipped at St. Anthony's will remain in the Archdiocese's prayers during the transition. Her comments echo a broader note of pastoral concern Cardinal Tobin struck in March 2026, when he acknowledged fear, uncertainty and resistance among some Catholics even as he extended the discernment phase to give parishes more time for reflection and consultation, according to Margiotta.
Part of a Wider Reckoning Across North Jersey
St. Anthony's closure is unfolding against the backdrop of the Archdiocese's “We Are His Witnesses” review, launched in June 2025 and intended to strengthen and restructure parishes, a process that NorthJersey.com reports could include consolidations or closures. In March 2026, Cardinal Tobin announced the review would be slowed down but not stopped, and the Archdiocese created a Parish Mission Renewal Office in September 2026. The Archdiocese of Newark serves 1.3 million Catholics across Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties; the seed reporting on St. Anthony's puts the Archdiocese's total parish count at 211, while NorthJersey.com has separately reported the number as 212 while describing consolidation or closure discussions among the parishes.
NorthJersey.com's reporting situates the decision within a steep national decline: the Archdiocese had 241 parishes in 1990 and has since closed 29 of them, while a Pew survey cited by the outlet found weekly Mass attendance among American Catholics has fallen to 29 percent, down from 41 percent in 2007. The Archdiocese has also said it has only 127 priests under age 50 to serve its parishes, with fewer than 131 expected to be available by 2044. Regional listening sessions have had congregations discussing their long-term sustainability, the outlet reports, and dioceses in Buffalo, Peoria, Baltimore, Chicago and Seattle have discussed similar consolidations or mergers in recent years.
Echoes in Other New Jersey Parishes
St. Anthony's is not the only North Jersey parish to recently hold a last service. CBS New York reported that a Sunday marked the final Mass for St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Bayonne, with the Archdiocese saying the decision to close that century-old church was made in July due to shrinking attendance and piling-up maintenance needs. A similar pattern has played out beyond New Jersey: in Fredonia, New York, Bishop Michael Fisher issued a decree closing St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church, citing overdrawn bank accounts totaling $5,050 after it merged with Holy Trinity Parish, and noting that the site's weekly collection averaged $3,000 while it cost $3,925 per week to operate, according to the Post-Journal.
For East Newark, the closing of St. Anthony's marks the end of a parish that opened its doors to generations of immigrant families more than a century ago. When the final Mass concludes on Nov. 22, that community's spiritual life moves down the road to Holy Cross — carrying with it a single statue, a shared history, and an uncertain road ahead for parishes like it across the Archdiocese.
