There was a marriage register kept by Fr. James Fitton that I believe was part of the beginnings of Christ's Church. The first entry is in Aug. 1833. This book was the marriage register for that church and for St. John's Church and in a way it still is. The book has grown into volumes, but it is still being kept. Can a Parrish exist, because it keeps its own records, without a church building?
The construction of the church on Temple St., Christ's Church, took place after Fr. Fitton bought the land in 1835. He added land to his holdings in 1836, 1837 and 1838. If you are wondering about a priest owning it rather than the diocese, remember, it was better than the parishioners owning it. The bishop got it all anyway when Fitton left in 1841.
Christ's Church, the building, was a wooden structure that was moved across the lot to serve (what exactly?) for a number of years as the "Institute." St. John's Church, the building, is the beautiful brick structure that was built over the enlarged cellar-hole of the first church in the New England Diocese west of Boston. (or some such claim) If St. John's is the mother of two diocese, than Christ's Church is their late grandmother.
St. John's Church, the building took a year to complete, and was dedicated on June 24, 1846. St. John's Church, the Parrish, likely uses that date too.
Fr. Gibson would credit himself with St. John's but could not take credit for Christ's Church. I have not yet gone to the web-address you posted, but I will guess that he took credit for establishing many churches, such as St. Bridget's in Millbury in 1850 and churches in Clinton, Fitchburg, Milford, Southboro, Athol, Framingham, Webster, and... As if they would not have been established without him. The fact is; the early Catholic population was wide-spread and when the famine immigrants arrived the needs of the faithfull could not be met from Worcester. The Catholics from those towns established those churches.
You were right that I would be interested in the web-address, I will go there right after I spell-check this post. (Something I often forget to do, as you can tell from some of my posts.)
