After more than 140 years, the Immaculate Conception Church located in Northern Liberties at Front and Allen Streets will no longer exist as a Philadelphia Archdiocesan Parish.  Beginning on July 1, 2011 the Immaculate Conception will be merged with its original “Mother” parish, Saint Michael’s, at 2nd and Jefferson Sts. The official term for what is occurring is called “the suppression and merger of the Immaculate Conception Parish”.

Saint Michael’s boundaries have been adjusted to absorb the boundaries of the Immaculate Conception.  The new combined boundaries are:  Front Street from Berks Street to E. Palmer Street; to Frankford Avenue; to East Oxford Street; to Girard Avenue; to East Susquehanna Avenue; to the Delaware River; to Green Street; to 3rd Street; to Master Street; to 6th Street; to Berks Street; to Front Street.

Under canon law the official designation for Immaculate Conception is “worship place”.  It will still be a church; it just will no longer be a Parish.

So what does this mean for the existing Immaculate Conception parishioners? Not a whole lot. The building and title will remain at its present location on Front and Allen Sts.  Sunday mass will continue to be celebrated at the Immaculate Conception at 10 a.m.  In addition, noon mass will continue to be held on Holy Days of Obligation.

For the existing Immaculate Conception parishioners, the change will mean very little.   In fact with the exception of Immaculate’s administrative office being relocated to the rectory of Saint Michael’s, there really won’t be any noticeable change.

The Archdiocese cited the following four reasons for taking this action:

• This change will make it more efficient to effectively meet the pastoral needs of the Immaculate Conception in light of its serious decline in population.
• This change will re-invigorate and assure the continued vitality of the Saint Michael Parish.
• This change will provide for a more efficient use of economic resources.This change will provide for a more efficient use of clergy and lay personnel.

The Immaculate Conception was founded in 1869. It was originally a “daughter parish” to the older Saint Michael Parish, founded in 1831.  Saint Michel’s was burned to the ground in 1844 as a result of the riots, also known as the Philadelphia Prayer Riots, which were fueled by anti-Irish Catholic sentiment.

Lisa Witiw of the 100 block of W. Wildey Street is a lifelong parishioner of the Immaculate Conception. She attended grade school there and was married there as was her older sister, her mother, and her grandmother.

When asked about the recent announcement Lisa said:  “When I first heard about what was happening to the Immaculate, I was upset; I thought it was being torn down. When I found out that it was mostly an administrative change and that our Church would remain I felt much better.”

Father Michael Filan was the first pastor of the Immaculate Conception. He was appointed in July 1869.   At that time Immaculate’s boundaries were 6th Street to Shackamaxon Street and from Girard Avenue to Green Street.  Immaculate’s first chapel was erected in just 4 months and was completed in October 1869. The Immaculate Conception Church was dedicated in December 1872. The grade school was completed in August, 1880 and placed under the direction of the Sisters of Saint Joseph.  The construction of a convent and a rectory followed shortly after. In his 12 years as pastor of the Immaculate Conception, Father Filan managed to oversee the erection all four buildings that generally make up a Catholic parish in the United States.

The parish flourished for nearly one hundred years before the ever declining school enrollment brought about the closing of the Immaculate Conception school and its subsequent demolition in the summer of 1976 under the watch of then pastor, Edward H. Koob.  The students of the Immaculate Conception were transferred to the original “Mother” parish, Saint Michael.

In the years that followed, the Immaculate Conception Parish continued to suffer from a significant decline in population and parishioner support.  In the spring of 2000 the Immaculate Conception was “twinned” with Saint Michael’s under a single pastor appointed for both churches, Father. Herbert Sperger.

So for the Immaculate Conception, a church that was originally created as a “daughter parish” to the older St. Michael, this change is a homecoming and a reuniting of a mother and daughter.