The Bishop's Curse

The year was 1860 and while the nation teetered on the brink of the great Civil War, another albeit smaller rebellion had broken into the open in the little town of Carthage, NY. Given the gravity of former, the latter squabble seemed insignificant except to the mid-19th Century Irish Catholic church members of St. James Parish. For them it was a serious life-changing event that they believed put them in danger of losing their very souls. The devout Irish Catholic Richard Gallagher came to America at the age of seven on an infamous "coffin ship." Gallagher succeeded beyond his modest expectations as a businessman and community leader in the predominantly Protestant Yankee environment. He became intimately involved in the affairs of St. James Church, only the fourth Catholic Church established in the state. As a layman church trustee and community leader, Gallagher took it upon himself to head a drive for the appointment of a permanent priest to better serve St. James parish. Little did he know that this action would set him on a collision course with his Church--his priest and his bishop. The infrequency of services gave "keeping holy the Sabbath" a whole different meaning. Letters were regularly exchanged with the bishop, a doctrinaire cleric who insisted his hands were tied because of a severe shortage of priests. He insisted that the parishioners should instead focus on obedience to the dictates of their Church (a stance they maintain to this day). After years of infighting, letter exchanges, "hard language" being used, even by the priest, the dispute reached the bursting point, finally culminating in a knockdown drag out fistfight in the church. Excommunications followed as the bishop ominously warned that great "calamities would befall" the dissidents. Events that followed, including fires and an earthquake, led people believe that the bishop had indeed laid a curse on the congregation.