Following years-long effort by early Polish immigrants in Bayonne to form a parish of their own, the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Bayonne was officially incorporated on January 25, 1898 by Bishop Winand Michael Wigger. These efforts were supported by Rev. Boleslaus Kwiatkowski, Pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Jersey City, NJ. Rev. Alexis John Iwanów, a priest of nineteen years, arrived in Bayonne in August 1899 and was officially appointed Pastor of Mt. Carmel Parish on November 9, 1899. The parish initially held religious services in the basement chapel of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, the first R.C. parish established in Bayonne. At the time of Mt. Carmel's founding, the other Roman Catholic parishes in Bayonne were St. Mary's St. Vincent's, St. Henry's and St. Joseph's. The Parish secured land on East 22nd Street where the Polish parishioners built the simple wooden chapel by hand. The church was dedicated on Christmas Day of 1899 by Rev. I. P. Whelan, Pastor of St. Mary's, and the first Mass was held by Rev. Iwanów, On the Saturday before Palm Sunday 1900, a delegation of parishioners confronted Rev. Iwanów and under the threatened use of firearms they carried with them, demanded control of the parish. With the pastor banished, some 300 parishioners occupied the church, inspired by fears that the church property, funded and built by parishioners, was legally owned by the Bishop, and not the parishioners.
20th century history
A new pastor, Rev. Sigismund Świder, was appointed following Rev. Iwanów's departure. With the church occupied, Rev. Świder oversaw the construction of a new church nearby. On April 16, 1901, a Bill of Complaint was filed in the Chancery Division of the New Jersey Superior Court contesting the legal ownership of the original church property. The decree of October 26, 1903 recognized the legality of the claim of Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish to the church property, and the church was returned to the Roman Catholic congregation. The original wooden church was converted into the first school building. Membership within the church exceeded predictions and the need for a third church building resulted in construction of the current building in 1909. In 1910 a second school was constructed from a part of the former church building. A year later Paul Peter Rhode, the first Polish bishop in the United States, came from Chicago to bless the new church. Twice the church caught on fire, on December 12, 1912, and on May 30, 1915, The amortization of debt in 1917 preceded its consecration by John J. O'Connor in that year. During World War II, nearly 3,000 parishioners served in the U.S. armed forces, and 103 gave their lives. In 1958, a complete restoration of the property took place and in following years a parking lot, parish center, and garages were added. Reverend Thaddeus Zaorski served as pastor from 1968-1989. In 1983, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School was brought up to safety regulation standards.
21st century history
The entire complex of the parish is still standing, having been little altered since construction. This includes the church, school building, parish center, as well as the parish office/rectory. The complex is the basis for the Mount Carmel Historic District established in 1991. In 2010 the church commissioned a statue of Pope John Paul II, the first Polish pope. Due to declining numbers of congregants within Bayonne, in 2016 Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish merged with two other parishes into the present-day St. John Paul II Parish. In 2019, the school and convent were put up for sale.
