Shortly after the Knights of Columbus was founded by Fr. McGivney at St. Mary's in the early 1880s, the parish was given to the Dominican Order by the bishop of Hartford. The Dominicans have had a range of priests from right to left. One notable Dominican priest contemporary to Gerrity was Fr. James Keating, O.P., who I believe had been the heavyweight boxing champion of the US Navy during World War II. Fr. Keating was very eloquent, very outspoken, very conservative in all matters religious and political and ran a sort of CYO equivalent known as the Dominican Club.
During the academic year, Fr. Keating sponsored Dominican Club functions very Sunday night starting with a Rosary in the Church proper followed by a sermon from Fr. Keating relevant to the hundreds of teenagers who showed up ever week from the entire New Haven area and followed by a several hour dance in the Church hall at which Fr. Keating also presided. He was rough. He was tough. And he was by far, the most beloved priest in New Haven for decades. He was also chaplain to the New Haven County jail. Eventually, he was transferred to be the pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Columbus, Ohio.
In those days, New Haven's Catholics were mostly Democrats for ethnic reasons but quite conservative on social and military matters. They are gone now and New Haven has degenerated into a heathen leftist culture dominated by Yale "community organizers," snobby, trendy, affluent lifestyle leftists, black and Hispanic radicals.
Thank you for that great background info.