St. Charles Borromeo, Brooklyn Heights

Above is the church of St. Charles Borromeo at the corner of Sidney Place and Aiken Place in Brooklyn Heights. The parish address is 21 Sidney Place, Brooklyn NY 11201, telephone 718-625-1177. This location is two blocks west of Borough Hall and just south of Joralemon Street. The parish website is linked here. The parish Facebook page is linked HERE. A two-minute video discussion of the stained glass window is linked HERE.

Clicking on any photo will enlarge it. To the right of this sign is a cornerstone bearing the date 1896. I understand that this church was designed by Patrick Keely.

Above is the parish school, now closed. A sign in the window inquires whether neighbors would have a need for pre-school here. The cornerstone is dated 1916.

On Sidney Place, a convent is to the right of the school.

Our Lady of Lebanon, Brooklyn Heights

Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral is on the northeast corner of Henry Street and Remsen Street, only three blocks west of Brooklyn Borough Hall. The postal address of this parish is 113 Remsen St., Brooklyn NY 11201, telephone 718-624-7228. The cathedral's website is linked here. The website of the Eparchy (diocese) is here. Both websites are beautiful, even if a few months stale.

People have been singing the Lord's praises in this building since it was built under the direction of Richard Upjohn in 1846.

The Remsen Street entrance to the church has these doors from the passenger liner Normandie. Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

The main door of the church has these panels from the passenger liner Normandie. Note the cedars of Lebanon above. I met two women from France also taking photographs of these doors. They said that one of the medallions shows the cathedral of Rouen. Again, clicking will enlarge the photo.
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Linked here is a Time magazine article from July, 1945, about the purchase of these doors. It seems that the Church of the Pilgrims moved out in late 1944 and the Maronite Catholics from Lebanon moved in during 1945.

Chancery, Park Slope

In 2009, the diocese of Brooklyn moved its chancery to 310 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn NY 11215, telephone 718-399-5900. The diocesan website is linked here. The above photo shows the chancery's proximity to Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School, now closed.

The date 1968 at the door is about six years after Bishop Ford High School opened across the street. A helpful correspondent has explained:

"The building was built by the Nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor, who used this building as their mother house. This congregation used to go door to door. As the congregation dwindled, they decided to sell the building. The Brooklyn Diocese purchased it to house offices of the Bishop, Accounting, Stewardship, Parish Fiscal Management, Futures in Education (a foundation that provides scholarships for students to go to Catholic schools), Buildings and properties, Human Resources, Health Insurance, Pension, Car Insurance, Vicar Generals, IT Department, and The Tablet. Other offices at the Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston, Queens.

The former Chancery (at Greene and Clermont Avenues) is no longer in use because of better use of space in the Immaculate Conception Center."

The bus which begins here at the chancery passes St. James Cathedral about 30 minutes later.


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Bishop Ford Central Catholic HS, Park Slope

Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School is located at 500 Nineteenth Street, Brooklyn NY 11215, telephone 718-360-2500. Its website is linked here.

The principal entrances of the school are along Nineteenth Street, indicated by the activities entrance on the right, and the academic entrance underneath the cross, as shown in the second photo.
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A helpful correspondent has explained: "The Franciscan Brothers Residence was the top floor of Bishop Ford. They now occupy a smaller section with their own chapel on their floor. The other space is used for the school ."
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The Prospect Expressway (NY 27) parallels Nineteenth Street. When the bishop of Brooklyn announced the construction of several diocesan high schools about 1960, suitable property was scarce. In this case, a streetcar barn took up the entire block now used by Bishop Ford High School. These streets border the school: on the northeast, Fifteenth Street, seen above; on the southeast Tenth Avenue, marked in the above photo by the tall transmitter of the diocesan television station; on the southwest Twentieth Street and Green-Wood Cemetery, and on the northwest Prospect Park West.



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Dominican Sisters of Amityville

The Dominican Sisters of Amityville have staffed many parish schools in Brooklyn for decades, some perhaps more than a century. A friend has given me this list of Amityville Dominican parish schools, which I separate by zip-code in order to keep neighborhoods somewhat together and to facilitate using this information when I walk around more neighborhoods to write this blog. In order of numerical zipcode:
11206 -- Sts. Joseph and Dominic Academy, at Most Holy Trinity parish, Williamsburg. From 1853 until the 21st century, the Dominican Sisters staffed the parish school here.
11209 -- St. Patrick, Fort Hamilton.
11211 -- St. Nicholas, Williamsburg.
11219 -- St. Frances de Chantal, 58th Street.
11221 -- St. Barbara, Bushwick.
11221 -- St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, Suydam St.
11221 -- Fourteen Holy Martyrs, Bushwick.
11223 -- Sts. Simon and Jude, Gravesend.
11224 -- Our Lady of Solace, Coney Island.
11228 -- Our Lady of Guadalupe, 73rd Street, Dyker Heights.
11228 -- St. Frances Cabrini, Bay 11th Street.
11229 -- Good Shepherd, Batchelder St.
11231 -- St. Mary Star of the Sea, Court St., Red Hook.
11236 -- St. Jude, Carnarsie.

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The work of these religious Sisters has been most effective and generous.



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Sisters of St Joseph, Brentwood

The Sisters of St. Joseph (sometimes called Brooklyn Josephites or Brentwood Josephites) have staffed many parish schools in Brooklyn for decades, some perhaps more than a century. An inquiry has resulted in this list of Josephite parish schools, which I separate by zip-code in order to keep neighborhoods somewhat together and to facilitate using this information when I walk around more neighborhoods to write this blog. In order of zipcode:
11201 - St James
11204 - Holy Spirit, St Athanasius
11205 - Queen of All Saints
11206 - Immaculate Conception
11207 - Our Lady of Lourdes, St Malachy, St Michael
11208 - Blessed Sacrament, St Gabriel
11211 - Epiphany, Our Lady of Mt Carmel, St Vincent de Paul, Transfiguration
11213 - St Matthew
11214 - Precious Blood
11214 - St Mary, Mother of Jesus
11215 - Holy Name
11215 - St Francis Xavier
11215 - St John the Evangelist
11215 - St Thomas Aquinas
11216 - Our Lady of Victory
11217 - St Augustine
11218 - Immaculate Heart
11220 - Our Lady of Perpetual Help
11221 - Our Lady of Good Counsel
11222 - St Anthony
11222 - St Cecilia
11225 - St Francis of Assisi
11226 - Holy Cross
11229 - St Brendan
11230 - St Rose of Lima
11231 - St Agnes
11231 - Visitation
11232 - St Michael
11234 - St Thomas Aquinas
11238 - St Joseph (Pacific St), St Teresa of Avila
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Imagine the number of years given by these sisters to Christian education!



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St. Columba, Marine Park

The mailing address of St. Columba's parish is 2245 Kimball Street, Brooklyn NY 11234, telephone 718-338-6265. The parish website is linked here.
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Kimball Street is near the busy Kings Plaza shopping center at Flatbush Avenue and Avenue U. Because Kimball Street is one-way north, an easy approach is west from Flatbush Avenue on Avenue V three short blocks, then a right turn onto Kimball Street. The views above and below are from Kimball Street.

The parish does not have a school.

St. Columba (521-597) is presented to the right of the entrance.



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Our Lady, Help of Christians, Midwood

The mailing address of the parish of Our Lady, Help of Christians, is 1315 East 28th Street, Brooklyn NY 11210, telephone 718-338-5242. The parish Facebook page is HERE. The above photo shows the church with Avenue M along the left and East 28th Street in front of the steps. Both streets and beautiful with trees. Avenue M is one-way westbound from Nostrand Avenue. East 28th Street is one-way southbound.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

In the summer of 2009, Midwood Catholic Academy left this building, the former OLHC parish school, to find larger quarters at 1501 Hendrickson Street, Brooklyn NY 11234, the former St.Thomas Aquinas parish school.


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