Friday, November 1, 2019

Bay Ridge Catholic at St. Anselm

Effective September, 2020, Holy Angels Catholic Academy and St. Anselm Catholic Academy will merge into Bay Ridge Catholic Academy. Please see a November 1, 2019, article in The Brooklyn Eagle, linked HERE.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Brooklyn mergers, September, 2019, no closures

The Tablet website includes the appointment of pastors of newly-merged parishes. 
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In Bensonhurst, St. Athanasius, 61st Street, and St. Dominic, 75th Street, are merged, with  the new pastor Msgr. David Cassato. The churches are a mile apart.
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Holy Family, on Flatlands Avenue, Canarsie, is merged with St. Laurence, 1.25 mile further east on Flatlands Avenue, East New York. The pastor is Fr. Edward Kane.
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All Saints, Williamsburg, is merged with Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei, a mile to the northeast. The pastor of All Saints, Fr. Vincenzo Cardilicchia, becomes pastor of the merged parish. He remains in ministry with the Neo-Catechumenal Way.
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In Cypress Hills, Fr. Luis Laverde, pastor of Blessed Sacrament is now pastor of the merged parish of Blessed Sacrament and St. Sylvester. The two churches are less than a mile distant.
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In Bath Beach, Fr. John Maduri, pastor of Most Precious Blood is now pastor of the merged parish of Most Precious Blood and Saints Simon and Jude, a mile northeast.
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As no churches are closed and the new merged parish often resembles what existed previously (regarding priestly staffing), maybe this news is rather minor. Instead of finding sixteen qualified pastors, the bishop now needs eight. Instead of sixteen accounts, there will be eight.

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Queen of All Saints school closing suddenly

On August 13, 2019, the diocese of Brooklyn announced that the Catholic Academy named St. Francis Xavier and Queen of All Saints will close at the end of the month. You may view the story in the Brooklyn Reporter linked HERE. Our you may go to the Press Releases on the website of the diocese of Brooklyn.
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My take on this is geography. I know of a high school girl from Park Slope gladly attending Brooklyn Tech in Fort Greene, but the same trek for an elementary school child might be daunting.  Bishop DiMarzio lives only a third of a mile from Queen of All Saints, but Catholic families able to pay tuition may be more scattered.
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I count thirty Brooklyn Catholic elementary Academies or Schools open in September, but the list of schools on the diocesan website includes other schools that have been closed! It takes an effort to update information on websites.

Sunday, June 23, 2019

St. Joseph HS for Girls, Willoughby St.

I am saddened by the announcement that the long-serving St. Joseph's at Bridge and Willoughby Streets will close in 2020. Megan McGibney mentions that in an excellent survey article in Bklyn, linked HERE.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Sad news: Bishop Kearney HS will close

Bishop Kearney High School will close in August. Opened in 1961, it is on the southeast corner of Bay Parkway and 60th Street, Bensonhurst.
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Please see this news story.

Saturday, February 9, 2019

Diocesan press release on school closures

The Diocese of Brooklyn has posted a press release explaining the closures and mergers of Catholic Academies this week. The link to the press release dated February 8, 2019, is HERE
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Structural problems with the school building on Suydam Street have forced the merger of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Catholic Academy into St. Brigid's Catholic Academy one mile east.
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Also in Brooklyn, Mary Queen of Heaven Catholic Academy (Old Mill Basin) and Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Academy (Dyker Heights) will close.

Mary Queen of Heaven school to close

On February 8, 2019, NBC reported that the diocese of Brooklyn will close Mary Queen of Heaven Catholic Academy, located at 1395 East 56th Street, Flatlands or Old Mill Basin. To the west of this school is Midwood Catholic Academy at the parish of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Friday, February 8, 2019

Cristo Rey, Brooklyn

Cristo Rey High School, at 710 East 37th Street, East Flatbush, is celebrating its Tenth Year in Brooklyn. It describes its location "In the heart of Brooklyn." I would consider Brooklyn's Borough Hall, or the main public library, or Holy Cross parish, Flatbush, more in the heart of Brooklyn, but slogans are slogans.
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The school uses the former Catherine McCauley HS building, located seven short blocks east of the Newkirk Avenue station of the #2 and #5 Nostrand Avenue subway train.

Our Lady of Guadalupe school to close

As of February 8, 2019, it appears that word has leaked out (before official announcement) that Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Academy, with only 120 students, will close in June. Please see this article in the Brooklyn Reporter. The parish and school are in Dyker Heights or Bensonhurst.

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Merger of two parishes

Effective November 1, 2018, the parish of St. Teresa of Avila on Sterling Place was merged into the parish of the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph on Pacific Street.  The decree of merger is linked HERE. The records of St. Teresa's parish will be moved to 856 Pacific Street.

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

St. Nicholas, East Williamsburg

This lengthy article suddenly appeared on the internet from the website Bedford + Bowery. I have to read it more closely, as I believe the ordained staff may live at Mount Carmel.
http://bedfordandbowery.com/2018/12/an-east-williamsburg-church-was-home-to-germans-latinos-and-now-uncertainty/