Sunday, October 31, 2010

Some design elements

Several questions have arisen about campaniles and other design elements. Because posts can be edited, I intend to use this post to collect lists of churches with similar items.
1) Which Brooklyn Catholic churches have campaniles? Clearly, St. Mark's (Sheepshead Bay) and St. Gregory the Great (Crown Heights). Others?
2) Which Brooklyn Catholic churches are within a school? Fourteen Holy Martyrs appears to have an adjacent church, but that is really a church hall; the sanctuary is inside the school. Decades ago, both were sold to other Christians. Queen of All Saints at Lafayette and Vanderbilt Avenues is a combined building. Others?
3) Before the invention of electronic public address systems, a pulpit might be halfway down the nave, so that all could hear to the Gospel and the preacher. I believe St. Barbara's still uses that pulpit in the nave. Others?

Friday, October 29, 2010

St. Boniface, Duffield Street, Downtown




The website for the Oratory Church of St. Boniface is linked here. The church is at 190 Duffield Street, but the mailing address is 109 Willoughby Street, Brooklyn NY 11201, telephone 718-875-2086. The above photo looks north from the intersection of Duffield and Willoughby Streets.  A complex of large buildings called MetroTech looms north and west of the church. The parish location is truly downtown Brooklyn, with Lawrence Street, Jay Street, and Boro Hall subway stations nearby.

Designed by the prolific architect, Patrick Charles Keely, the church was built in 1872. It is maintained splendidly by the parishioners and the Oratorians. "Sacred Havens of Brooklyn," written by Terri Cook, describes the architecture well.  She points to a German prayer in one of the stained-glass window, as this congregation was formed by German Catholics in the 1850's.s
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On Easter, 2012, the New York Times featured St. Boniface parish in an article of some length, as linked here.
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An acquaintance suggested that I look at the video series "City of Churches," produced by Nick Vagas.  I have linked here his outstanding eighteen-minute video of St. Boniface parish.



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Thursday, October 28, 2010

A presentation about six parishes

At Douglaston on October 28, 2010, Joseph Coen, archivist for the diocese of Brooklyn, offered an excellent Powerpoint review of the history of six parishes: St. James Cathedral, St. Joseph (Pacific Street), St. Augustine (Park Slope), Most Holy Trinity (Williamsburg), Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Bay Ridge), and Regina Pacis (Bensonhurst). I must review my notes of this evening and make necessary corrections to this blog. Many thanks to Mr. Coen and to the members of the audience, who also made comments of interest.
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The diocese is under the patronage of Mary with the title of the Immaculate Conception. The long-planned and never-constructed cathedral on Greene Avenue was to have that title. However, high school students in the 1950's were told that the diocesan patron was St. Joseph, and a holiday was given March 19th instead of March 17th because the archdiocese across the river had St. Patrick as patron. So, who is the patron: Joseph or Mary?
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Some of the questions raised by the audience are answered well in the book, "Diocese of Immigrants," available from the archivist's office, 718-965-7300, ext. 1001.




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Thursday, October 14, 2010

St. Frances Cabrini, Dyker Heights



The mailing address of St. Frances Cabrini parish is 1562 86th Street, Brooklyn NY 11228, telephone 718-236-9165. The parish website is linked HERE.
The above photo looks east on 86th Street towards the busy intersection of 16th Avenue and 86th Street. The church is on the southeast corner of 86th Street and Bay 11th Street in Dyker Heights. (The numbered "Bay" streets are parallel to and interspersed among the numbered avenues, leading to some confusion.)




About fifty students of the Catherine Laboure School use the former parish elementary school on Bay 11th Street, which merged with that of St. Mary Mother of Jesus on 23rd Avenue.








Monday, October 11, 2010

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dyker Heights



The church of Our Lady of Guadalupe faces 15th Avenue at the northeast corner of 73rd Street. The rectory address is 7201 15th Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11228, telephone 718-236-8300. The parish website is linked HERE. The 71st station of the D train is nearby.


In 1531, Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego at Tepeyac Hill, near what is now the Basilica of N. S. de Guadalupe in northern Mexico City, served by metro line 6, Basilica station.










The address of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Academy is 15-14 72nd Street, telephone 718-331-2070. Above is a view from 15th Avenue, but the school extends considerably along 73rd Street.  In the 2016 Official Catholic Directory, the enrollment was listed as 226. However, on February 7, 2019, the Brooklyn Reporter in this article reported that the school would close in June. The enrollment is 120.


I am uncertain how the school buildings, old and new, are utilized.  A Polish school, named after the famous author Henry Sienkiewicz, also uses the address at 15-14 72nd Street.







Sunday, October 10, 2010

St. Ephrem, Dyker Heights

The address of the parish of St. Ephrem is 929 Bay Ridge Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11228, telephone 718-833-1010, with a website linked here. In the above photo, the rectory is to the right, adjacent to the church, on Bay Ridge Parkway, otherwise known as 75th Street. The school is to the left, on Fort Hamilton Parkway.

The Fort Hamilton Parkway bus honors the Pontiff.

St. Ephrem's parish was founded in 1921. The previous October, Pope Benedict XV declared the Father of the Church, St. Ephrem the Syrian, a Doctor of the Universal Church. Living from about the year 303 to 373, St. Ephrem wrote many hymns, poems, and sermons in Syriac. (I wonder to what extent the script Ephrem used resembles that seen on medical offices along Bay Ridge Parkway.) The present church has a 1952 cornerstone. The church faces Interstate 287, the construction of which brought the demolition of hundreds of homes in St. Ephrem's parish in the early 1960's.



The school address is 7415 Ford Hamilton Parkway, Brooklyn NY 11228, telephone 718-833-1440. The school's website is linked here.


Both new and old school buildings may be in use by the approximately 268 students. The newer building is shown here on 74th Street, connected to the older building.









Clicking on any photo will enlarge it.