Monday, April 15, 2013

Holy Family, Greenpoint



IMPORTANT NOTE:  In November, 2019, I am unable to ascertain the role of this church. Some changes have happened.
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This parish was established in 1905, and the cornerstone of the church above reads 1911. It seems that Slovak Franciscan Friars cared for the faithful here during the parish's early era. 
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When I took the above photo about 5:15 p.m. on a weekday in 2008, many cyclists seemed to be heading home on an established fast bike lane, unlike the worse traffic of parallel Manhattan Avenue.  The church is on North 15th Street at Nassau Avenue.
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In 2011, the bishop of Brooklyn merged this parish with the parish of St. Anthony of Padua, which earlier had absorbed the parish of St. Alphonsus.  Since early 2015, it is San Damiano Mission.
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Above, the rectory at 21 Nassau Avenue.



The parish school, which closed in 1970, is now a day care center operated by the diocesan Catholic Charities.

St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy



St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy, an elementary school, is located at 241 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn NY 11215, telephone 718-768-7629, close to Holy Name Church.  The school's website is linked here.  In September, 2012, this academy was formed by the merger of the parish elementary schools at Holy Name and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
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The 2016 Official Catholic Directory states that St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy reported an enrollment of 314 students.


St. Cecilia, Greenpoint

The church of St. Cecilia is now one of three worship sites within the new Divine Mercy parish, established in 2011. An office is maintained at 84 Herbert Street, but the principal office and rectory is at 219 Conselyea Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211.



Queen of the Rosary Catholic Academy is less than a mile south of St. Cecilia's.



Clicking on any photo will enlarge it.  The above photo was taken about a half-hour before the arrival of Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio.

St. Cecilia's parish, Greenpoint, has been merged into a new parish of Divine Mercy, which has three worship sites: Saint Francis of Paola (daily Mass, Sunday Vigil, and two Sunday Masses), St. Cecilia (daily Mass and one Sunday Mass), and St. Nicholas (two Sunday Masses).
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St. Cecilia's buildings take up almost the entire rectangle of the block bounded by North Henry, Herbert, Monitor, and Richardson Streets, the exception being a few private houses to the right in this photo. The parish was established in 1871. One year, it seems, almost 1,700 students were educated in the parish school, which closed in June, 2008. 
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St. Cecilia's website is linked here.  It is helpful to click on the word Bulletin, because that has been presenting an updated schedule of Masses, lists of the parish staff, and telephone numbers.  The St. Cecilia website offers both recent and older information and photos.
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This blog includes an older post from 2012, which I hesitate to delete: Divine Mercy triple merger.  Also, there is this post from 2009, St. Nicholas.



The cornerstone of this five-story school on Monitor Street, corner Richardson, bears the date 1906.  Brother Albert Matthew, who began his teaching career here about 1928, related how the classrooms used gas lamps at that late date. 


It is now the summer of 2016 and the above work has been done. Several buildings have been turned into rental apartments. The largest building, of course, is the former school (above) on Monitor Street. The second largest building is the former convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph, also on Monitor Street.  Adjacent to the school, but on Richardson Street is a building that may have been used by a school employee and family.  At 2 North Henry Street, but now using a Richardson Street number on the conversion permits, is the former house of the De La Salle Christian Brothers, which has been turned into either two or four apartments. The grand total is a large number of apartments in renovated parish structures, which were rented on a 49-year lease to the developers, that is, not sold by St. Cecilia's parish.


Between the school and former convent is a new flagpole and this memorial.
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For decades, the Sisters of St. Joseph and the De La Salle Christian Brothers staffed the parish school.  Sad to relate, Brother Andrew Gerard Duncanson, teacher at St. Cecilia's Boys' department 1962-1964 and principal there 1967-1969, passed away in Providence, Rhode Island, 8/28/2011, where he worked at La Salle Academy.



Sunday, April 14, 2013

Holy Name, Windsor Terrace





The address of Holy Name of Jesus church is 245 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn NY 11215, telephone 718-768-3071. The parish website is linked here. Prospect Park West is in front of the church, with Prospect Avenue alongside the church.  The Mass schedule above was photographed in April, 2013.
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The parish Facebook page is linked HERE.


Clicking on any photo will enlarge it. In 2013, the church property was being renovated, as described in this link.  An altar designed by James Renwick is being moved from the closed church of St. Vincent de Paul, Williamsburg, to this church.
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The parish school at 241 Prospect Park West has been renamed St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy, website linked here.
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For almost a century, Sisters of St. Joseph staffed this parish school, and the Xaverian Brothers taught her for several decades. An excellent guide titled "Weekend Walks in Brooklyn" was authored by Robert J. Regalbuto, who graduated from this school in 1964. He says the school was built in 1923 and the Gothic Revival church dates to 1878.
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The three organizations with offices in the former convent apparently deal with diocesan finances.  The name "Rocklyn" hints at a joint venture with the diocese of Rockville Centre, but the few notices I have come across are in Brooklyn.  There are also diocesan corporations named Rocklyn Properties and Rocklyn Ecclesiastica.  Futures in Education is linked here.  It seems to work with the Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens, but both seem to raise funds for diocesan operations.  Futures in Education submitted an IRS form 990 in 2011 showing a balance of $5.8 million.



Friday, April 12, 2013

Church of the Virgin Mary, Park Slope



The Melkite Church of the Virgin Mary stands on the southwest corner of Eighth Avenue and Second Street in Park Slope.  Its address is 216 Eighth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215, telephone 718-788-5454.  The parish website is linked here, and I learned more by downloading a Newsletter from the tab on the left.  This parish belongs to the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton, Massachusetts.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Resurrection Coptic Catholic Church, Park Slope




Resurrection Coptic Catholic Church is located on the south side of 14th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.  In the adjacent garden is a statue of Mary, with the Latin inscription, Ave Maria, Ora pro nobis, "Hail, Mary, pray for us."  The address is 328 14th Street, Brooklyn NY 11215.
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I am uncertain how to express the canonical and juridical relationship of this parish to the diocese of Brooklyn.  It is clearly part of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, Egypt, Eastern Catholics who in January, 2013, elected a new patriarch.  Other internet descriptions of Coptic Catholics relate that this parish is one of three in the United States.  It was established in the former St. Stanislaus Martyr church about 1985.
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The church has a cornerstone of 1891.  Apparently a Scandinavian national parish, in 1979 St. Stanislaus Martyr was merged into nearby Holy Family parish, which itself became part of St. Thomas Aquinas parish, Ninth Street.  Sunset Park and Bay Ridge used to have a more Swedish and Norwegian population than at present. Please distinguish between two different saints named Stanislaus: St. Stanislaus Martyr, killed in Krakow in 1079 (the patron of this parish when dedicated) and St. Stanislaus Kostka, a Jesuit novice who died in Rome in 1568. The parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka is in Greenpoint. 
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The diocese of Brooklyn has a fair number of repeated names of parishes. In the borough of Queens, there is also a parish of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr in Ozone Park and another parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Maspeth. Likewise, there is another Resurrection parish in Gerritsen Beach.


Sunday, April 7, 2013

Outstanding advertising in NY Daily News 4.7.2013

This morning, I picked up a Sunday New York Daily News, $1.50 at Dunkin', to find a magnificent special forty-four page advertising section for the Catholic elementary schools of Brooklyn and Queens.  The entire section is available on the Daily News website linked here.
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The front cover is titled Catholic Schools Spring Tours.  It shows eleven students and two teachers at St. Kevin's, Flushing.
I will list the schools in the order of presentation in this advertising section:
On page 4, Blessed Sacrament School, Euclid Avenue, East New York.
On page 4, Catherine Laboure Special Education Program, serving elementary and high school students, open house April 11 and May 16, 2013.
Full page 5, St. Patrick School, Bay Ridge.
On page 6, Mary Queen of Heaven, Avenue M and East  57th Street.
On page 6, Holy Angels Catholic Academy, 74th Street, Bay Ridge.
Full page 7, St. Jerome School, East 29th Street, East Flatbush, 718.462.0211.
On page 8, Midwood Catholic Academy, Hendrickson Street.
On page 8, Nazareth Regional High School, East 57th Street, with an Open Admissions Day on May 1, 2013.
On page 9, Our Lady of Grace School, Avenue W.
On page 9, Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, Sixth Avenue and 59th Street.
On page 10, Our Lady of Guadalupe School, 72nd Street, Dyker Heights.
On page 10, Our Lady of Trust Catholic Academy, Canarsie.
On page 11, Queen of the Rosary Catholic Academy, Williamsburg.
On page 11, Salve Regina Catholic Academy, East New York.
On page 12, St. Agatha School, 48th Street, Sunset Park, 718.435.3137.
On page 12, St. Anselm Catholic Academy, 83rd Street, Bay Ridge.
On page 13, St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy, Greenpoint.
On page 13, Saint Saviour Catholic Academy, 701 Eighth Avenue, Park Slope.
On page 14, St. Mark School, Sheepshead Bay.
On page 14, St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy, Windsor Terrace.
On page 15. St. Gregory the Great, 2520 Church Avenue, Flatbush.
On page 15, St. Francis Xavier School, 763 President Street, Park Slope.
On page 16, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy, Lincoln Rd. & Nostrand Ave.On page 16, St. Ephrem School, Open House, April 10th, 718-833-1440.
On page 17, St. Edmund Elementary School, 1902 Avenue T.
On page 17, St. Catherine of Genoa - St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Academy, Avenue D.
On page 18, St. Bernard School, 2030 East 69th Street.
On page 18, St. Athanasius School, 6120 Bay Parkway.
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The remaining pages of this Daily News supplement cover Catholic schools in Queens.  An excellent map of the two boroughs is provided.



Friday, April 5, 2013

An updated map of elementary schools

In connection with Spring Tours of Catholic elementary schools, an updated map is available here.