Potential Mergers

The November 9, 2024, issue of The Tablet includes on page 8 a news story by Bill Miller, senior reporter, titled Diocese Engages Parishioners in Dialogue over Potential Mergers. I list only the proposed mergers in the borough of Brooklyn.

1) Mary Queen of Heaven in Flatlands and St. Bernard of Clairvaux in Bergen Beach, 1 mile apart. St. Bernard attendance Nov. 3 was 980.

2) St. Brendan in Midwood, Avenue O, and St. Edmund in Sheepshead Bay, Avenue T, 1.3 miles further south. Long blocks caused trolleys to be geared for higher speeds on Ocean  Avenue. 

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On November 16 & 17, the Mass attendance at St. Brendan was 545. A Catholic mission of the Byzantine Rite (Stamford eparchy) also celebrates the Divine Liturgy in the church. That mission is named Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On November 16 and 15, the collections at the three Masses at St. Edmund totaled $1,719. Many Masses had no stipend. St. Edmund's church is within the school, which runs K-12.

The neighborhoods of the two parishes (St. Brendan, St. Edmund) have about 36% to 39% Jewish households, but  I note other mid-Eastern non-Catholic groups there, judging by storefronts along Coney Island Avenue.

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3) St. Bernadette in Dyker Heights and St. Frances Cabrini in Bensonhurst, 0.6 mile apart. At a brief glance, St. Bernadette appears to be the more attended of the two. Also, St. Bernardette has a school with a teaching staff pre-k to 8th grade of about 25.

4) In Sunset Park, St. Michael and St Agatha, 0.9 mile apart. Each  parish has a full schedule of Masses, St. Michael  in English and Spanish, St. Agatha in Chinese (Mandarin or  Cantonese?), Spanish, and English).

5) In Bay Ridge, St. Anselm and Our Lady of Angels, 0.7 mile apart. On November 10, St. Anselm had an attendance of 485. The same weekend, Our Lady of Angels had an attendance of 1,079.  The parish school, Bay Ridge Catholic Academy, is at St. Anselm. Seats are available in each grade.

6) Mostly accomplished, in Park Slope, St. Augustine and St. Francis Xavier, 0.3 mile apart. Please see the website of the merging parishes https://sasfx.org/

At St. Augustine, the only Mass each week is noon on Sunday. At St. Francis Xavier, there is a 9 a.m. Mass Monday to Thursday, 5 p.m. on Saturday, 9:30 a. m. on Sunday.

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In 2020, the average Mass attendance in the diocese was 124,031, of 1.5 million  identified as Catholic. That is 8%.

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The distances given above are church-to-church, but some parishioners may live on the far fringe.

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.

Regina Pacis minus St. Rosalia, May, 2017

On May 2, 2017, the bishop of Brooklyn decreed that the church of Saint Rosalia at 6301 Fourteenth Avenue is relegated for profane, not sordid, use, ultimately putting it up for sale with that restriction.
The decree is linked HERE, but sometimes these links to official documents become stale.
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The mailing address for the parish the Basilica of Regina Pacis is 1230 65th Street, Brooklyn NY 11219, telephone 718-236-0909. The neighborhood is the northern part of Bensonhurst.
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The people of the parish of St. Rosalia (founded in 1902 as an Italian national parish, not a territorial parish) made a vow in 1942 to build a votive shrine, the magnificent Regina Pacis church, if their servicemen came home safe from the war and peace was established. In broad summary, that seems to be why this parish had two or three names. The history of the votive shrine from 1942 onward is given on the parish website. I have been unable to learn the parish history for the first forty years, especially whether there was more than one building for Sunday worship. This is not a merged parish. It is a parish that took on a supplementary name, Regina Pacis. Now, in 2017, the name Saint Rosalia has been dropped.

Clicking on any photo will enlarge it. I took the eight photos on this page in 2010.

Above is the now-closed church on 14th Avenue. In 2010, three weekend Masses were offered here: Saturday 5 p.m. in English, Saturday 7:30 p.m. in Chinese, Sunday 9 a.m. in Italian. In 2016, I can find little reference in the parish bulletin to services at Saint Rosalia. In 2017, the church was canonically closed.

Above is the Regina Pacis Votive Shrine on 65th Street near 12th Avenue, Bensonhurst. I note that the Sunday Mass schedule includes five Masses in English, plus one each in Chinese, Italian, and Spanish.

The parish website once had descriptions and photos of the artwork surrounding the congregation, but I have been unable to find these helpful descriptions on the new website.

The above view looks west on 65th Street towards 12th Avenue.
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Some Catholic parishes with beautiful churches do not host weddings of couples who are not active attendees of the parish itself. The Regina Pacis website implies a ready willingness to assist the celebration of Catholic marriage.

The above view looks along 65th Street towards 12th Avenue. This building is signed Regina Pacis Youth Center and Catholic Migration Office. However, it seems the upper floors may have had classrooms. To the right is the rectory and then the Regina Pacis Votive Shrine. A former parish school building extends the short block on 12th Avenue from 65th Street to 66th Street.
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A helpful reader pointed out that the parish also included St. Theresa's Chapel on 12th Avenue at 66th Street.  A link to the news article with that information is HERE. Father Angelo Rafael Cioffi became pastor in 1923 and purchased the land for the school, chapel, and new rectory two blocks west of St. Rosalia's church.  In the mid-twentieth century, Sunday Mass attendance was much higher than today, and pastors often had to add more worship spaces, churches, and chapels.  I am guessing that in 1950, Mass was celebrated in three or four locations, the old church on 14th Avenue, the new shrine church upstairs, the same church downstairs, and maybe at St. Theresa's chapel. It would be interesting to see a Sunday bulletin or Mass schedule for that era. 
The same helpful reader showed me this link to a website about church organs.  The address given for St. Theresa's chapel appears to be in error.

St. Ann, Vinegar Hill

I saw St. Ann's church in Vinegar Hill years before I began taking photos for this blog. The church designed by Patrick Keely was demolished, and now a fight has arisen about development of the property.  One of the later pastors was Fr. Fursey O'Toole.
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Link to an article with photos in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1.25.2017 HERE.

St. Barbara, Bushwick

The mailing address of the parish of St. Barbara is 138 Bleeker St., Brooklyn NY 11221, telephone 718-452-3660. The parish has an excellent new (2016) website, linked HERE.
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Leonard Eppig, a brewer, it is said, had a daughter Barbara and son Leonard. He was born in 1839 and before he died in 1893, he was a benefactor in establishing two parishes.  About 1905-1910, his family gave generously to the construction of St. Barbara's church and nearby St. Leonard's. Far more important to me, however, is that my mother-in-law was baptized in this parish, her wedding to Bob was here in 1930, and my wife and her aunts also received Baptism here. I think Eppig and his generation called this neighborhood Bushwick, but many call it Ridgewood.

The school, long staffed by the Dominican Sisters of Amityville, closed in 1973, during an era when the people of Bushwick suffered from fires deliberately set in residences. Much has been rebuilt since, and the parish remains an active help in the community.
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The above photo and text is copied from my original post in 2008. The web newspaper Brooklyn Daily Eagle of 12.14.2016 has run an article "St. Barbara's Roman Catholic Church in Bushwick Gets Landmarked," linked HERE.
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The unanimous vote means that the Landmarks Preservation Committee must approve before the church is demolished or the exterior changed.  The article informs us that the architect was Frank Helmle (1869-1939). The style could be called neo-Plateresque or Spanish Mission Revival.  (That contradicts my assumption that the style was Bavarian or Austrian.)  I frequently look from the J train to see its 175-foot towers.

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For other buildings designed by Frank J. Helmle, please see The Brownstoner HERE.  He designed St. Gregory the Great church.

Religious Ed enrollment 2015

The 2016 Official Catholic Directory, recently published, gives religious education enrollments in most of the Catholic parishes in the borough of Brooklyn. Presumably most of the counts are from 2015 or earlier, and some of the figures are missing, so my totals are inexact.
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In the ninety or so parishes of Kings County, there seem to be 15,146 children enrolled in CCD or religious education classes, many on Sunday mornings, others during the week. The median enrollment is about 157, or maybe 20 youngsters per grade. In Nassau County, the median enrollment is about 430. A few Brooklyn parishes did not give figures, but their bulletins refer to a program. 
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The highest reported enrollments seem to be Good Shepherd (430), St. Martin of Tours (442), St. Joseph Suydam St. (572), and Blessed Sacrament (582). Eighteen parishes report fewer than eighty students in CCD.
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Thirty of the thirty-four academies or elementary schools in Brooklyn reported a total enrollment of about 7,450.  The largest enrollments seem to be at St. Bernadette, Midwood Catholic, Saint Saviour, and St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Six reported enrollments under 225. Salve Regina,with 22 teachers, seems to have many students, but the enrollment was not given.
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I wish that the schools' websites would report enrollment per grade level.

NY Daily News Back to School Section

About August 22, 2016, the New York Daily News included a special advertising section for Back to School vendors.  Interspersed are laudatory descriptions of several Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens Catholic elementary and high schools.
Warning! Links to Daily News sections often go stale and become useless.
If you are quick, please try
http://www.nydailynews.com/services/back-to-school

Videos of Catholic churches in Brooklyn

The diocesan television agency, netny.tv, has produced many excellent videos of parishes in Brooklyn.  However, the links I posted over the years now seem broken. Rather than attempting a list on this blog, I suggest that you go to THIS LINK, which leads to a YouTube list of available "City of Churches" productions. More than twenty seem available.

Cathedral College, Washington & Atlantic Avenues

I have only walked by this large, impressive building on the northeast corner of Atlantic Avenue and Washington Avenue, but a new item in N. Y. Curbed (a website with real estate articles) talks about the renovation and offering of one condo in the building.  The link is HERE.
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If I can reconstruct history from my fallible memory, Cathedral College was a minor seminary of the diocese of Brooklyn when "minor seminary" included four years of high school and two years of college.  Many of the students were not residents, as is true at the current Cathedral Prep in Elmhurst, Queens.  Priestly training was in the 6+6 format.  About 1980, the Archdiocese of New York and the Dioceses of Brooklyn and Rockville Centre switched to 4+4+4, that is, four years of high school, four years of college, and four years of theology.  In 2016, New York, Brooklyn, and Rockville Centre send most of their theology students to Dunwoodie in Yonkers. There are few high school seminaries in the United States.
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Many of the priests who taught at Cathedral College at 555 Washington Avenue lived there and assisted in parishes on weekends. The people of the neighborhood suffered some bad years. A priest related how he returned to the college one evening to be met by a homicide unit and a victim in the courtyard pictured in the article.

St. Laurence, Flatlands & Van Siclen Aves.

I have not yet visited St. Laurence parish church on the northeast corner of Flatlands Avenue and Van Sicklen Avenue in East New York, near Spring Creek Towers and the Gateway Shopping Center.  The parish website is linked HERE.  For Mass schedule, parish office phone and address, please see the parish website.
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Flatlands Avenue extends five miles across southeast Brooklyn.  At Flatbush Avenue, it passes the parish of St. Thomas Aquinas.  In Canarsie, it passes Our Lady of Miracles and Holy Family. The church of St. Laurence is a mile east of Holy Family.
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dotCommonweal: the Borough of Former Churches

The editors and contributors of Commonweal magazine have a blog called dotCommonweal. On 2.3.2016, Dominic Preziosi, Catholic Brooklyn resident has presented an insightful essay, "In the Borough of Former Churches," linked HERE.  He addresses migration and the closure of churches. Readers' comments note the closure of other religious buildings and the experiences of other cities.

John J. O'Malley, architect

In my visits to Brooklyn parishes, I have seldom encountered a sign or plaque giving the name of the architect who designed the church.  Fortunately, the Tablet has now run an article about the prolific architect John J. O'Malley, 1915-1970.  Please see the article HERE.  The occasion was his 100th birthday, with Mr. O'Malley's descendants visiting Cathedral College in Douglaston, which he designed.
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Much of Mr. O'Malley's work is evident in circular churches and chapels in Queens.  A Wikipedia article lists his extensive accomplishments, including apparently some renovations or extensions. It appears that his brand-new churches (contrasted with renovations) date from 1950 until his death in 1970.  Archbishop Molloy died in 1956, Bishop McEntegart retired in 1968, and Bishop Mugavero replaced him.  
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Many thanks to The Tablet and the O'Malley family for publicizing his life and work!
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According to the Wikipedia article, he designed the following churches in the borough of Brooklyn:
St. Sylvester, Grant Avenue, City Line, obviously built in the O'Malley era.
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St. Athanasius, Bay Parkway, 1963.  Note the unobstructed view of the altar and the bright, colorful interior and windows.
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St. Gabriel,  Linwood St. and New Lots Ave., obviously built in the O'Malley era.  The parish cluster is now called Mary, Mother of the Church.  This interior photo shows his style, with unobstructed view.  The parish has a Saturday vigil Mass and three Masses on Sunday.
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St. Mary Mother of Jesus, 1968, replacing a church destroyed by fire. A Tablet article dated 6.13.14 describes the fire and the beautiful new church, circular and wheelchair-accessible.
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St. Finbar, Bath Beach, but the church was built before 1912.  Mr. O'Malley may have designed the former school across the street.
--- Sts. Simon and Jude, listed as Bayside (Queens), but I think Gravesend (Brooklyn). There is a resemblance to the Douglaston seminary frontage.
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And other parish buildings:
St. Nicholas High School, Catherine St., Williamsburg, now renovated and in use by Queen of the Rosary Catholic Academy.
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St. Vincent Ferrer elementary school, Flatbush, now used for other purposes.
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St. Bernard parish school, near Bergen Beach.  This page names John O'Malley's firm as architect of the school, which opened in 1963 and continues in 2015 as a Catholic academy. Across the street is a circular church, but the parish history does not give a date.  It may have been built after Mr. O'Malley's sudden death in 1970.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Park Slope

The photos and text below are from when I visited this parish in 2010.  Much has changed since then. The church is red brick, not painted off-white as in my photo.  The interior is more colorful. Please see The Tablet article of June 18, 2015, for a complete description of the extensive renovations.  The article includes an excellent slide show.

St. Thomas Aquinas church is located on the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue (to the left) and Ninth Street (with bus B61 at the right). Its mailing address is 249 Ninth Street, Brooklyn NY 11215, telephone 718-768-9471. In 2008, Holy Family parish on 14th Street was merged with St. Thomas Aquinas.

The parish was established in 1884. If I read the history on the website correctly, this church was dedicated in 1886.

These clips for men's caps and hats appeared in many churches in the last century.

A helpful folder available inside the church offers suggestions for prayer. "The doors of our church are open all day as a symbol that all are welcomed to enter and pray!" St. Thomas Aquinas is depicted with a scroll on which is written "Joy is the noblest human act."
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Regarding that axiom, an interesting link is here.

This building at Fourth Avenue and Eighth Street was the parish school from 1919 to 2005. It is now rented to the New York City Board of Education. There are at least several public school buildings with crosses in our city. The Brentwood Josephites taught in this parish since 1884.
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In Brooklyn there are two parishes named St. Thomas Aquinas. The other one is in Flatlands, established almost at the same time, but before Flatlands was part of the city of Brooklyn.





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A website of 17 brownstone Brooklyn parishes

I am pleased to discover a website for seventeen Catholic parishes of "Greater Downtown Brooklyn," encompassing neighborhoods from the Brooklyn Bridge south to Red Hook and Kensington.  The URL somewhat resembles mine, but is different:
http://brooklyncatholic.org/
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Those who organized that website deserve praise, as it is welcoming and helpful.  I point out particularly the consolidated chronological schedule of Sunday Masses, something I first encountered long ago posted on the doors of the churches of Avila, Spain.  I hope that what is on the web will also be published in newspapers and posted outside the churches, in case the doors are locked.
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Facebook, parishes, and schools

Some parishes and Catholic organizations have active Facebook pages that can be viewed by people, as I, who have not joined Facebook.  In addition to the links on this blog, it might be good to search for the parish, school, or organization on Facebook. When I happen upon such active pages, I will link them to the parish listing on this blog. It appears that the Facebook corporation itself might establish a parish page without any local initiative. Those pages tend to be inactive, with merely a header.

Book: New York Catholics

With enthusiasm, I recommend a new book by Patrick McNamara, "New York Catholics: Faith, attitude & the works!"  It is a paperback of more than 200 pages, published by Orbis Books and also available on Amazon.  Historian and archivist McNamara has presented short biographies of seventy-six Catholics who have lived in the five boroughs.  Each presentation is sharp, clear and right on target in describing these outstanding people.
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Among Brooklynites he describes:
Peter Turner, petitioner for a Brooklyn church in 1822 and a principal founder of St. James, Jay Street.
Fr. Johann Stephan Raffeiner, who in 1841 used his own money to buy the Meserole farm for the new parish of the Most Holy Trinity.  In 1853, he invited the Dominican Sisters from Regensburg, to live and work in his parish.
Fr. Sylvester Malone, in the 1850's a Republican and Unionist when the Democrats were generally pro-slavery.  For fifty years he was pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul, Williamsburg. He got along admirably with the non-Catholic neighbors, and he promoted harmony.
Bishop John Loughlin, first bishop of the diocese of Brooklyn 1853-1891.
Thomas Francis Meehan, newspaperman, historian, and assistant editor of the 1914 Catholic Encyclopedia.  He and his family resided on Greene Avenue.
Patrick Scanlan, editor of the Brooklyn Tablet from 1917 to 1968.
Msgr. Bernard Quinn, in 1922 the founding pastor of the parish of St. Peter Claver.
Bishop Francis Xavier Ford, 1892-1952, martyr.
Msgr. Bryan Karvelis, priest and activist at Transfiguration parish 1956-2005.
Bishop Guy Sansaricq, who has ministered to Haitian immigrants for more than five decades.
Ed Wilkinson, editor of the Brooklyn Tablet since 1985.
Paul Moses, newspaperman and scholar.
Sr. Ann Marie Young, of Visitation Monastery, Bay Ridge.
Rudy Vargas IV, helper of Hispanic Catholcs.

St. Augustine, Sixth Avenue

St. Augustine's church was built in 1888, under the design of the Profitt brothers.

The above view shows the Sterling Place (south) end of the former parish school buildings, which run through to Park Place.  Sisters of St. Joseph taught elementary grades at this end of the building.  
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Tragically, on December 16, 1960, teachers and students saw an airliner descend along Stirling Place (left to right in this photo) before it crashed near Seventh Avenue. 
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From the 1930's until the 1970's, De La Salle Christian Brothers lived in the building where the bay window indicates their chapel.  They taught at St. Augustine's Diocesan High School, now housing a public middle school.  Both the Brothers and the high school used the address 64 Park Place.  A link to that school's alumni organization is here.  One alumnus of the school was Governor Hugh Carey.
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Before the Brothers moved here from St. James Cathedral School in the 1930's, the house was the Sisters' convent.  They moved across the street to the corner of Park Place and Sixth Avenue.

In August of 2016, an alumnus of both the elementary school and high school gave me two links that explain further development of the property.  It seems that part of the property will see 62 condos built within the existing buildings.

The links are HERE and Brooklyn Eagle 4.12.2016.

More about high schools

The post below this one is more important.  I should have pointed out that students who take the TACHS examination can request that the results be sent to any three Catholic high schools, even in other boroughs.  The nine Catholic high schools in Brooklyn have approximate admissions of 1,225 students, while the nine Catholic high schools in Queens have admissions of 2,190.  I wonder how many youngsters in these boroughs will take the exam in November.

Admissions Test for Brooklyn Catholic High Schools

It is early September, 2014, and the important Student Handbook for taking the entrance examination to Catholic High Schools (for admission in September, 2015) has been released at www.tachsinfo.com 
Look for the word "Handbook" on in the left column on that page.  In this extensive handbook, among the many pageas of information, I find page 25 most helpful because it tells the approximate admissions number and tuition for each Catholic high school in Brooklyn.  These pages also list the Open House dates.  Some charts in this Handbook are turned vertical.  I suggest that these pages be printed in portrait, so you can read the printed page more easily.  
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The nine Catholic high schools in the borough of Brooklyn are listed below, with approximate enrollment figures:
Saint Saviour High School, Park Slope, enrollment about 240 girls.
St. Joseph High School, Willoughby and Bridge Sts., enrollment about 300 girls.
Nazareth Regional High School, East Flatbush, enrollment about 250 students.
Fontbonne Hall Academy, Bay Ridge, enrollment about 485 girls.
Bishop Kearney High School, Borough Park, enrollment about 450 girls.
St. Edmund Prep, Midwood, enrollment about 750 students.
Bishop Loughlin High School, Clinton Hill / Fort Greene.
Xaverian High School, Bay Ridge, enrollment about 1,100 in grades 6-12.  On the website, note the "rumor" about Xaverian becoming coed on the high school level.

Cristo Rey Brooklyn High School, 710 East 37th Street, East Flatbush.  Please read the website, as Cristo Rey is a very different type of Catholic high school.
It would be commendable if each school reported on its website the grade-by-grade enrollment. The approximate admissions total 1,225 for Brooklyn.
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Each school lists an Open House date before the November 8th exam.  Also, note that there is a two-hour session at 180 Remsen Street (near Borough Hall) 6 p.m. Monday, September 22nd, for learning about the high schools.

St. Nicholas Ukrainian church

In my walks about Park Slope, I neglected a church of the Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Stamford, St. Nicholas at 256 19th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215.  The onion-domed church with a high stoop is on the south side of 19th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The parish appears to have been established in 1911.