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.

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.

Catherine Laboure Program to close 8.31.2017

For the unfortunate news of the closing of a special needs program, please see the Tablet website HERE.

The students were taught at the former elementary school of St. Frances Cabrini parish, Dyker Heights, which I photographed in 2010.

St. Bernadette, Dyker Heights

The church of St. Bernadette is located on the northwest corner of 13th Avenue (Dyker Heights Boulevard) and 83rd Street.  The mailing address is 8201 13th Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11228, telephone 718-837-3400.  The parish website is linked here.
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Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.  Hymns sound from the belfry. About 3:55 p.m. this particular Friday people several blocks away could hear "Veni, Creator Spiritus."

On the arch is an English translation of Mary's reply on March 25, 1858, when Bernadette Soubirous asked her identity.  For more on the life of St. Bernadette, please see this link, among many others.

St. Bernadette parish elementary school is at 1313 83rd Street, Brooklyn NY 11228, telephone 718-236-1560.  The school website is linked here.  The parish opened the school in 1953, and the administration and faculty include several Religious Teachers Filippini, Maestre Pie Filippini, founded in Italy about 1692 by St. Lucy Filippini.

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.

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.

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.