San Damiano Mission, Greenpoint

As of November, 2019, I have been unable to ascertain the status of Holy Family Church or the  San Damiano mission.
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Please see my 2013 post about Holy Family parish for photographs. A few years ago, the parish was merged with that of St. Anthony of Padua and staffed by Oblates of Mary Immaculate from India, but it is now San Damiano Mission.
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For a 2016 commentary about the inviting doors of this church, please see the blog Brooklyn Relics. While Holy Family church may be a relic of the Slovak community of workers in Greenpoint, this mission is no dead relic.
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In August, 2016, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Louis ran an article with a photo:
http://stlouisreview.com/article/2016-08-25/friars-bring-god
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In September, 2019, the Brooklyn Eagle website noted that the organ at San Damiano Mission is merely two years old. See the article HERE.

A relic of St. Anthony of Padua will visit Brooklyn

(The following paragraph is printed as received.)
"The Franciscan Friars invite you to join them in welcoming Saint Anthony of Padua on the occasion of the 750th Anniversary of the Discovery of Saint Anthony’s Relics by Saint Bonaventure. St Anthony will be visiting us in the form of a precious relic from his Basilica in Padua, Italy. The relic will be accompanied by one friar from the Messenger of St Anthony in Padua."

Saturday, December 7th, 2013
Most Precious Blood church
70 Bay 47th St. (Bath Beach Area) Brooklyn 
Veneration at 4:00 PM, Vigil Mass at 5:00 PM
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Sunday, December 8.
St. Anthony of Padua church, 155 Sullivan St. (Soho)
Manhattan
Mass at 11:00 AM
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Monday, December 9
St. Patrick’s cathedral, New York
5th Avenue at 50th St.
Welcoming of the Relics Mass 7:00 AM
Mass 9:00 AM, Veneration from 10:00 to 8:00 PM
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Tuesday, December 10.
St. Patrick’s cathedral
5th Avenue at 50th St.
Veneration from 8:00 to 5:00 PM, Closing Mass at 5:30 PM
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Wednesday, December 11.  
Our lady of Pompeii church, 25 Carmine St., Manhattan
Veneration at 5:00 PM, Mass at 6:30 PM
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Thursday, December 12.
Our Lady Queen of Martyrs church 110-06 Queens Blvd.
Forest hills, Mass at 12:05 PM
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St. Catherine of Sienna
33 New Hyde Park Rd. Franklin Square,
Vigil Mass at 5:00 PM, Vigil Mass at 8:00 PM
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Sunday, December 15,
Basilica of Regina Pacis, 1230 65th St.
Brooklyn 
Mass at 12:00 Noon
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For more information, please contact the Anthonian Association, 347-738-4306

(The above seems to come from some Conventual Franciscans, who have charge of the Basilica in Padua and who have a friary in Elmhurst, Queens.  St. Anthony (1195-1231) was born in Lisbon, and  traveled to Madrid and Padua. An article in the National Catholic Register (linked here) describes more, but does not specify which relic will visit Brooklyn.  Presumably his tongue remains in its golden case in Padua.  St. Anthony was not a martyr.)

St. Vincent de Paul, Williamsburg

This post concerns the sale and conversion of three properties of the former parish of St. Vincent de Paul running through from North 6th Street to North 7th Street, Williamsburg.  To the west is Bedford Avenue, with a thronged subway station of the L train.  To the east is Driggs Avenue, with a secondary entrance to the same station.  The photos and narrative are generally in reverse chronological order.  The church was designed by Patrick Keely and dedicated on October 17, 1869, according to several sources, including a report by Fr. Sylvester Malone printed in the Brooklyn Eagle of October 12, 1890.
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It seems that in 2014 lodging in the church was in the form of rental apartments.  The February 12, 2015, issue of Time Out New York has a quarter page story of an actual renter, under the title "Property peep show: Cathedral condo."  I have not been able t find a link to the article and its photos.
Back on May 28, 2014, ny.curbed.com ran a story, linked here.
The Awl on June 30, 2014, ran this critique.

The former rectory has been converted to apartments and is inhabited.

The above photo shows new construction at the north end (apex) of the church.  Acqua Santa restaurant, at 556 Driggs Avenue, is not part of the property.

Clicking on any photo will enlarge it.  The 49th Street address given for the owner is a mailbox store in Borough Park. It would appear that one project, conversion of the rectory into apartments, is complete.  The conversion of the church is under way, and the drawing in the above photo details the preservation of the facade on North 6th Street.  The skylights in the church roof seem new. Some work has been done on the former school on North Seventh Street, but there appears to be a hiatus in renovation.  Entrances to the Bedford Avenue subway station are only a half-block away.

The next two photos were taken in 2012.

The above photos, taken April 4, 2012, may be enlarged by clicking on each.  Obviously, the buyer of the St. Vincent de Paul property has moved quickly towards gutting and some demolition.  The top photo looks from North 6th Street towards the parish school on North 7th Street, a 1950's building vacant for a few years.  The second building seems to indicate that the senior center used by Catholic Charities, perhaps a former convent, was not sold.  (Yes? No?)  The third photo shows the gutted rectory.
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(Update, October, 2012: I much appreciate this comment from Howard Weber:
The Catholic Charities building referred to as a former convent was actually at one time the residence (friary) of the Franciscan Brothers who staffed St. Francis Prep at 186 North 6th Street ( across the street from St Vincent De Paul) from 1952-1974.

If you look at the cornerstone of that it would appear it was built expressly for that purpose.)

(Update, August, 2013: I much appreciate this comment from Terri White:
I believe that the school located on North 7th street was actually built in the 1960's as I was in the first graduating class in 1969. The original school was on Driggs Avenue and North 6th street and was adjacent to the original St Francis Prep boys high school which is now Boricua College. The convent was also adjacent to St Francis prep on north 6th street just before the row of houses. Terri White.)

A friend mailed me a clipping from the Greenline newspaper, dated March 1-31, 2012, page 4, with the headline, "St. Vincent de Paul Church to Become Apts.; Historic Edifice Will Remain Intact."  The developer The North Flats, according to the story, has applied to the Buildings Department to turn the church into 33 apartments, and the parish house into ten apartments.  The adjacent vacant school on North 7th Street and the parking lot were also part of the purchase.  Please read the notes below in view of this latest news.  I must note that there are similarities with the conversion of the buildings of St. Peter's parish some years ago (at Warren and Hicks Streets, Cobble Hill).
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On December 6, 2011, the Brooklyn Paper linked here reported that the church of St. Vincent de Paul has been sold to a developer.  In recent days, the diocese has removed the bell and stained glass windows for storage in East New York.  The article is not clear about the other buildings adjacent to the church, to the left in the photo below and the school on the adjoining block behind.  It says that zoning restricts development to residential buildings no taller than fifty feet.
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On December 20, 2011, BrooklynEagle.com reported here that the sale price was $13.7 million and the size of the property 37,500 square feet (0.86 acre).  The buyer "plans a new residential project."
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On April 4, 2011, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio issued a decree linked here, stating that the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel could no longer afford to maintain the church of St. Vincent de Paul on North 6th Street and that said church could be sold for profane use after June 30, 2011, except for sordid purposes.
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The photos below date from March, 2010.

For a few years, Armenian Catholics used this church and rectory.  Please see the link here. The ecclesiastical jurisdiction is the Armenian Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg.

This 1960's school on North 6th Street (photo of March 2010) was in the process of being gutted when I saw the shovel and dump trucks at work 4.5.2012.  Queen of the Rosary Catholic Academy has superseded Northside Catholic Academy.  In November, 2013, scaffolding and some debris obscured this side of the building.

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.

Our Lady of Peace, Gowanus

Our Lady of Peace parish is at 522 Carroll Street, Brooklyn NY 11215-1030, telephone 718-624-5122, west of Fourth Avenue and near the Union St. station of the R train.  It seems that the Immaculate Conception Province of Franciscans, O.F.M., serve the parish.

The parish school is now occupied by PS 372, The Children's School. Note the two flags, two crosses.

Above, the Franciscan monastery and the church are on the south side of Carroll Street. The cornerstone of the church is marked 1904.

The official international website of the Neocatechumenal Way is linked here.
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If you have not done so yet, you may want to view the Comments link above the first photo.  One inquiry is for photos from the 1930's.  Google's Blogger or Blogpost hides the email addresses on most profiles, so communication can be difficult.  For photo searches, I suggest trying the Image search on Google, Bing, or Flickr.  The Brooklyn Public Library has a rather good (but not all-inclusive) photo catalog search tool linked here.

Bishop Ford Central Catholic HS, Park Slope

Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School is located at 500 Nineteenth Street, Brooklyn NY 11215, telephone 718-360-2500. Its website is linked here.

The principal entrances of the school are along Nineteenth Street, indicated by the activities entrance on the right, and the academic entrance underneath the cross, as shown in the second photo.
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A helpful correspondent has explained: "The Franciscan Brothers Residence was the top floor of Bishop Ford. They now occupy a smaller section with their own chapel on their floor. The other space is used for the school ."
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The Prospect Expressway (NY 27) parallels Nineteenth Street. When the bishop of Brooklyn announced the construction of several diocesan high schools about 1960, suitable property was scarce. In this case, a streetcar barn took up the entire block now used by Bishop Ford High School. These streets border the school: on the northeast, Fifteenth Street, seen above; on the southeast Tenth Avenue, marked in the above photo by the tall transmitter of the diocesan television station; on the southwest Twentieth Street and Green-Wood Cemetery, and on the northwest Prospect Park West.



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St Anselm, Fourth Ave. and 82nd St., Bay Ridge

The mailing address for St. Anselm's parish is 356 82nd St., Brooklyn NY 11209, telephone 718-238-2900.  Mass schedules are on the parish website, linked here.

To enlarge any photo, please click on it.

The mosaic behind the altar shows Anselm as archbishop of Canterbury. The mosaic is the work of Leif Neandross of the famous Rambusch Decorating Company. The Rambuschs designed much of the interior of the church ( You can see their current website here: http://www.rambusch.com/site/history.htm ). As it turns out, in the early years of the parish, the Rambuschs lived just two blocks down on 82nd near Ridge Blvd. This was a wonderful asset to our parish as the church was being built!
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"This precious marble mosaic includes some gold glass mosaic to give an added richness to the subtle and disciplined gray and ochre theme." Surrounding the heroic figure of St. Anselm are different symbols which refer to this great saint's role as a Doctor of the church, a traveler in the service of his Faith, and as Archbishop of Canterbury."

You can see those references specifically in these symbols:

Bottom left - the coat of arms of the bishop of Canterbury
Bottom right - the cathedral of Canterbury
Middle left - a boat representing his journey to England
Middle right - a scroll representing Scholasticism
Top Right - Virgin and Child, representing his treatise "De Incarnatione Verbi" about Christ's incarnation and birth
Top Left - A mountain, representing his treatise "Proslogion" in which he argues that "God is greater than that which can be conceived" (in this case, the mountain symbolizes the greatest thing that can be conceived by one's mind.)

(Thanks to Joe Jordan for the above.)
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The mailing address of St. Anselm Roman Catholic School is 365 83rd Street, Brooklyn NY 11209, telephone 718-745-7643.  The school's website is linked here.  The above photo shows it on the northwest corner of Fourth Avenue and 83rd Street.




St. Anselm Roman Catholic Church and School is located between 82nd and 83rd Streets on Fourth Avenue in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. While the original parish boundaries are from 78th Street to 87th Street, and from Shore Road to the Gowanus Expressway approaching the Verrazano Bridge, people from all over Brooklyn regularly attend Mass here.

The parish was organized in the early 1920s, in response to the growing population of the neighborhood following the construction of the subway. The first Masses were celebrated in a private house on Colonial Road and 81st Street until land was purchased for a church. In 1923 a temporary free-standing church, which is now the auditorium for the parish school, was erected on the corner of 83rd Street and 4th Avenue. The present school building was built around this original structure. A large convent is adjacent to the school on the 83rd Street side, and throughout most of its history the school was served by School Sisters of Notre Dame. St. Anselm's has been educating Bay Ridge's youth for over 80 years and has the highest student enrollment in the neighborhood today.

The cornerstone of the present church building was set by Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy in 1954. The church, which has pronounced art-deco features, was designed by architect Henry V. Murphy and was decorated by the Rambusch Decorating Company. The stained glass windows that surround the interior depict the stages of salvation history, from Genesis to Pentecost, and in the side-chapels the windows depict the mysteries of the Rosary. A memorial grotto dedicated to the Blessed Mother is located on the 83rd street side of the church.

St. Anselm's is a vibrant parish with an acclaimed youth activities program and numerous pastoral ministries. If you would like to learn more about St. Anselm's, please visit their website at http://www.starcc.net/

And if you have any stories or old photographs about the parish you would like to share with them to help their parish history project, please email: ppc(at)starcc(dot)net
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1 comment:

Barbara said...

This is a terrific project. Thanks to Joe Jordon for the initial article. Does anyone know where and how to find historical demographic data by census tract? Barbara Walters-Doehrman

February 8, 2009 8:21 AM

Replying to that comment:
I suspect a good start for historical demographic data would be at one of the larger Brooklyn public library reference desks. Much is probably available on the internet, but I don't know where. A few years ago, I was very pleased by the help I received at the National Archives on Varick Street, Manhattan, entrance on West Houston Street, link here. Joe M.)
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To add a comment, click on the "Comment" link above the photos. I moved the comments up there because the layout was placing the comments confusingly close to the following post.
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The travels of St. Anselm astound me. He was born about 1033 in Aosta, Lombardy, northwest Italy, almost into present-day France. About age 23 entered a Benedictine monastery in Bec, Normandy, and from there he went on to Canterbury, becoming archbishop in 1092. He then made two trips to Rome, one of these extended to Bari, and back again to his see of Canterbury, where he died April 21, 1109. One of the better capsule biographies of Anselm on the internet is here, but you have to work around to April 21. The new full edition of Butler's Lives of the Saints (12 vol., Liturgical Press, 1999, revised by Peter Doyle) gives Anselm six pages. Joe M.
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A banner proclaims that St. Anselm's school is the largest in Bay Ridge. In the 2012 Official Catholic Directory, it is listed as having 439 students. In 1945, the number seems to have been 1,090, according to the Catholics in New York exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York. In the 2016 Official Catholic Director, St. Anselm's Catholic Academy is listed as having 284 students.
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The New York Public Library has a digital collection on the web. In 1924, the city commissioned aerial views of all boroughs. This view seems to show the property of present-day St. Anselm's on the west side of Fourth Avenue either empty or with an unidentified white splotch in the center. One can use the Pan and Zoom tool to look more closely.
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Sometimes the Home Reporter and Sunset News has items of interest concerning Bay Ridge Catholic parishes and schools. 

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In April, 2013, the New York Daily News reported that the former convent has been renovated and leased to the non-profit YAI, Young Adult Intitiative, for sixteen senior citizens with special needs.

Most Holy Trinity, Williamsburg

The website of Most Holy Trinity parish is linked HERE.  The parish address is 138 Montrose Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11206, telephone 718-384-0215.
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The AIA Guide suggests that Most Holy Trinity church may have been inspired by the Abbaye aux Hommes in Caen, Normandy. The street view looks east on Montrose Avenue. The second view looks east from Lorimer Street, across the two ballfields of Frances Hamburger Sternberg Park to the church. A link to the Abbaye aux Hommes here.
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The parish website gave a history of the parish school, which closed in 2013.

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Also please see this article on McNamara's Blog.
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And this article from the New York Daily News of 12.7.2011. It includes an excellent interior photo and a capsule history.