Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Academy will close in June.

 Link HERE.

The school is on the west side of Sixth Avenue between 59th Street and 60th Street. St. Ephrem Catholic Academy is a mile south of Our Lady of  Perpetual Help, but this does not help those residing north of OLPH.

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On 9.4.2025, St. Ephrem's annouced it has picked up 65 students from OLPH, raising the enrollment at St. Ephrem to 240. 

St. Catherine of Genoa - St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Academy to close

Sad to relate, St. Catherine of Genoa - St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Academy at 4410 Avenue D in East Flatbush will close at the end of this school year, June, 2024.

Spectrum News

Two more elementary closures

Please see the press release dated 7.9.2020 HERE.
The two closures in the borough of Brooklyn are Queen of the Rosary, Williamsburg, and St. Gregory the Great.
Queen of the Rosary Catholic Academy has occupied 11 Catherine Street (former St. Nicholas Commercial High School) in East Williamsburg for several years. The academy was Our Lady of Mount Carmel school "on the move."
In similar fashion, St. Gregory the Great Catholic Academy moved from its location on St. John's Place to the property of Holy Cross parish on Church Avenue a distance away.

St. John the Baptist, Hart Street near Lewis Avenue

I have yet to walk around the blocks where St. John's University and St. John's Prep began along both sides of Lewis Avenue. The large church of St. John the Baptist is to the east of Lewis Avenue. The neighboring parish of Our Lady of Good Counsel on Putnam Avenue has been merged into the parish of St. John the Baptist, one pastor covering worship at both churches. Two parish offices remain. Corrections and explanations are welcome.
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The website of the two parishes is linked here. The rectory address is 333 Hart Street, Brooklyn NY 11206, telephone 718-455-6864.
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Please also see my post and photos about Our Lady of Good Counsel.

Queen of All Saints school closing suddenly

On August 13, 2019, the diocese of Brooklyn announced that the Catholic Academy named St. Francis Xavier and Queen of All Saints will close at the end of the month. You may view the story in the Brooklyn Reporter linked HERE. Our you may go to the Press Releases on the website of the diocese of Brooklyn.
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My take on this is geography. I know of a high school girl from Park Slope gladly attending Brooklyn Tech in Fort Greene, but the same trek for an elementary school child might be daunting.  Bishop DiMarzio lives only a third of a mile from Queen of All Saints, but Catholic families able to pay tuition may be more scattered.
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I count thirty Brooklyn Catholic elementary Academies or Schools open in September, but the list of schools on the diocesan website includes other schools that have been closed! It takes an effort to update information on websites.

Mary Queen of Heaven school to close

On February 8, 2019, NBC reported that the diocese of Brooklyn will close Mary Queen of Heaven Catholic Academy, located at 1395 East 56th Street, Flatlands or Old Mill Basin. To the west of this school is Midwood Catholic Academy at the parish of St. Thomas Aquinas.

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. 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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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.

Greenpoint schools into apartments

Two articles have appeared concerning the lease of Catholic schools in Greenpoint to developers who are turning them into apartments.  These two articles are of interest:
From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of 4.16.2014, "Rescue Me: Shuttered Greenpoint Catholic Schools are Resurrected as Apartment Houses."
and 
from Curbed NY of 4.17.2014, "Losing Our Religion: Shuttered Greenpoint Catholic Schools to Become Housing."
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These news stories involve St. Cecilia and the parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius.
What is revealing is the account of corporations-behind-corporations.  Also, I note that St. Cecilia's school may still be owned by the diocese or parish but merely leased for 49 years.  I wonder whether Rocklyn Asset Corporation is involved in this deal.
Also, please see this blog's posts on the two parishes:
St. Cecilia
and Sts. Cyril and Methodius.
The church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius are east of Manhattan Avenue.  The former school is west of Manhattan Avenue.

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. Fortunata, East New York

St. Fortunata church stands on Crescent Street at the intersection with Linden Boulevard.  Its postal address is 2609 Linden Boulevard, Brooklyn NY 11208, telephone 718-647-2632.  The large school buildings take up much of the block to the east, but they now house a charter school.  St. Fortunata parish was established in 1934, and the school closed in 2008.  On January 31, 2013, the pastor here also became administrator of St. Sylvester parish, a mile north.
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The parish website is linked HERE.

Our Lady of Good Counsel, Putnam Ave.

The parish of Our Lady of Good Counsel is located at 915 Putnam Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11221, telephone 718-455-6864 The bishop has merged this parish with that of St. John the Baptist, a mile away on Lewis Avenue, and one pastor serves both churches. 

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The website of the combined parishes is linked here.  St. John the Baptist's phone number is 718-455-6864.

Along the north side of Putnam Avenue is the church, a garden (with a statue of Mary and an Ankh) and the parish office.  Behind the garden can be seen a parish building that faces Madison Street.

The above photos show the north side of Putnam Avenue.

The photos below show the south side of Madison Street, that is, behind the church.

At 800 Madison Street, a new corridor connects what appears to be two former elementary schools of the parish.  The building to the left (east) shows the date 1893.  I could not find a construction date on the building to the right. Presumably a convent was someplace here. Present use of the building is for some 70 apartments of "single room occupancy" with permanent tenants, possibly under the management of a division of Catholic Charities.

Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

The property of this parish lies mid-block between Ralph Avenue and Patchen Avenue, named after Ralph Patchen, a farmer who owned 150 acres closer to the waterfront in the early 1800's.

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St. Jerome, Flatbush

Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

St. Jerome's church stands at the busy intersection of Newkirk and Nostrand Avenues, Flatbush,  The parish mailing address is 2900 Newkirk Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11226, telephone 718-462-0223.  In the first photo, please note the entrance to the Lower Church near the stairway from the #2 and #5 subway trains. Through that door yesterday I chanced upon a 1 p.m. Saturday Mass, with the congregation vigorously singing the liturgical responses and hymns. 
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The parish website, which includes the Mass schedule and Bulletin, is linked here.  There are six Sunday Masses: one in Spanish, one in Creole, one Creole/French, and three in English.
Edit in January, 2015: The weekly bulletin is available here or through the parish website.  The bulletin is more current than the website.

As the neighborhood is largely Caribbean, French, Kreyòl, and Spanish are heard at Mass, together with English  and Church Latin.  The celebrants above used much incense over the gifts, the altar, each celebrant, and the congregation.  Some Preface responses were in French, but the Sanctus was a joyful, strong, moving song in (I believe) Creole.  The "Per ipsum" was in French, the reply the moving Amen which I might describe imprecisely as "from Lilies of the Field." English was the language of the recited Our Father, and Latin that of the awesome Agnus Dei.
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Most Precious Blood, Bay 47th St, Bath Beach

Most Precious Blood Church is located on Bay 46th Street between Bath Avenue and Harway Avenue.  The mailing address for Most Precious Blood parish is 70 Bay 47th Street, Brooklyn NY 11214, telephone 718-372-8022. In August, 2016, there is a problem with the website.
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Above, looking alongside the church to the rectory and convent on Bay 47th Street.  This is four short blocks west of the Bay 50th Street station of the D train. 
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Bishop Thomas Malloy established the parish in 1927. This attractive church building has a cornerstone dated 1975. In 2009, the Bishop DiMarzio ordered the closing of the parish elementary school.
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Sacred Heart, Fort Greene

Sacred Heart church stands on Clermont Avenue between Park Avenue (to the left and south) and Flushing Avenue (to the right, with the Navy Yard).  The parish was established in 1871 and this church completed in 1877.  About 2008 Bishop Dimarzio renamed the parish Mary of Nazareth parish, with the absorption of St. Michael - St. Edward parish, later closed.    His decree dated 11.12.2010 suppressed the parish of St. Lucy - St. Patrick and merged it into the parish of Mary of Nazareth, 41 Adelphi Street, but St. Lucy - St. Patrick continues to show up on the diocesan list of parishes.   When I took these photos of Sacred Heart church in April, 2012, I could find no exterior Mass schedule, but the diocesan website shows a Thursday 7:30 p.m. Mass in Spanish and a Sunday bilingual Mass at 10:30 a.m.  The diocesan website also lists Mass four times a week at St. Patrick's church, Kent and Willoughby Avenues.

The rectory at the right is at 41 Adelphi Street, Brooklyn, New York 11205, telephone 718-625-5115.

The large school bears the name Sacred Heart Institute from an earlier era.  From 1973 to 1985 it was Fort Greene Catholic.  Now, the closest door has two signs, Greenhill School and Sacred Heart Religious Instruction Center.  The 2011 edition of the Official Catholic Directory states that there were 125 students in religious education.

According to this document on Wallabout Cultural Resources, Thomas F. Houghton designed the church, the rectory, and the institute.
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On 5.8.2014, a reader wrote (see comment below) that she would like photos of the interior of the church.  She also remarked about the organ.  The New York organ project offers a description of the church and its organ, linked here.
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Sts. Simon and Jude, Gravesend

The church of Sts. Simon and Jude is located on Avenue T between Van Sicklen Street and Lake Street, a block west of McDonald Avenue and the Culver Line F train.  The rectory address is 185 Van Sicklen Street, Brooklyn, New York 11223, telephone 718-375-6642.

The parish smartly provides parish bulletins in an outdoor holder, in addition to posting outdoors the Mass schedule.

The parish's Faith Formation program is located at 294 Avenue T, across from the church, telephone 718-372-0733.  
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Google hosts the parish website, and as of 9.2.2016 the staff page has Latin gibberish (typical of a Google joke when a text is missing) where biographies should be.

St. Martin de Porres, Bed-Stuy

In 2007, the bishop of Brooklyn created the parish of St. Martin de Porres by merging three parishes, Our Lady of Victory, St. Peter Claver, and Holy Rosary. The pastor and his assistant live at 583 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11216, telephone 718-574-5772.  The parish website, giving the address, Mass schedule, telephone, and e-mail of each of the three churches, is linked here. For insights into the pastor, staff, parishioners, and activities, I suggest you peruse the archive of weekly bulletins.

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Above is the shrine of St. Martin de Porres, to the left of the altar in Our Lady of Victory church, Throop Avenue.

On the northeast corner of Throop Avenue and MacDonough Street stands the magnificent church of Our Lady of Victory.  The parish was established in 1868, and this church, designed by Thomas F. Houghton,  was consecrated in 1893. Francis Morrone writes, "It is a strong Gothic church of Manhattan schist with highly contrasting limestone trim."

The above view looks south on Throop Avenue from Macon Street.  The rectory is at the left. Up Macon Street to the left is the convent of the Missionaries of Charity and the former parish school.

A single click on any photo will enlarge it.  Then the original size will also be offered.

The history and architecture of this parish and church are of great interest, but the faith and zeal of the congregants are the soul of the parish.

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At this link to Flickr, Emilio Guerra has provided two photos of Our Lady of Victory church.  He also provides a helpful text from the city's Landmark Commission.  Also, one might look at page 11 of this pdf document.

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More photos, history, and a description of the organ are provided at this link to the New York Organ project.

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Bus B43 (from Ebbets Field to Greenpoint) stops in front of the church. The southbound B43 uses Tompkins Avenue.  Nearby is the Kingston-Throop station of the C train under Fulton Street.

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A mile west of Our Lady of Victory church is that of St. Peter Claver.

On the southeast corner of Claver Place and Jefferson Avenue is the church of St. Peter Claver, now one of the three churches in the parish of St. Martin de Porres.  The address is 29 Claver Place, Brooklyn, NY 11238, telephone 718-622-4647.  For the Mass schedule, please see this link.

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The cornerstone is dated 1921.  Fulton Street is a short block to the right (south). Nearby is the busy subway station at Franklin Avenue and Fulton Street (C and S trains).

On the northeast corner is St. Peter Claver Institute, with a cornerstone dated 1931.  The parish and this institute have an amazing, impressive history.  A statue of St. Peter Claver and a slave is at the corner.  To the left, one door is marked Convent, another door is marked School.

In 2011, the Brooklyn Waldorf School leased this property for 49 years.  

Three blocks northwest, on the southeast corner of Madison Street and Classon Avenue, is the former church of Nativity parish.  In 1973, the bishop of Brooklyn merged that parish into St. Peter Claver.  Another Christian congregation purchased Nativity, according to this link. 

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Holy Rosary, at 139 Chauncey Street, Brooklyn NY 11233, is one of three worship sites for the parish of St. Martin de Porres, established in 2007.  Please see the parish website, linked here.

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Chauncey Street is one block north of the Utica Avenue station of the A and C subway lines beneath Fulton Street.  Walk one block north on Malcolm X Boulevard, turn west, and you will see the church.

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The parish was established in 1889.  The handsome brick church dates from 1894. Holy Rosary is the easternmost church of St. Martin de Porres parish, extending about 1.5 mile from St. Peter Claver to Holy Rosary, or approximately the east-west extent of the residential neighborhood Bedford-Stuyvesant.

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It seems that a campanile was removed after 1946.  On this website, please click on the photo.

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The June 26, 2019, issue of the Brooklyn Tablet has a lengthy report on Msgr. Quinn's sainthood cause, but in many paragraphs other important topics are touched on. Please see the article HERE.