Elementary school supplement

At the link below, The Tablet offers an excellent guide to the Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens. There are two improvements this year: a disclosure of basic tuition rates, which vary considerably by neighborhood; and excellent maps.

Please see https://thetablet.org/back-to-school-2023/ 

Open House and Registration at Brooklyn Catholic elementary schools

The Tablet website has posted a list of Open Houses and Registration Days during Catholic Schools Week at the end of January, 2017.
The link is HERE.
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Because only six Brooklyn schools are listed at the above link, I refer you to the complete list of Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn HERE.

Queen of the Rosary Catholic Academy

Sorry, this school closed permanently in 2020.  In September, 2013, Queen of the Rosary Catholic Academy moved into new quarters at 11 Catherine Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY 11211.  The telephone number is 718-388-7992. The former St. Nicholas Commercial High School was renovated for the Academy as a state-of-the-art facility. 
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In a sense, this Catholic Academy replaced four parish schools: St. Cecilia, Holy Trinity (more recently named Sts. Joseph and Dominic), Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and St. Nicholas.

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.

The Tablet: Catholic Schools Week

The diocesan Tablet has published a supplement for Catholic Schools Week, linked here.  It provides descriptions of ten elementary schools and one high school in the borough of Brooklyn. These include:
Holy Angels, Bay Ridge.
St. Anselm, Bay Ridge.
St. Bernadette, Dyker Heights.
St. Ephrem, Dyker Heights.
St. Francis Xavier, Park Slope.
Salve Regina, East New York.
St. Francis of Assisi, Nostrand Avenue, Flatbush.
St. Mark, Sheepshead Bay.
Queen of the Rosary, Williamsburg.
St. Bernard, Mill Basin.
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A more complete list of Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn may be found here.

St. Therese of Lisieux, East Flatbush

The parish of St. Therese of Lisieux stands of the south side of Avenue D in East Flatbush, with the school on the left (east) of the photo and the church to the right (west).  The school extends south on East 45th Street, and the church and rectory extend south on Troy Avenue.
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The rectory address is 1281 Troy Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11203, telephone 718-451-1500.  The parish website is linked here.  The parish was established in 1926, and the school opened in 1941.

A portrait honors Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853).  The relic below the portrait is some earth from his grave.

As shown above, the parish school is now the site of St. Catherine of Genoa - St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Academy.  The academy's address is 4410 Avenue D, Brooklyn NY 11203, telephone 718-629-9330.  Its website is linked here.
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Along Avenue D, the B8 bus serves the church and academy on its way from 18th Avenue to Brownsville.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, near Bergen Beach

The remarkable church of St. Bernard of Clairvaux is located at 2055 East 69th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11234, telephone 718-763-5533.  The parish website is linked here. Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.  The parish was founded in 1961, and the cornerstone of this church carries the date 1989.

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A biography of St. Bernard (1090-1153) may be found here.

Facing the church is the parish school, at 2030 East 69th Street, Brooklyn NY 11234, telephone 718-241-6040.  Its website is linked here.

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The church and school are near the eastern terminals of bus routes B3 (Avenue U) and B41 (Flatbush Avenue bus branching to E. 71 Street).

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An article in the web-based Brooklyn Daily Eagle 9.25.2014 highlights Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello, administrator of St. Bernard parish.

Catholic academies, list of March, 2012

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has followed up the alignment decree effective May 17, 2011, with a second decree effective March 26, 2012.  The decrees assign the parish staff (apparently only the ordained) to the spiritual care of the students in the newly-formed Catholic academies, formerly parish elementary schools.  For further explanation, please read the new decree here.
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The first alignment decree signed by Bishop DiMarzio and effective May 17, 2011 is linked here.
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Below, I use the new decree to provide a list of academies in Brooklyn.  I begin with those that have only one parish aligned with the academy and therefore more resemble a parish school.

The decree is a list of some Catholic Academies (that is, parish or regional elementary schools renamed as Catholic Academies with a two-level board in charge). With each academy on the list are the parishes whose priests are responsible for the pastoral care of the students in the academies. It seems to be largely aimed at the provision of Mass and the sacrament of Reconciliation. Please read the document.
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My interest is in the geographical assignment of parishes to academies. These are the Brooklyn schools on the list:
St. Brigid Catholic Academy, Bushwick, aligned with St. Brigid parish, its school being the academy.
St. Saviour Catholic Academy, Park Slope, aligned with St. Saviour parish, its school being the academy.
St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Academy, Bushwick, aligned with St. Joseph Patron (site of academy).
Pope John Paul II Family Academy, Bushwick, aligned with St. Barbara parish, whose school is the site of the academy.
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St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy, Greenpoint, aligned with St. Stanislaus Kostka parish (site of academy), Sts. Cyril and Methodius, St. Anthony - St. Alphonsus, and Our Lady of Consolation parishes.
Sts. Joseph and Dominic, Williamsburg, aligned with Most Holy Trinity (site of academy), Our Lady of Pompeii, Sts. Peter and Paul, and Transfiguration.
Queen of the Rosary Catholic Academy, Williamsburg, aligned with Divine Mercy parish (3 parishes in 1), Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and Annunciation.
Holy Angels Catholic Academy, Bay Ridge, aligned with Holy Angels parish and St. Andrew the Apostle parish.
Midwood Catholic Academy, Midwood, aligned with St. Thomas Aquinas parish (the site of the academy), St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Columba, and Our Lady Help of Christians.
St. Mary, Mother of Jesus - St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Academy, Bensonhurst, aligned with St. Mary, Mother of Jesus parish (site of academy), St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, St. Finbar, St. Dominic, and Most Precious Blood parishes.
Our Lady of Trust, Canarsie, aligned with St. Jude parish, Our Lady of Miracles (two sites of the academy), St. Laurence (Van Siclen and Flatlands Aves.), and Holy Family (Canarsie).
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St. Catherine of Genoa - St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Academy, East Flatbush, aligned with St. Therese (site of academy), St. Catherine, and Our Lady of Refuge.
Salve Regina Catholic Academy, East New York, aligned with St. Michael (site of academy), St. Malachy (merged into St. Michael), Mary Mother of the Church (a combination of three parishes), Our Lady of the Presentation/Our Lady of Loreto, St. Rita, St. Sylvester, and St. Fortunata.
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy, aligned with St. Francis of Assisi parish (site of academy), St. Teresa of Avila, and St. Joseph (Pacific Street).
St. Gregory the Great Catholic Academy, aligned with Holy Cross (Flatbush, current site of academy), St. Matthew (which includes the church of St. Gregory the Great, Crown Heights), and Holy Innocents.
St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy, Windsor Terrace, aligned with Holy Name of Jesus (site of academy), and Immaculate Heart of Mary parish.
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Maybe someplace else there is an explanation of who will prepare the students for first Confession, first Communion, and Confirmation.  Will students of the Catholic Academies be prepared by the staff of the Academy, and where will they "make" these sacraments?  Or will the students have to attend additional classes in their own parishes? I suspect that this problem is not new and that the most appropriate answers are local, with consultation of the parents and staff.

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.

Five more Catholic Academies

These items are gleaned from a diocesan press release issued 1.30.2012. The surprise on the list is that St. Gregory the Great School is listed as Flatbush, at Holy Cross, 2520 Church Avenue.  Current N-8 enrollments (that is, enrollments inflated by nursery-level students) are also given.
Parish schools becoming Catholic academies are:
St. Brigid, Wycoff Heights, 207 students.
St. Francis of Assisi, Lefferts Prospect Gardens, 351 students.
St. Frances Cabrini (at St. Joseph Patron, Suydam Street), 280 students.
St. Gregory the Great (at 2520 Church Avenue to allow repairs at 991 St. John's Place), 232 students.
St. Saviour Elementary, Park Slope, 401 students.  Note that the parish also has St. Saviour HS.
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St. Edmund, Avenue T & Ocean Ave.

As one travels south on Ocean Avenue, this sign appears at the corner of Avenue T.

St. Edmund church is within St. Edmund elementary school on Avenue T.  The rectory, Ocean Avenue and St. Edmund Prep are to the left.  The rectory address is 2460 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11229, telephone 718-743-0102.  The parish website is linked here.  In 1922, Bishop Thomas Molloy established this parish under the patronage of St. Edmund of Canterbury. (That link from a St. Edmund parish in Delaware explains the three names by which Edmund is known.)

Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

The address of St. Edmund Elementary School is 1902 Avenue T, Brooklyn NY 11229, telephone 718-648-9229.

St. Edmund Preparatory High School faces Ocean Avenue just south of Avenue T.  Its address is 2474 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11229, telephone 718-743-6100. The Prep's website is linked here.

Good Shepherd, Avenue S

Early Christian art portrayed Jesus as the Good Shepherd, in a pose resembling the statue here at the corner of Avenue S and Brown Street between Midwood and Marine Park, Brooklyn.  To enlarge any photo, click on it. 

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The mailing address of Good Shepherd parish is 1950 Batchelder Street, Brooklyn NY 11229, telephone 718-998-2800.  The parish website, linked here, is very informative. 

Dedicated to the Good Shepherd.  Batchelder Street, with rectory, school yard, and convent, is adjacent.

The older altar has a puzzling inscription, "Nos nos oraque Deo."  Please send an explanation to cjmcmann(at)msn.com
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James Sullivan has added a helpful comment.  Many thanks!  What I took as the letter o (after the second s) could well be a t with a curl.  Then it would read, Nos nostraque Deo, We and ours to God, nostra being neuter nominative plural.  I wonder what the lowest seven letters read.  By clicking on the photo, you may enlarge it.  

On May 20, 1939, fire destroyed the original 1927 church.  The new one is remarkable for its Spanish Mission design, its use of ceramic tiles (including the Stations of the Cross) and the nave windows that refer to Biblical shepherds (David, Bethlehem, parables of Jesus).

Good Shepherd Catholic Academy is at 1943 Brown Street, Brooklyn NY 11229, telephone 718-339-2745.  Its website is linked here.  The above photo faces north, towards the church at Avenue S.  

Whimsy enlivens.

Saint Saviour, Park Slope

St. Saviour church is located at the southeast corner of Eighth Avenue and Sixth Street in Park Slope. Its mailing address is 611 Eighth Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11215, telephone 718-768-7983. The parish website tells much about the functioning of the parish, and the history page is commendable. In September, 2016, some of the graphics did not display (due to broken links?) and minutes of the pastoral planning council stop with March, 2015.

The parish high school is at 588 Sixth Street, Brooklyn NY 11215, telephone 718-768-4406. The website is linked here. The cornerstone of the building is dated 1908, so I presume that sometime in the 1950's the elementary department moved to a newer building on Eighth Avenue, shown below.
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On nearby Seventh Avenue, the public high school's cornerstone is dated MCMII. Park Slope's elegance goes back to the nineteenth century. In quite a few American cities, wealthier folk sought to live on "Prospect Street" or on "The Heights." Workers tended to live near their riverfront jobs.

Above is Saint Saviour Catholic Academy, 701 Eighth Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11215, telephone 718-768-8000, website linked here.



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St. Athanasius, Bensonhurst

Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.  Above is the Mass schedule as of August, 2011.  St. Athanasius church is located on the southeast corner of Bay Parkway and 61st Street. The mailing address is 2154 61st Street, Brooklyn NY 11204, telephone 718-236-0124.  The parish website is linked here.
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The parish was established in 1913.  Shortly after Bishop Kearney High School was built across the street in 1961, the congregation built the beautiful new church you see in the photos below.  The older church was located on the north side of 61st Street in what is now a parking lot between the high school and its convent.

This view looks east across Bay Parkway.

St. Athanasius was bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, in the fourth century.  His writings and teachings have designated him as a Greek Father of the Church.  I presume the mosaic shows the harbor of Alexandria.

La quinceñera in her blue gown is seated facing the altar, while a lector reads Scripture.  It is a Friday afternoon.

The upper windows show prophets and teachers of the Old Testament.  The lower windows depict apostles and other teachers.

Across the street is St. Athanasius School at 6120 Bay Parkway, Brooklyn NY 11204, telephone as on the banner above.  The school website is linked here.
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Please note that the rectory is not adjacent to the church.  Rather, it is across Bay Parkway at 2164 61st Street.

Our Lady of Grace, Ave. W, Gravesend

The parish of Our Lady of Grace is located at 430 Avenue W., Brooklyn NY 11223, telephone 718-627-2020.  The parish website is linked here.  For Mass schedules, please see the website.  In the above photo, the church faces Avenue W, and East 4th Street is to the right.  Ocean Parkway is two short blocks further to the right (east).

Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy is also on Avenue W, immediately west of the church.  The school address is 385 Avenue W, Brooklyn NY 11223, telephone 718-375-2081.  

St. Mark, Sheepshead Bay

A quarter-mile north of the wharves of Sheepshead Bay, on Ocean Avenue from Jerome Avenue to Avenue Z, is the church of St. Mark, with a campanile benefiting its name.  The parish address is 2609 East 19th Street, Brooklyn NY 11235, telephone 718-891-3100, website linked here.
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A better photo is on Flickr, linked here.

Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.  St. Mark Catholic Academy is located at 2602 East 19th Street, Brooklyn NY 11235, telephone 1-718-332-9304.  

Rarely do Brooklyn parishes take up a full square block, but St. Mark's parish fills another block  west with school, auditorium, and parking.  This view looks west on Avenue Z towards the Sheepshead Bay subway station, and, further west, to the site of the parish's first two churches, each wooden and each unfortunately destroyed by fire (1891, 1929).   

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Brian Merlis, who has written numerous interesting books on Brooklyn history, treats of St. Mark's parish in his volume titled "Brooklyn's Gold Coast: The Sheepshead Bay Communities."