St. Frances de Chantal, Borough Park

The church of St. Frances de Chantal is at the southwest corner of 58th Street and 13th Avenue in the Blythebourne section of Borough Park. The mailing address is 1273 58th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11219, telephone 718-436-6407. Established in 1892, the parish was recently offered as a center for the apostolate of Polish immigrants, and all three priests on the staff are of Polish heritage. The pastor is a Polish Pallottine, but the parish does not appear on a list of parishes specifically entrusted to the Pallottine Fathers, S.A.C. For decades, the Fathers of Mercy (of French heritage) staffed the parish, and the Amityville Dominicans (of Bavarian heritage) staffed the school.

Pope John Paul II stands to the right of the entrance, with the flags the United States, Poland, and the Vatican behind him. His arm may point to the B16 bus one block away.

Facing the church is the former parish elementary school. In this part of Brooklyn, the streets tend to be residential, the avenues lined with stores, often with two floors of apartments above the stores.

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Our Lady of Consolation, Williamsburg

The mailing address of Our Lady of Consolation parish is 184 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11211, telephone 718-388-1942. The church is on the south side of Metropolitan Avenue, between Berry St. and Bedford Ave., Williamsburg or Northside. Metropolitan Avenue replaces North 2nd Street. The parish website is linked HERE.
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The parish is staffed by Polish Salesians of Don Bosco, S.D.S. A third of the worship services seem to be in English, two-thirds in Polish.

The Saturday afternoon I stopped by this church, the vestibule was open for prayers at a painting of Our Lady, presumably under the title Our Lady of Consolation. The church itself was locked. Regarding the above schedule, please check the website instead.  The photo is several years old.




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Our Lady of Czestochowa, 24th St. near Fourth Avenue

Our Lady of Czestochowa church is located on the south side of 24th Street, Brooklyn, between Fourth and Third Avenues. The parish mailing address is 183 25th Street, Brooklyn NY 11232, telephone 718-768-5724. The website is at http://olcbrooklyn.org/
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Because of the tail or ogonek on the third letter, the city's name is sometimes spelled Czenstochowa, as over the doors of the rectory and former school, shown below. In 1980, the parish of St. Casimir in Williamsburg was merged with this parish. Hence, the full name of this parish is Our Lady of Czenstochowa - St. Casimir, both names indicating Polish heritage.


When I stopped by Our Lady of Czestochowa church on Tuesday, June 23, 2009, the 12:15 Mass included the 30th wedding anniversary celebration of a couple. Congratulations!

Note the reproduction of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa over the altar. Do the statues of Franciscan saints indicate that this was once a Franciscan parish?

Above is the rectory on 25th Street. Fourth Avenue is to the right.


Artillery guards the former parish school on 25th Street. The statue commemorates Gold Star Mothers, mothers of soldiers killed in action. The parish school closed in 1996.
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Please click on the "Comments" note above in tan to read six heartfelt comments.  One person asks about retrieving a marriage record from about 1890.  Churches do keep marriage registers, and they do make copies or issue certificates.  Usually there is a fee, and there could be a problem searching the parish marriage register if you do not know the date of marriage.  I believe the registers are chronological, without an index of names. At the moment, April 2013, ancestry.com is offering a free look at their marriage index.


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Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Greenpoint

The mailing address for the parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius is 150 Dupont Street, Brooklyn NY 11222, telephone 718-389-4424. Polish Vincentian priests staff the parish. The website is here. Both photos were taken on the Eagle Street side of the parish property, which is mid-block between Manhattan Avenue and McGuinness Blvd. The parish school closed in 1998.



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Thanks to Noirin of Co. Mayo for finding this description within the parade instructions for the 2013 Pulaski Day parade:
SS. CYRIL & METHODIUS PARISH LOCATED IN GREENPOINT, NY, WAS FOUNDED IN 1916 BY A GROUP OF POLISH GENTLEMEN, WHO APPEALED TO BISHOP CHARLES MCDONNELL FOR HELP.
HIS EXCELLENCY ASSIGNED REV. EMIL STRENSKI THE TASK OF STARTING THE NEW PARISH. THE FIRST MASS OF THE NEWLY FORMED PARISH WAS CELEBRATED ON OCTOBER 14TH, 1917. THE PARISH SCHOOL OPENED ITS DOORS THREE YEARS LATER, IN THE FALL OF 1920. THE PARISH IS STILL A VIBRANT PARISH EVEN TO THIS DAY, EVEN THOUGH IT ENCOUNTERED MANY HARD TIMES THROUGH THE YEARS, NAMELY WWI, THE GREAT DEPRESSION, AND WWII, WHICH IN THE END ONLY MADE THE PARISH THAT MUCH STRONGER.
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IN 1939, ST. COLUMBKILLE, A FELLOW GREENPOINT PARISH, FELL ON VERY HARD TIMES DUE TO LACK OF PARISHIONERS AND IT WAS REV. MROZINSKI, THE PASTOR OF S.S. CYRIL & METHODIUS AT THE TIME, WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR MERGING THE TWO PARISHES. THE CURRENT CHURCH STANDS ON THE SITE OF ST. COLUMBKILLE, LOCATED AT 161 EAGLE ST. IN GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN.
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IN 1936, THE PARISH’S SUNDAY SCHOOL WAS ESTABLISHED SO THAT GRAMMAR SCHOOL SPIRITUAL EDUCATION. THE CCD PROGRAM WHICH IS NOW HELD ON FRIDAY’S AND SATURDAY’S IN POLISH IS STILL GOING STRONG AND CONTINUES TO GROW EVERY YEAR. IN ADDITION, THE PARISH HOSTS A POLISH SATURDAY SCHOOL, WHICH ALSO CONTINUES TO GROW IN NUMBERS EACH AND EVERY YEAR. IT OFFERS THE YOUTH OF OUR PARISH AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN ABOUT THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF POLAND. IN 1996, THE PRIESTS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE MISSIONS OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL CAME TO OUR PARISH.

St. Stanislaus Kostka, Greenpoint

Each weekend nine Masses are celebrated at St. Stanislaus Kostka church, the most of the six Catholic churches in Greenpoint. Also, this parish hosts Greenpoint's sole Catholic elementary school, St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy, with an enrollment of about 240.  The parish apparently teaches 235 more in religious ed. Past numbers were probably much higher. The parish was established in 1896 for Polish immigrants, who continue to arrive in Greenpoint even in the 21st century. From what I heard on the streets of Greenpoint, Polish is second to English. Polish Vincentian Fathers serve in this parish.
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The mailing address of the parish is 607 Humboldt St., Brooklyn, NY 11222, telephone 718-388-0170. The parish website is linked here. The parish Facebook page, kept up-to-date, is linked here.  The school's address is 12 Newell St., telephone 718-383-1970. 
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Another blogger, Andrew, has posted excellent photos of the church here.