Potential Mergers

The November 9, 2024, issue of The Tablet includes on page 8 a news story by Bill Miller, senior reporter, titled Diocese Engages Parishioners in Dialogue over Potential Mergers. I list only the proposed mergers in the borough of Brooklyn.

1) Mary Queen of Heaven in Flatlands and St. Bernard of Clairvaux in Bergen Beach, 1 mile apart. St. Bernard attendance Nov. 3 was 980.

2) St. Brendan in Midwood, Avenue O, and St. Edmund in Sheepshead Bay, Avenue T, 1.3 miles further south. Long blocks caused trolleys to be geared for higher speeds on Ocean  Avenue. 

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On November 16 & 17, the Mass attendance at St. Brendan was 545. A Catholic mission of the Byzantine Rite (Stamford eparchy) also celebrates the Divine Liturgy in the church. That mission is named Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On November 16 and 15, the collections at the three Masses at St. Edmund totaled $1,719. Many Masses had no stipend. St. Edmund's church is within the school, which runs K-12.

The neighborhoods of the two parishes (St. Brendan, St. Edmund) have about 36% to 39% Jewish households, but  I note other mid-Eastern non-Catholic groups there, judging by storefronts along Coney Island Avenue.

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3) St. Bernadette in Dyker Heights and St. Frances Cabrini in Bensonhurst, 0.6 mile apart. At a brief glance, St. Bernadette appears to be the more attended of the two. Also, St. Bernardette has a school with a teaching staff pre-k to 8th grade of about 25.

4) In Sunset Park, St. Michael and St Agatha, 0.9 mile apart. Each  parish has a full schedule of Masses, St. Michael  in English and Spanish, St. Agatha in Chinese (Mandarin or  Cantonese?), Spanish, and English).

5) In Bay Ridge, St. Anselm and Our Lady of Angels, 0.7 mile apart. On November 10, St. Anselm had an attendance of 485. The same weekend, Our Lady of Angels had an attendance of 1,079.  The parish school, Bay Ridge Catholic Academy, is at St. Anselm. Seats are available in each grade.

6) Mostly accomplished, in Park Slope, St. Augustine and St. Francis Xavier, 0.3 mile apart. Please see the website of the merging parishes https://sasfx.org/

At St. Augustine, the only Mass each week is noon on Sunday. At St. Francis Xavier, there is a 9 a.m. Mass Monday to Thursday, 5 p.m. on Saturday, 9:30 a. m. on Sunday.

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In 2020, the average Mass attendance in the diocese was 124,031, of 1.5 million  identified as Catholic. That is 8%.

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The distances given above are church-to-church, but some parishioners may live on the far fringe.

St. Nicholas Ukrainian church

In my walks about Park Slope, I neglected a church of the Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Stamford, St. Nicholas at 256 19th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215.  The onion-domed church with a high stoop is on the south side of 19th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The parish appears to have been established in 1911.

St. Margaret Mary, Manhattan Beach

Facing Manhattan Beach Park on Ocean Avenue is the church of St. Margaret Mary.  The parish, established in 1920, seems to own the short block along the south side of Oriental Boulevard from Exeter Street to Ocean Avenue. The rectory address is 215 Exeter Street, Brooklyn NY 11235, telephone 718-743-1824.
Note that two Masses are offered each week.

On Oriental Boulevard at Ocean Avenue, this sign faces the bus stop.  Bus routes B1 (from Bay Ridge and the Brighton Beach subway station) and B46 (from the full north-south Ocean Avenue and the Shepshead Bay subway station) travel along Oriental Boulevard towards Kingsborough Community College. Although this is a residential neighborhood, street parking is severely restricted.
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St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) of Burgundy, France, became a Visitation nun.  Because of her visions, she encouraged a devotion to Jesus and His Sacred Heart.
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In the 2013 Official Catholic Directory for the Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Stamford, there is a listing for a mission, named in honor of Blessed Nicholas Chernetsky, in Manhattan Beach. A description from 2005 is linked here. In 1956, I first attended a Ukrainian Liturgy in Troy and was awed by the strong participation of the faithful in singing the Byzantine hymns.

Holy Ghost, Williamsburg

Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic church is located at 160 North Fifth Street, Brooklyn NY 11211, telephone 718-782-9592. It belongs to the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford.

The church is on the south side of North Fifth Street east of Bedford Avenue.

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