St. Aloysius, Great Neck

The patron state of this parish is St. Aloysius Gonzaga, who lived from 1588 to 1591, joining the Society of Jesus at age 17. At age 23, he died in Rome while caring for victims of a plague. A short biography is linked here.

St. Aloysius parish is located at 592 Middle Neck Road, Great Neck NY 11023, telephone 516-482-2770. The parish website is linked here. Note on the website that Mass is offered in Korean, Spanish, and English. Attendance on the recent Sexagesima Sunday was 777.

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According to the website, the present church was designed by Gustave Steinback and dedicated in 1915. Twenty years later, Mr. Steinback designed St. Agnes church, Rockville Centre.

A side altar honors St. Pius X, Giuseppe Sarto, 1935-1914.  Many thanks to a parishioner who identified the saint for me.  He added, "Msgr. Reel used to mention him at First Communions because he was the Pope who moved the age lower to receive First Communion."  

Above, the view east on Breuer Avenue towards Middle Neck Road.

Above is the former elementary school, Clicking on any photo will enlarge it. There are other parish buildings not shown in my photos, due to the angle of the afternoon sun.
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The parish was established in 1876. It is situated about a mile north of the Great Neck LIRR station, which opened in 1866. The parish is also about three miles north of the Long Island Expressway at Lakeville Road, Lake Success.

North Hempstead deanery

The Diocese of Rockville Centre has seven deaneries in Nassau County.  The North Hempstead Deanery includes the following parishes, in order of foundation:
1863 -- St. Mary, Manhassset
1876 -- St. Aloysius, Great Neck.
1893 -- Holy Spirit, New Hyde Park.
1901 -- St. Peter of Alcantara, Port Washington
1901 -- Corpus Christi, Mineola.
1925 -- St. Aidan, Williston Park
1941 -- Notre Dame, New Hyde Park.
1948 -- Our Lady of Fatima, Manorhaven.
The North Hempstead deanery is not coterminous with the Town of North Hempstead.
Four of the eight parishes support a parish elementary school: St. Aidan (at about 600 students, maybe the sixth largest in the diocese), St. Mary, St. Peter of Alcantara, and Notre Dame.  St. Mary's parish, Manhasset, hosts a parish high school.

St. Thomas the Apostle, West Hempstead

On Westminister Road, West Hempstead, just north of Hempstead Turnpike are the buildings of the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle: a large school, an auditorium, the rectory, and a church built in 1963. The parish address is 24 Westminster Road, West Hempstead, NY 11552, telephone 516-489-8585.  The parish website is linked here.   The parish was founded in 1931 and is currently (2011) in the Rockville Centre deanery. 
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The 2.9.2011 edition of The Long Island Catholic includes a well-written and informative article about the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle, West Hempstead.  The article is linked here.  I have no idea how long TLIC maintains articles in available web archives, so please read it now. The article says that the parish has 2,900 registered families.
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I wonder which building is depicted in the scene behind St. Therese.  It does not resemble the basilica at Lisieux.

The parish school is at 12 Westminster Road, telephone 516-481-9310, website here. 

The sign advertises the pre-school program.

An auditorium is to the left (north) of the school.

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A second church, known as the parish chapel, is located about two miles south, at 875 Hempstead Avenue, West Hempstead, at the intersection of Hempstead Avenue and Nassau Boulevard.  This is three blocks north of Exit 17 of the Southern State Parkway.
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St. Thomas Chapel has weekday Mass Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9 a.m.  Please see the parish websitefor more schedules.  The St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago, which has 29 parishes in the United States, lists this chapel as a place of worship.  Generally, Syro-Malabar Catholics are from India.

Our Lady of Lourdes, Malverne

Our Lady of Lourdes parish is located at 65 Wright Avenue, Malverne NY 11565, telephone 516-599-1269. The parish website is linked here.

Hempstead Avenue and Malverne's business district is two blocks west (to the left).  Wright Avenue runs from Hempstead Avenue east to Ocean Avenue, and at each end a black-and-white sign points to the parish.
 

 Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

The mailing address of Our Lady of Lourdes School is 76 Park Boulevard, Malverne, NY 11565, telephone 516-599-7328.  The school's website is linked here.  Church, school, and rectory share a square block.  In this photo, the houses are along Park Boulevard. 

In the above view at Wright Avenue and Sheehy Place we see the rectory and the school.  Sheehy Place is closed to traffic during school hours.  

St. Joseph, Hewlett

The church of St. Joseph is located at 1346 Broadway, Hewlett NY 11557, telephone 516-374-0290.  The parish website is linked here.

Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

Belmont deanery

The Diocese of Rockville Centre, although highly centralized under its Bishop, is structured with three Vicariates: Western, Central, Eastern. Within Nassau County there are seven Deaneries.  I begin with the Belmont Deanery, bordering Queens County.  Please recall that until 1899 Queens County included the towns of Nassau County.  Until 1957, the diocese of Brooklyn included all Long Island.
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In 1858, Bishop John Loughlin of Brooklyn established St. Boniface parish, now with its church and cemetery at Dutch Broadway and Elmont Road, in an area then called Foster Meadow.  In 1902, Bishop Charles McDonnell established St. Hedwig as a Polish parish in Floral Park and Holy Name of Mary in downtown Valley Stream.

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1913 -- Establishment of St. Catherine of Sienna, Franklin Square.

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1921: Establishment of Our Lady of Victory, Floral Park.  The victory commemorated is that of 1571, one of the battles of Lepanto. 

1926: Our Lady of Lourdes, Malverne

1929: St. Anne, Garden City

1941: Our Lady of Peace, Lynbrook. "Inspired by the world events of 1941, the pastor-founder of the new church suggested that the new church be dedicated to and named Our Lady of Peace."

1950: Blessed Sacrament, North Valley Stream

1951: St. Vincent de Paul, Elmont

The above ten parishes comprise the Belmont Deanery.  Five will sponsor parish elementary schools in September, 2012: St. Anne,  Our Lady of Peace, Our Lady of Lourdes,  Our Lady of Victory, and Holy Name of Mary.  All ten parishes have Faith Formation (CCD) programs.

Lord

The heart of the Christian community is our Triune Lord: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.  Numbers, geography, and history are not the heart, but probably I will type mostly on these topics.  As the internet already provides many encouraging spiritual guides and discouraging contentious forums, I do not intend to provide either.