Bukavu

The front page of today's New York Times, 11.26.2012, carries frightful reports of fighting in the eastern or northeastern Congo.  I note that this has a connection to Long Island.  The Blue Point Ursulines, who have staffed schools in the diocese of Rockville Centre, have origins from Tildonk, Belgium.  The same Tildonk Ursulines have a vice-province in the Congo, at Bukavu, a large city towards which the rebels are moving.  An article about the troubles is linked here.
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Yesterday, the lector at St. William the Abbot parish read a petition about the Ursulines in the Congo.  Today's news, unfortunately, narrates chaos, war, and suffering.

Christopher Columbus

For quite a while I have been impressed with the story that Christopher Columbus and his crew sang the Salve Regina at sunset.  Today (celebrating him on a Monday), I came across this lengthy article about Columbus's devotion to Mary as shown in the names of ships and places.  The author is a Marianist Brother at the University of Dayton.
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Please note that Guadalupe is first of all a place in Extremadura, Spain.  The name was brought to Mexico.

St. Brigid, Westbury

St. Brigid's parish in Westbury, Long Island, has a church on Post Avenue, immediately south of the Westbury railroad station, and an extensive school building a mile northwest on Maple Avenue. St. Brigid - Our Lady of Hope Regional School includes a parish chapel, used for four Sunday Masses.  Clicking on any photo will enlarge it.
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The parish address is 75 Post Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590, telephone 516-334-0024. The parish website is here, and it includes photos. The Mass schedule is here. Daily Mass is in the church. On weekends, seven Masses are scheduled in the church, four in Our Lady's Chapel in the Maple school, as pictured above.

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Fortunately, there is a traffic signal with a pedestrian button at Post Avenue and Fifth Avenue, allowing people to cross safely from the east side of Post Avenue (church, rectory, park-like grounds, and Holy Rood Cemetery) to the west side of Post Avenue (parking lot, parish center, parish hall).

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Below are photos of the parish school on Maple Avenue.

Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

The address of St. Brigid - Our Lady of Hope Regional School is 101 Maple Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590, telephone 718-333-0580. Its website is linked here.

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The bishop of Brooklyn, John Loughlin, established a church, but not a parish, in Westbury in 1852.  In 1892, his successor, Charles McDonnell, St. Brigid's as a parish.  The parish boundaries include a greater area than most Nassau parishes.  In 1987, the Carle Place chapel was established as its own parish of Our Lady of Hope.

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An excellent photo of St. Brigid's church is here on Flickr.

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Please see a parish bulletin for an explanation (atop page 3) of St. Brigid's cross, seen several places in the parish and on the website.

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Below, one can see the influence of St. Brigid's parish on its neighborhood.

Our Lady of Victory, Floral Park

In the village of Floral Park, Long Island, the church of Our Lady of Victory faces a small park at the intersection of Tulip Avenue, Plainfield Avenue, and Floral Parkway. The rectory address is 2 Floral Parkway, Floral Park NY 11001, telephone 516-354-0482. The parish website is linked here.

The church was renovated in 2012 at a cost between four and five million dollars.  The photograph with the red truck was taken at that time.  The other photos were taken in March of 2013.
Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.
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The parish school is adjacent, with the address of 2 Bellmore Street, Floral Park NY 11001, telephone 516-352-4466.  The school's website is linked here.


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Notre Dame, New Hyde Park

In northern New Hyde Park, a block north of the busy intersection of New Hyde Park Road and Hillside Avenue (NY 25B) are the church, school, and other buildings of Notre Dame parish.  The top photograph looks south on New Hyde Park Road.

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The rectory and school are on the east side of the property, residential and quiet Mayfair Road.  The parish office is at 45 Mayfair Road, New Hyde Park, NY 11040, telephone 516-352-7203.  The parish website is linked here.

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Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.  Notre Dame School is at 25 Mayfair Road, telephone 516-354-5618.  The school's website is linked here. 

The school's website gives the N-8 enrollment as 388 in January, 2012, but does not distinguish between the early childhood programs and the K-8 enrollment.

Nassau Numbers from 2011

The 2012 Official Catholic Directory, recently available, includes statistics probably collected in 2011 or earlier.  My computations could be wrong, but it would seem that the 26 Catholic elementary schools in Nassau County had a total enrollment about 10,038.  Whether some schools included pre-kindergarten students in the count is unclear.  Also, some schools reported the same exact enrollment for three years running, an unlikely event.  St. Agnes, Rockville Centre, reported the highest enrollment, 827 students.
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The approximately 66 parishes in the county have religious education programs which instructed about 46,620 youngsters.  The highest enrollment seems to have been at St. Rose of Lima: 2,890 students.
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The seven Catholic high schools in Nassau County reported a total enrollment of about 8,218 students.  The highest number reported is 2,553 at Kellenberg, but that may include grades 7 and 8, the Latin School.
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The population of The Bronx is a little higher than that of Nassau County, 1,392,002 vs 1,344,436 people in the 2010 census.  Bronx Catholic elementary schools enrolled 17,380 youngsters.  Nassau Catholic schools taught about 10,038.  Fifty-one Bronx parishes now have elementary schools.  Twenty-six Nassau parishes have elementary schools.  In CCD or religious education enrollment, the situation is the reverse.  Bronx parishes reported about 11,271 students in religious ed.  Nassau religious education enrollment figures are much greater, about 46,620.

St. Mary, Manhasset

The church of St. Mary, Manhasset, is located at 1300 Northern Blvd, Manhasset, NY 11030, telephone 516-627-0385.  Its website is linked here.  The parish property is quite extensive, all on the south side of Northern Boulevard, NY 25A,  as one ascends eastbound from Manhassset Valley Park and Community Drive.  The above two views are taken from the sidewalk of Northern Boulevard near Clapham Avenue.  Parking is behind the church.
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The parish website is linked here.
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The parish history is a bit complicated because the parish was at times an established parish, at times a mission of another parish.  In the 1850's, an older wooden church located at St. Michael's, Flushing, was transported to Plandome Road to provide a mission church for St. Mary's, which received its first resident pastor in 1863.  However, in 1871, it became a mission of St. Mary's, Roslyn and in 1897 a mission of St. Peter of Alcantara, Port Washington. In 1912, it received its own pastor, who modeled the present church on the San Luis Rey mission in California.
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All the parish buildings are on the south side of Northern Blvd. in Manhasset.  While the rectory address is 1300, the elementary school is at 1340 Northern Blvd., telephone 516-627-0184.  The high school is on the west side of the church, at 51 Clapham Avenue, Manhasset NY 11030, telephone 516-627-2711.
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Please be aware that there is another St. Mary's Catholic parish four miles east, in Roslyn.

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St. Mary's elementary school, resembling a church at first glance, stands prominently at the intersection of Plandome Road and Northern Boulevard.  Its address is 1340 Northern Boulevard, Manhasset, NY 11030, telephone 516-627-0184.  The elementary school website is linked here.  

St. Mary's High School uses the address of the above building at 51 Clapham Avenue, Manhasset NY 11540, telephone 516-627-2711.  The high school website is linked here.

However, the high school also uses this newer building adjacent to Brinkerhoff Lane and south of the elementary school.

St. Peter of Alcantara, Port Washington

The church of St. Peter of Alcantara is located at 1327 Port Washington Boulevard, Port Washington, NY 11050, telephone 516-883-6675.  An unofficial website describing the parish is linked here.

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The school, church, rectory and other buildings are located on the east side of Port Washington Blvd. (NY highway 101) about 0.4 mile north of Main Street.

The railroad reached Port Washington in 1898.  The parish was established in 1901 and the church dedicated in 1903.

The parish grounds include six or seven buildings.  Above is a new school building, and below is an older one.  

The school's helpful and informative website is linked here.  The address is 1321 Port Washington Boulevard, Port Washington NY 11050, telephone 516-944-3772.
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The statue honors the Franciscan saint, Peter of Alcantara, 1499-1562.

Our Lady of Fatima, Manorhaven

Our Lady of Fatima church is located on Manorhaven Boulevard, with Cottonwood Road along the left side of the church.

Peninsulas characterize the north shore of Long Island.  Our Lady of Fatima parish is located within the Village of Manorhaven, a community of smaller homes on a peninsula of large estates, Manhasset Neck or Sands Point. The parish address is 6 Cottonwood Road, Manorhaven, New York 11050, telephone 516-767-0781.  The parish is about 1.6 mile northwest of the Port Washington railroad station.
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A few parish websites are:  http://ourladyoffatimapw.org and www.facebook.com/ourladyoffatimapw and http://fatimafocus.org/index.htm

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A history of the parish is linked here.
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St. Anthony, Oceanside, NY

The postal address of St. Anthony's parish is 110 Anchor Avenue, Oceanside, New York 11572, telephone  516-764-0048.  Its extensive website, linked here, includes a history of the parish.  The main door of the church faces Lincoln Avenue at Soper Street.

This Calvary is on the northeast corner of Lincoln and Anchor Avenues.

In the 1930's and 1940's, St. Anthony's was a pilgrimage or shrine destination.  There are at least a dozen outdoor statues, two or three gazebos, and a chapel.  Both the church and the chapel have many windows that welcome the breezes, quite different from the closed windows of many Long Island churches.

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Devotions spread from one nation to others.  It seems that the devotion to El Niño Jesús, with a statue similar to this and with the legend "I shall reign," began in Colombia.  According to the parish website, about ten percent of the registered members of St. Anthony's are Latinos, in large part Dominicanos.  I also note that Mother Angelica of Alabama has fostered this devotion.
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St. Anthony of Padua is the patron of this parish, established in 1927, and two parishes in Suffolk County.  The same Anthony, baptized Fernando, joined the Franciscans in Portugal in 1220 and received the name Friar Anthony and is honored as Santo Antonio de Lisboa.  He traveled to Madrid, where he is honored with at least two churches, and then to Padua, Italy.
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Oceanside, California, is on the Pacific Ocean, and has no parish named St. Anthony.
Oceanside, New York, lies about four miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean.

St. Raymond, East Rockaway

The church of St. Raymond Penyafort is located at 263 Atlantic Avenue, East Rockaway, New York 11518, at the corner of Rocklyn Avenue.  The telephone is 516-593-5000, and the website is linked here.  

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The parish property (school, rectory, church) is one short block west of the Centre Avenue station of the Long Island Rail Road.    It is also about 0.7 mile southeast of the Lynbrook station.

Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

St. Dominic founded the Order of Preachers in 1216.  Already learned and specializing in Canon Law, St. Raymond joined the Dominicans in Spain some time after their foundation.  He died in 1275.

The bishop of Brooklyn established this parish in 1909.

St. Raymond's elementary school is located at 263 Atlantic Avenue, East Rockaway NY 11518, telephone 516-593-9010.  Its website is linked here.

Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, Roosevelt

In 1919, the bishop of Brooklyn established the parish of Queen of the Most Holy Rosary.  The parish mailing address is 196 West Centennial Avenue, Roosevelt NY 11575, telephone 516-378-1315.  Its website is linked here.
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The parish is less than a mile south of Exit 21 of the Southern State Parkway. 

The church seats 1,100.  On weekdays for 8 a.m. Mass and rosary, the congregation worships in a chapel near the foyer.  The west door, facing the rectory, provides entrance.

The former parish school, built in 1953, seems to provide several uses, including the parish social ministry.  A charter school, Roosevelt Children's Academy, uses the parish grounds for five sections of kindergarten and four first grade sections, with portable classrooms in the parking lot and, perhaps, part of the main school building.

Our Holy Redeemer, Freeport

The church of Our Holy Redeemer is located on South Ocean Avenue, Freeport, at the corner of Pine Street.  This is one block south of Sunrise Highway and less than a half-mile west of the Freeport railroad station.

Above is the rectory and the church, in this view looking southeast.  The mailing address is 37 South Ocean Avenue, Freeport NY 11520, telephone 516-378-0665. Linked here is the parish's informative and captivating website.  

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The Bishop of Brooklyn established Our Holy Redeemer parish in 1903, and the church built in 1911.  Obviously, there have been recent renovations.

Wedding witnesses had just left, and the first of the 5 p.m. congregation are arriving in a church that is fiercely air-conditioned on a 74-degree day.

A tabernacle is seen here, but the Eucharist is also reserved in an Adoration Chapel to the right.  I appreciate the bannister.  Several years ago, an acquaintance in Brooklyn suffered a fatal fall on altar steps that lacked a handrail.

From Pine Street, here is the entrance to the Adoration Chapel. "Apply at the rectory for the key."

The church's bell tower and the steeple of the nearby Methodist Church can easily be seen from passing Long Island Rail Road trains.

On the south side of Pine Street, the parish center occupies the former convent.  Padre Pio observes passersby.

At 87 Pine Street, The De La Salle School uses part of the former parish elementary school.  Supported by vigorous fund-raising, the staff teaches boys in grades five through eight.