St. Christopher school closing in June

 The diocese has announced the June, 2021, closing of St. Christopher School in Baldwin. Please see the media release linked HERE. The pandemic is blamed, but again I suggest that demographic changes (Catholics moving out, non-Catholics moving in) have been at work for more than a decade. The school had only 179 students in September, 2020.

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Pastors & assignments, July, 2017

A list of priestly appointments appeared briefly at drvc.org in late July, then disappeared and reappeared. The link is HERE. It contained new pastors, new curates, reassignments of priests of religious congregations, and the incardination of five or six priests. 
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A new pastor, age 32, at Our Lady of Lourdes, Malverne. Link to liherald.com HERE.
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Msgr. Steve Camp, after 12 years as pastor at St. Christopher, Baldwin, to St. Patrick, Huntington.
Link to good-bye letter in parish bulletin HERE. Rev. Nicholas Zientarski replaces Msgr. Camp at St. Christopher.
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Our Lady of Mercy parish, Hicksville, has received a new pastor, Rev. John McCarthy.
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Sacred Heart, North Merrick, has received a new pastor.
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Deacon Anthony Cedrone from St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Wantagh, to St. William the Abbot, Seaford. Notice on page 8 of bulletin HERE.
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As Msgr. McNamara is joining the staff of the North American College on the Janiculum Hill, Rev. Joseph Nixon will become administrator of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Point Lookout.
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There appear to be eleven new associate pastor appointments in Nassau County.
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Five monsignors have retired.
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In Nassau County, four pastors have been reappointed for a second term.
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St. Christopher, Baldwin

The Mass schedule on the sign is for July and August, 2014. Please check the parish website linked here for changes in the Mass schedule. The convent chapel is on the west side of Pershing Blvd.  Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

The postal address of St. Christopher parish, Baldwin, is 11 Gale Avenue, Baldwin NY 11510, telephone 516-223-0723. 

The postal address of St. Christopher School is 15 Pershing Blvd, Baldwin NY 11510, telephone 516-223-4404.  The school's website is linked here.
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The photos above show the school and the church next to each other on the north side of Merrick Road in Baldwin.  Pershing Boulevard is west of the school, and Gale Place is east of the church. In front of the church, the N4 bus provides frequent service between Jamaica and Freeport.
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The bishop of Brooklyn established St. Christopher's parish in 1915, after the foundation of St. Agnes, Rockville Centre, and Holy Redeemer, Freeport.  The south portion of the school has a cornerstone dated 1924.  The present church was built in 1959.  A few years later, twelve more classrooms were added to the school.

Recall that Merrick Road was the principal route along the south shore before the construction of Sunrise Highway in the 1920's.  A history page on the school website (linked here) recounts that Bishop Charles McDonnell was already an avid motorist in 1912-1915 and therefore selected the name the Shrine Church of St. Christopher. Because of the famous legend, St. Christopher was already the Patron of Travelers.  

Rockville Centre deanery

The diocese of Rockville Centre has grouped the parishes of Nassau County into seven deaneries.  The deanery of Rockville Centre includes the following nine parishes, listed in order of foundation:
1870 -- Our Lady of Loretto, Hempstead
1894 -- St. Agnes Cathedral, Rockville Centre
1901 -- St. Joseph, Garden City
1903 -- Holy Redeemer, Freeport
1915 -- St. Christopher, Baldwin
1915 -- St. Ladislaus, Hempstead
1919 -- Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, Roosevelt
1931 -- St. Thomas the Apostle, West Hempstead
1949 -- St. Martha, Uniondale
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Four of these parishes provide elementary schools: St. Agnes Cathedral School (with 800+ students, the largest elementary school in the diocese), St. Joseph (Garden City), St. Christopher School (Baldwin), and St. Thomas the Apostle School (West Hempstead).  At St. Martha's parish, the Marianist Brothers administer St. Martin de Porres School.  At Holy Redeemer parish, the De La Salle Christian Brothers administer De La Salle School (Freeport).