Catholic Directory, 1855

At random frequency, a Google search comes up with a scanned copy of a book of fascinating interest. Please go to page 189 of this Metropolitan Catholic Almanac and Laity's Directory 1855 for a description of  Catholic Long Island in that year.
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The diocese of Brooklyn was only two years old under Bishop John Loughlin. From Brooklyn through Suffolk County there were twenty-four churches, eleven stations, and thirty clergymen. The Brothers of the Christian Schools were already teaching on Jay Street, together with the Sisters of Charity and the Order of St. Dominic at other schools.
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The directory makes a few geographic errors, listing some Suffolk towns as Queens. Nassau County was cut from Queens in 1898. Parishes listed in 1855 within present Nassau County include St. Boniface, Forster's Meadow (Elmont), Hicksville (St. Ignatius Loyola, with many missions), Manhasset (St. Mary's, attended monthly from St. Michael's, Flushing), and St. Brigid, Westbury, attended occasionally from Jamaica. Glen Cove seems to be missing as an attended mission, but in 1866 Bishop Loughlin erected St. Patrick's parish there.
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This 1855 directory is free to download.

St. William the Abbot, Seaford

The parish of St. William the Abbot is located at 2000 Jackson Avenue, Seaford, NY 11783, one block south of Sunrise Highway (NY 27) and the Seaford railroad station. The parish telephone number is 516-785-1266, and its website is linked here.  The parish was established in 1928. Twice, the church has been enlarged.

Above, the church interior early Pentecost morning, 2012, before Mass.

In the former baptistry on the north side of the foyer, there are shrines of three saints, St. Joseph in the center, St. William the Abbot to the left, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton to the right. St. William wears the wrong habit, however, for a Benedictine of the 11th century.  The habit on the statue is Franciscan.  
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On Monday, May 20, 2024, Bishop Andrezj Zglejszewski confirmed 143 youths. 

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On Monday, May 22 2023, Bishop Luis M. Romero Fernandez, M. Id., confirmed 145 youths.

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On Monday, May 23, 2022, Bishop John Oliver Barres confirmed about 134 youths in three ceremonies. The two photos below are from the late afternoon confirmation.

On November 21, 2019, Bishop Andrzej  Zglejszewski confirmed 201 youths, mostly eighth graders.  The cathedral website gives the pronunciation of his name On-jay Sklay-shef-ski.   He pronounces his name at the beginning of this interview.

Most photos may be enlarged by clicking on them.

In December 2013, the parish purchased a new outdoor manger scene and placed a memorial list in the church lobby.  Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

Across Jackson Avenue is the parish elementary school at 2001 Jackson Avenue.  The school telephone number is 516-785-6784, and its website is linked here.  At first, Dominican Sisters from Amityville provided religious education.  Later, when the school was opened Ursuline Sisters from Blue Point staffed the school for several decades.  Of the parish elementary schools on Long Island, St. William's is the third or fourth highest in enrollment. In June, 2016, fifty-eight students graduated from eighth grade. In this era, that is a healthy number.

In the autumn of 2017 Barbara and Anthony Fuima created this outdoor prayer space with a statue of Saint Padre Pio.

Deacon John Lynch asks the help of children in blessing the water for baptisms one Sunday afternoon in 2018.
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Edit of September 24, 2021: I realize that this post omits names of importance, such as Catherine and William Morgan, the couple who got Father Theodore J. King from Bellmore to offer Mass in a store on the south side of Merrick Road in 1913. William Garnett Payne lived in the house on Washington Avenue adjacent to and south of the school playground. In the late 1920's the church owned only west of Jackson Avenue, and Mr. Payne at some point transferred the property east of Jackson Avenue to the parish. It may have been a gift or close to a gift. For more about this extraordinary man, please see this link to Find A Grave.

St. Catherine of Sienna, Franklin Square

The church and rectory of St. Catherine of Sienna are located at 33 New Hyde Park Road, Franklin Square NY 11040, a short block north of Hempstead Turnpike, telephone 516-352-0146. I have linked the parish website here. The parish office is in the former school at 990 Holzheimer Street, seen to the left, behind the church in this photo from 2011.  

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Early in the twentieth century, four men of German ancestry asked that a parish be established in Franklin Square, and they offered to collect funds for it.  Each of the four wives was named Katharina.  The parish patron is St. Catherine of Sienna. For the work of the parishioners who helped found the parishes of St. Boniface and St. Catherine of Sienna, I recommend the excellent books by the historian Paul D. van Wie, "The German Settlements of Nineteenth Century Long Island" and "A History of Franklin Square and its Environs," both available at the Franklin Square Library.  In particular, the latter book has nine pages, beginning on page 102, narrating the history of St. Catherine's parish.  The author explains the events depicted in the stained glass windows.  In late 2011, Dr. Van Wie also collaborated in the publication of "Franklin Square" in the Arcadia Publishing Images of America series.  Beginning on page 82, there are photos and a history of the parish school.  Beginning on page 98, there are photos and a history of the church. Of note, the chapel or first church was sold to the American Legion and moved to nearby Pacific Street.  It then was purchased and expanded by the Franklin Square Jewish Center.
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Along the north side of the church property is Lutz Street, named after the first resident pastor, Conrad Lutz, who served from 1913 to 1953.

This entrance with a ramp is seen from Lutz Street. The door leads to the church (on the left) and to the Sienna Center and its chapel (on the right).

The parish school, above, in January, 2011.  It closed in 2012.

Above, in April, 2013, the former school and the Sienna Center on Holzheimer Street, named after Fr. Anthony Holzheimer, second pastor.

Above, the parish office on Holzheimer Street, with the word "school" removed.  Clicking on a photo will enlarge it.

Three Sunday Masses are offered in this building, which also provides access to the church.  When one is in the church, the door to the right of the Sacred Heart statue leads to the Sienna Center, which has an outdoor ramp on the north side of the building and, on the south side, an elevator to this doorway to Holzeimer Street.  Another three Sunday Masses are offered in the church, which has beautiful stained glass windows depicting the life of St. Catherine of Sienna. Padre Pio is honored outside.

Above is the cornerstone of the church.

I note the lack of year on this banner.  Is it 2012 or 2013?

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.

St. Ignatius Martyr, Long Beach

The mailing address of the parish of St. Ignatius Martyr is 721 West Broadway, Long Beach, NY 11561, telephone 516-432-0045.   The parish website, linked here, includes the Mass schedule and an excellent history of the parish.  The church's patron is St. Ignatius, third bishop of Antioch, martyred in Rome about 108 A.D.   He has left us seven letters.

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The above view looks east along West Penn Street, with the church steps on the southwest corner of West Penn Street and Grand Boulevard.  The tall building to the right of the church is the rectory, which faces West Broadway.  To the right of the rectory, in the gap and a short block south, is the Long Beach boardwalk, the wide beach, and the Atlantic Ocean.  As the shoreline runs almost east-west, the view of the ocean is south, and the next land is Turks Island in the Caribbean!

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Fortunately, the parish has placed a directional sign (with Sunday Mass schedule) on the Long Beach's principal street, Park Avenue, at Grand Boulevard, pointing four blocks south.

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Long Beach Catholic Regional School is at 735 West Broadway, Long Beach NY 11561, telephone 516-432-8900.  The school website is linked here.  Three parishes (St. Ignatius, St. Mary of the Isle, and Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal) sponsor the school.

The above views look east along West Broadway towards Grand Boulevard.

St. Ignatius Loyola, Hicksville

St. Ignatius Loyola parish is located at 129 Broadway, Hicksville, NY 11801, telephone 516-931-0056.  The Mass schedule is linked HERE.  The parish Facebook page is linked HERE, 

Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

A former school building faces East Nicolai Street.

Another former school building is at 30 East Cherry Street.  The bishop of Rockville Centre closed the school in 2012.  Holy Family parish school is a mile south.

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The parish buildings are located on a rectangular block, with the church and rectory facing southwest on Broadway (NY 107), one former school on the northwest side (East Nicholai Street), and other parish buildings on the southeast side (East Cherry Street).  The northwest side borders the tracks of the Long Island Rail Road's main line, constructed here in 1841, three decades before the parish was canonically established.  According to the history on the parish website, the rectangle of property was begun piecemeal with a donation of two lots by 1859.