Eastern Rite parishes in Nassau County

Several Catholic parishes in Nassau County, Long Island, have their own Eastern Rite exarch or bishop rather than the Latin Rite bishop of Rockville Centre. Two are Ukrainian.

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At 275 Ellison Avenue, Westbury, is the church of St. Andrew Apostle, a Byzantine Catholic Church belonging to the Ukrainian Exarchy (diocese) of Passaic, New Jersey. The parish website is linked HERE. The pastor is Fr. Nicholas Daddona. The Byzantine-Rite church in Smithtown belongs to the same exarchy.

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At 718 Front Street, Hempstead, is the church of St. Vladimir, belonging to the Ukrainian Exarchy of Stamford, Connecticut. An old article in the Long Island Herald offers a photo of the iconostasis and much information. 

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At 1500 De Paul Street, Elmont, is located a cathedral of the Syro-Malankara Eastern Rite. It is the former parish church of the Roman Rite parish of St. Vincent de Paul. Its center is in Kerala, India. Please see Wikipedia at this link. 

St. Ladislaus, Hempstead

The mailing address of the parish of St. Ladislaus is 18 Richardson Place, Hempstead NY 11550, telephone 516-489-0368.  The church faces the busy intersection of Front Street, Peninsula Boulevard, and Richardson Place, about a quarter-mile east of Main Street.  The parish website is linked here.
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About forty years after the establishment of the parish of Our Lady of Loretto in Hempstead, a mission to Polish Catholics was begun, first in Uniondale (where St. Martha's now is) and later in Hempstead.  This led to the formation of the parish of St. Ladislaus, which welcomes Catholics of all backgrounds.

The above photo was taken on 1.16.2015.  Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.  The parish website and other sources show also a Mass in Latin at 9 a.m. on Sundays.

Looking west along Front Street on a Sunday morning, one sees the white steeple of the United Methodist Church (1822), and beyond it the cupola of St. George's Episcopal Church (chartered by George II in 1735).  The Presbyterian congregation a few blocks north dates from the 1720's. Previously, the church organization was apparently Congregational.  Robert Fordham, one of the 1643 founders of Hempstead, seems to have been a Quaker minister.  Although these older churches are "downtown," the Catholic churches are in easy walking distance: Our Lady of Loretto to the south (with a wise purchase of larger grounds), and the St. Ladislaus and St. Vladimir to the east, maybe in the direction of the parishioners' farms.  Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

The Internet Polish Genealogical Source includes a lengthy history of the parish.  The architect of this 1926 church was Gustave Steinback.

Our Lady of Loretto, Hempstead

The first Catholic parish established in Hempstead was Our Lady of Loretto in 1871. At 104 Greenwich Street, Hempstead NY 11550, its telephone number is 516-489-3675.  This location is about a half-mile south of the center of the village, with Main Street becoming Greenwich Street.
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The parish website is linked here.  The parish priests in late 2018 are two Idente Missionaries.  

St. Vladimir, Hempstead

St. Vladimir's parish is located at 718 Front Street, Hempstead NY 11550, telephone 516-481-7717.  The church stands on the southwest corner of Front Street and Holly Avenue, about a mile east of Main Street.
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Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

St. Vladimir's parish in Hempstead is a Catholic parish of an Eastern Rite.  The parish is not under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Rockville Centre, but rather the eparch (bishop) of the Ukrainian Eparchy (diocese) of Stamford.  Please scroll down on this link to find the details for St. Vladimir's parish.
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St. Vladimir lived from about 958 to 1015.  His conversion to Christianity in 988 led to the spread of the Gospel in what is now Ukraine.  This is about a hundred years after the work of Sts. Cyril and Methodius.

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).