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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St. Thomas school closing

 The diocese has announced the June, 2021, closing of the parish school at St. Thomas the Apostle, West Hempstead. Please see the press release linked HERE, but I fear the release will soon disappear from the diocesan website. The enrollment at St. Thomas was 209 in September, 2020, according to the media release. The pandemic is blamed, but I see changing demographics as a major cause of the drop in enrollment. On Long Island, people move and neighborhoods change. In this case, an eruv includes much of the parish, and public school districts #17 and #27 are affected by lower enrollments. For more commentary, please see my post for St. Thomas parish.  

St. Raymond's school closing

 The diocese of Rockville Centre has announced the June, 2021, closing of the school at the parish of St. Raymond of Penafort in East Rockaway. The press release is linked HERE, but I fear the notice and its explanations will disappear. In September, 2020, the school enrollment was 130.  For more commentary, please see my post for St. Raymond parish.

Our Lady of Mercy parish school to close

Our Lady of Mercy parish school in Hicksville, across Oyster Bay Road from Plainview, closed in June, 2020.  This school must not be confused with Our Lady of Mercy Academy on Convent Road in Syosset.

All Saints School to close

An email from licatholic.org explains that the diocese will close two elementary schools in June, due to low enrollment: All Saints at St. Patrick's, Glen Cove, and St. Joseph School, Ronkonkoma. All Saints is a regional school sponsored by five parishes: St. Patrick, St. Rocco, St. Hyacinth, St. Boniface Martyr, and St. Mary (Roslyn). At All Saints, the current enrollment in K-8 is 132 students, plus eleven more in Nursery level. Two different websites provide more information, drvcschools.org and drvcschools.com

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The Long Island Catholic weekly newspaper once printed an informative grade-by-grade chart of the enrollment in the Catholic elementary schools of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. If my memory is correct, this was done during the editorship of Msgr. Paul McKeever, 1967-1975. As we approach Catholic Schools week, publishing a similar chart on a drvcschools website org would likewise inform the Catholic population.

St. Vincent de Paul, Elmont

Please see The Long Island Catholic for this January, 2016, news about the use of St. Vincent de Paul parish church as a Catholic cathedral.  Also, please see this lengthy, informative article about the Divine Liturgy celebrated at St. Vincent de Paul on February 14, 2016, and on subsequent Sundays.
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For the first time, the Vatican has created a Syro-Malankara eparchy (Eastern term, similar to diocese) in the United States.  The cathedral or see of its first bishop will be at the church of St. Vincent de Paul in Elmont, which is administered from the parish of Saint Catherine of Sienna, Franklin Square.  The 2015 Official Catholic Directory provides this legal name, "St. Vincent de Paul Malankara Catholic Cathedral Parish" at 1500 De Paul Street.
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Please note the address at the bottom of the website of the new eparchy.  Also, please note this news article about a new bishop of the Syro-Malankara Eparchy. In the sixth paragraph, it refers to Elmont.
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One must distinguish this eparchy from the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of St. Thomas of Chicago.  Both groups represent St. Thomas Christians of India, which has apostolic roots and long predates the arrival of Western Catholicism (Latin Rite) from Portugal.
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The above announcement is dated January 4, 2016.  From what I saw today (March 3, 2016), the parish of St. Vincent de Paul has not abandoned its location.  Nor is there any outdoor sign indicating the presence of a cathedral.  The parish website is up-to-date and informative. 

Clicking on any photo will enlarge it.  The photos with snow are from 2011.

Since June, 2011, the parish of St. Vincent de Paul, Elmont, has been administered by the pastor of St. Catherine of Sienna parish, Franklin Square.  Please see the diocesan press release linked here dated May 10, 2011.  This is not a merger of parishes, but rather an administrative consolidation. 

The church of St. Vincent de Paul is located north of Hempstead Turnpike, east of the new Elmont Library.  The entrance is via West Gate and north on Robert Avenue.  The intersection of Hempstead Turnpike and West Gate has a traffic signal, and a sign for the church is there.
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The rectory address is 1500 De Paul Street, Elmont, NY 11003, telephone 516-352-2127.  
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The parish was established in 1951.  The parish elementary school opened in 1961, but is now closed.

Above, Robert Avenue ends at De Paul Street.

The above 2011 photo looks west along Hempstead Turnpike towards the new Elmont Library and the principal crossroads of Elmont.  At the right is West Gate, leading via Roberts Avenue to the church.
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For me to write that Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) was an admirable person is an understatement.  One summary of his life is linked here and another here.

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.

St. Martin of Tours, Bethpage

Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

The parish of St. Martin of Tours is located at 220 Central Avenue, Bethpage NY 11714, telephone 516-931-0808.  The parish website is linked here.  The church, rectory, and other parish buildings are within the triangle created by Broadway, Central Avenue, and Seaman Avenue.  The location is three blocks southeast of the Bethpage train station.
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An informative history of the parish is at this link.  Diocesan priests served the parish from 1924 until 1986, when they were replaced by Redemptorists of the province of Baltimore, which is headquartered in Bay Ridge!

Above is the religious education center, built as an elementary school in 1955, and the church, on busy Central Avenue.  

A wedding was being celebrated the Friday afternoon the above 2011 photo was taken on Central Avenue. 
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Within seven miles of each other are two parishes whose patron is St. Martin of Tours.  In Amityville, Suffolk County, the parish of St. Martin of Tours was founded in 1898.  This parish in Bethpage, Nassau County, was established in 1923.  
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Born in 316 in what is now Hungary, Martin moved around with his father, an officer in the Roman Army.  Martin became a Christian, and he was the third bishop of Tours, France, from 371 to 397.  His successor was the renowned St. Brice.

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?

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.

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.

St. Kilian, Farmingdale

Originally built in 1897, St. Killian church was greatly enlarged a century later.  It stands on the south side of Conklin Street (NY 24), Farmingdale, a block east of Main Street.  The mailing address of the rectory, which is on the north side of Conklin Street, is 485 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY 11735, telephone 516-249-0127.  The informative parish website is linked here.

Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

The principal window of the east transept honors the martyrs Kolonat, Kilian, and Totnan, killed at Würzburg, Germany, about the year 688.  For that account, please see the Our Patron link on the parish website, left column.  The rosary beads worn by Kolonat and Totnan may be anachronistic, about five centuries too soon.

On the north side of Conklin Street stands St. Benedict's chapel with the parish office and the rectory.  I am rather certain that the chapel was constructed and used long before the church was enlarged and renovated.

On Cherry Street, adjacent to the church,  is an auditorium and school.

Five parishes sponsored this regional school, but the Bishop of Rockville Centre has ordered it to be closed in June, 2012.