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. 

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. 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.

St. Andrew the Apostle, Westbury

Clicking on any photo will enlarge it.

St. Andrew the Apostle Byzantine Catholic church is located at 275 Ellison Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590, on the northwest corner with Whitney Street. Its website is linked here.

This is an Eastern Rite Catholic parish, not under the jurisdiction of the Latin Rite bishop of Rockville Centre, but rather under the Eparchy of Passaic, New Jersey. It is Ruthenian in heritage. The Divine Liturgy is celebrated in English.

Hicksville deanery

The Diocese of Rockville Centre has seven deaneries in Nassau County.  The Hicksville deanery includes the following parishes, in order of foundation: 
1850 -- St. Brigid, Westbury
1859 -- St. Ignatius Loyola, Hicksville
1896 -- St. Kilian, Farmingdale
1923 -- St. Martin of Tours, Bethpage
1941 -- St. Raphael, East Meadow
1948 -- St. Bernard, Levittown
1951 -- St. James, Seaford
1951 -- Holy Family, Hicksville
1953 -- Our Lady of Mercy, Hicksville
1987 -- Our Lady of Hope, Carle Place
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The regional Catholic elementary school St. John Baptist de la Salle, located at St. Kilian's parish, is supported by St. Martin, St. James, St. Kilian and St. Pius X parishes.  The regional Catholic elementary school St. Brigid/Our Lady of Hope, Westbury, is supported by those two parishes.  In Hicksville, there are three parish elementary schools: St. Ignatius Loyola, Holy Family, and Our Lady of Mercy.
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