Tuesday, November 15, 2011

St. Thomas, East 221 Street



On East 221st Street, Wakefield, between Barnes Avenue and Bronxdale Avenue, is the church of St. Thomas. The address of the parish is 810 East 221 Street, Bronx NY 10467, telephone 1-718-994-4747.  St. Thomas the Apostle Syro Malabar Catholic Church serves a Catholic Asian Indian community.  The parish website is http://www.stsmcc.org/
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The church has roots in Kerala, India, going back to the time of St. Thomas the Apostle. This is a Catholic parish, not under the jurisdiction of the Latin Rite archbishop of New York, but rather through the Syro Malabar bishops. In 2002, the archbishop of New York offered this pastor and congregation this former church of St. Valentine, built in 1937.  See pages 236 and 240 Thomas Shelley's book for the foundation of the Polish parish of St Valentine in 1889. 
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Monday, November 14, 2011

Church within a school

As I tour The Bronx, I sometimes encounter parish schools that have a church enclosed within the school, as at St. Ann (Bainbridge Ave.), Sts. Philip and James (Boston Road), Our Savior (Washington Avenue), St. Gabriel, Christ the King, and Blessed Sacrament.  I hope to learn more about the architects that designed these buildings, which tend to have construction dates between 1900 and 1940, although there are examples newer and older.
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I will label these Church Inside School.

Sts. Philip and James, Boston Road


Update, July 13, 2020 -- The church is open, the school is closed. The pastor  is Father Steven Masinde, A.J.  A relevant article from 2017 is HERE.
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See pages 488 and 489 for the 1949 establishment of the parish of Saints Philip and James on Boston Road at East 213 Street. The parish address is 1160 East 213 Street, Bronx NY 10469, telephone 718-547-2203.  I neglected to take a photo of the church entrance on East 213th Street, which just around the right corner of this view from Boston Road.  The property is bounded by Boston Road, East 212 Street (to the left of this photo), Msgr. Cahill Place, and East 213 Street.
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The parish and school website, offering much information,  is linked here.  The school address is also 1160 East 213 Street, Bronx NY 10469.  The school telephone is 718-882-4576.
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For many years the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt staffed the parish school. The Sisters also have a blog here.
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The patrons face northwest on the school wall.  Since St. James wrote an Epistle, I presume he holds a scroll.  The parish website has biographies of each.