Merger of St. Clare of Assisi and St. Francis Xavier parishes

Effective today, September 1, 2018, is the merger of two parishes less than a half-mile apart on Hone and Haight Avenues in the Morris Park section of The Bronx. The records held at St. Francis Xavier parish will be moved to the rectory of St. Clare of Assisi. The merger is somewhat unusual because the territorial parish is St. Francis Xavier, which will set the boundaries, while St. Clare of Assisi is a personal parish (read: national or Italian). Judging from the bulletins, attendance and revenue at St. Clare may be a bit stronger than at St. Francis Xavier, but both parishes have schools. Until today, the pastor of St. Francis was also the administrator of St. Clare, so this merger has been in the works. Neither church will be closed.
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The merger decree is linked HERE.
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My photos from St. Clare are HERE.
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My photos from St. Francis Xavier are HERE.

Religated to profane use, 2017 and 2018

Churches closed and readied for sale.
Saint Anthony, Wakefield, Bronx, May 2018. It was said that the pastor donated much to this Italian national parish.
Our Lady of Grace, Bronxwood Avenue and East 226 St., Bronx, May, 2018.
St. John Vianney, Castle Hill Avenue, May, 2018. Francis Cardinal Spellman several times overestimated the number of Catholics entering Housing Authority projects. Boston-style segregation was not replicated in our city's public housing. In several instances, Cardinal Spellman purchased property for new parishes before the projects were constructed. With regard to the Marble Hill houses, he dropped plans for a new parish of St. Philomena at the corner of West 225th Street and Kingsbridge Road, and sold the plot to the Board of Education.
Our Lady of Pity, East 151 St., Bronx, demolished 2018.
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St Veronica, Christopher St., Greenwich Village, Manhattan, 2018. My parents wed there in 1935.
St. Joseph, Lower East Side, Manhattan, May, 2018.
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St. Sylvia, Tivoli, Dutchess County, May, 2018. This was the northernmost church of the archdiocese east of the Hudson River.
St. John the Baptist, Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, May 2018.
Chapel of Christ the King, Staten Island, May 2018.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mount Vernon, Westchester County, May, 2018.
Most Holy Trinity, Mamaroneck, Westchester County, May, 2018.
St. Mary of the Assumption, Port Richmond, Staten Island, November, 2017.

Mergers 2018 with two or three churches open

St. Clare of Assisi and St. Francis Xavier in Morris Park, Bronx, effective 9.1.2018.
St. John the Evangelist, Pawling, and St. Charles Borromeo, Dover Plains, both in Dutchess County, effective 9.1.2018.
Sacred Heart and St. Francis of Assisi, Newburgh, effective July 1, 2018.
St. Mary, St. Joseph, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Poughkeepsie, with 3 churches open, effective July 1, 2018.

St. Roch on Wales Avenue is reduced to profane use, up for sale

In the summer of 2018, I am catching up with neglected posts.  On November 30, 2017, the archdiocese posted this notice that the church of St. Roch has been reduced to profane, but not sordid, use.  That is, after the sacred objects are removed, confessionals, for example, the building is for sale.
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The Archbishop merged this parish with that of St. Anselm on Tinton Avenue, effective August 1, 2015. No Masses or sacraments are regularly celebrated at St.  Roch's.  The telephone number of the combined parish is 718-292-3834.

On the afternoon of September 4, 2010, I entered St. Roch's church and chanced upon the celebration of a Mass on what appeared to be a Quinceanera. A mariachi group played and sang the liturgical music, such as the Sanctus and offertory and communion hymns. Clicking on any photo will enlarge it.

See page 231 for the foundation of St Roch parish in 1899 by Father John Milo. The church is on the west side of Wales Avenue north of East 147th Street.
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The above 2010 sign is invalid as of August 1, 2015.  Mass will not be celebrated here on a regular basis.

This view looks north on Wales Avenue towards busy East 149th Street and the Bx19 bus.

The church was dedicated in 1932. According to the A.I.A. Guide, it was designed by the firm DePace & Juster, Anthony DePace also designer of two churches at the parish of St. Theresa, Pelham Bay.

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Ursuline Academy, Grand Concourse

In the approximate years 1902-1959, a girls' school, Ursuline Academy, stood on high ground on the southeast corner of East 165th Street and the Grand Concourse. The same congregation of religious sisters that ran the Academy of Mount Saint Ursula in Bedford Park also taught in this school.
A photograph from the New York Public Library is linked HERE.

An excellent photo of the corner site is HERE. What a staircase! I used to think of it built atop a pile of rocks.

Pope Leo XIII urged religious congregations that shared a common founder to reunite as Rome-centered groups. The Sisters of various Ursuline houses were asked whether they wished to join such a Roman Union, and the Bronxites agreed. Apparently, they needed a location for a provincialate, bought the Grand Concourse rock and created thereupon a convent and school.