New address for donations to Catholic Relief Services

 Mailed donations to Catholic Relief Services now go to a processing firm in the small city of Harlan, Iowa. Instead of Baltimore, the donation address is now Catholic Relief Services, Post Office Box 5202, Harlan, Iowa 51593-0702. This is a  Hearst-owned corporation that handles incoming payments for many magazines and non-profit organizations.

The loss of Catholic print media

 The Pilot is the official weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, published from offices in Braintree, Massachusetts. On December 3, 2022, it published an article, "Loss of print media seen as posing challenges to U. S. church communications."  The link to the thirty-paragraph analysis is HERE.

Msgr. Thomas J. Shelley, 1937-2022

With sadness, I report the death of Msgr. Thomas J. Shelley, author of several books on the history of Catholics in the Archdiocese of New York. He died yesterday. The Mass of Christian Burial will take place at Ascension church, 221 West 107th Street, Manhattan, 10 a.m., Friday, November 18, 2022. Please see an encomium on the website of America Magazine, linked HERE.

In Six Months, Catholic New York Gone

Shocking and disappointing news arrived this morning. The archdiocese has announced the closure of the bimonthly (every other week) Catholic New York, which will cease publication in November.

Please see the link HERE.

About 1985 , the archdiocese established the weekly Catholic New York to replace the family-owned Catholic News. The Ridder family published the Catholic News since 1886, when it was founded by Herman Ridder. The Catholic News Publishing Co. of Mamaroneck still publishes an annual Catholic Telephone Guide, a valuable list of the parishes, schools, personnel and works of archdioceses and dioceses in vast metropolitan New York (New York, Newark, Bridgeport, Brooklyn, Rockville Centre, Camden, Trenton, Metuchen, Patterson).

Appointment of deans

Yesterday, this list was posted on Catholic New York. Msgr. John Graham has been named dean for the Bronx East, Fr. Enrique Salvo for Bronx West. However, Fr. Salvo has just been named rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral, news HERE. He replaces Msgr. Robert Richie.

Registration for test to enter Catholic HS in September of 2022.

 This notice addresses the eighth grade students who hope to begin attendance at a Catholic High School in September, 2022. The time for registration has begun.

The home page for this process is linked HERE. 

 For more information, please see this handbook, which might be worth printing.

https://www.tachsinfo.com/PDF/HandBook.pdf

This entrance exam now includes Catholic High Schools on Long Island, twelve counties in total:

Brooklyn,  Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, and Orange. There are no Catholic high schools in Sullivan or Ulster counties. I know of one Catholic High School that requires a separate exam, namely all-boys Regis High School in Manhattan. Because the school listings are on landscape pages, I suggest that you print the lists of the counties that interest you.

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Please note that several schools require a second application, beyond the test. See the Bronx chart, and check the specific high school websites in the eighth column.

The date for the TACHS exam is November 5, 2021. The fee required with the application is $65.

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The Catholic New York newspaper has published an excellent Catholic High School guide linked HERE.

Thirty-two Catholic elementary schools open in The Bronx

The news of recent closures was severe, but a list of parish schools still providing elementary education shows strength. I will attempt to list by geography the thirty-two Catholic elementary schools of The Bronx.
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Schools north of Fordham Road and Pelham Parkway:
St. Margaret of Cortona, West 260 St., Riverdale
St. Gabriel, West 235th St., Riverdale.
St. Barnabas, East 241 St., Woodlawn.
St. Francis of Assisi, Baychester Ave., Wakefield.
St. Brendan, East 207 St., Norwood.
St. Philip Neri, Grand Concourse and East 202 St.
Our Lady of Refuge, East 196th St., Fordham.
Holy Rosary, Arnow Ave., East Gun Hill Rd.
Immaculate Conception, East Gun Hill Road
Our Lady of Grace, Bronxwood Ave.
St. Lucy, Mace Ave.
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Schools south of Fordham Road and to the east.
St. Simon Stock, Valentine Ave., East 182 St.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Bathgate Ave., East 188 St.
St. Clare of Assisi, Hone Ave., Morris Park
St. Francis Xavier, Haight Ave., Morris Park.
Villa Maria Academy, Pelham Bay.
St. Theresa, Pelham Bay.
St. Benedict, Throggs Neck.
St  Frances de Chantal, Throggs Neck.
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Schools south of Tremont Avenue:
Sacred Heart, Highbridge.
St. Margaret Mary, East 177 St. near Grand Concourse.
Christ the King, Grand Concourse, below 170 St.
St. John Chrysostom, Hoe Ave. near East 166 St.
St. Raymond, East Tremont Ave.
St. Helena, Benedict Ave., Parkchester.
Santa Maria, Zerega Ave., Westchester Square
Holy Family, Blackrock Ave., near Castle Hill Ave.
St. Angela Merici, East 163 St., near Yankee Stadium.
Holy Cross, Soundview
St. Athanasius, Southern Boulevard
St. Anselm, Tinton Ave., near East 152 St., Morrisania
Immaculate Conception, East 151 St., Melrose.

Most of the above websites followed an archdiocesan template, but there seems to be inconsistency about how pre-K and UPK enrollments are included. High enrollment numbers may be bloated by high numbers in pre-K. More important for the survival are the grade-by-grade numbers, especially grades 2 to 8. The websites fail to disclose these numbers, just as many websites ignore tuition rates.

Parish schools sudden closure 7.9.2020

Link to article in The Riverdale Press HERE.

St. John's, Kingsbridge Avenue
Our Lady of the Assumption, Pelham Bay.
Sts. Philip and James, East 213th St. and Boston Road.
Nativity of Our Lady, Dyre Avenue
St. Luke, East 139th Street
St. Thomas Aquinas, West Farms

The press release from the archdiocese is linked HERE.

Apartments at St. Philip Neri

Catholic Charities has received approval for two apartment houses on Villa Avenue, the street that runs behind the church and school of St. Philip Neri.  Please see this January, 2020, article in New York Yimby.
Old photos of St. Philip Neri parish are in this blog at St. Philip Neri.

Superintendent of Schools Michael Deegan

Since September, 2019, the Superintendent of the Schools of the Archdiocese of New York has been Michael J. Deegan.

Bronx CCD or religious education

Fifty-five Bronx parishes reported enrollment numbers for their religious education classes to the Official Catholic Directory 2019. However, about half the numbers were exact repeats of older numbers, therefore incredible.
Using such poor data, I counted 10,492 in parish religious ed programs, in addition to the 12,883 enrolled in Catholic elementary schools.
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The five programs reporting the largest enrollment with reliable numbers were St. Barnabas (590 plus school), St. Joan of Arc (439, no school, a parish serving the Bronx River Houses on East 174th Street). St. Lucy (318 plus school), St. Nicholas of Tolentine (296), and Immaculate Conception Melrose (285, plus school). The median parish enrollment was 163 at St. Athanasius. The five lowest religious ed enrollments were at Nativity of Our Blessed Lady, Dyer Avenue (25 plus school, in a parish the archbishop attempted to close in 2015), 31 at St. Michael in vast Co-op City (43,700 residents), 34 at Sts. Philip and James, 36 at St. John Nam, 40 at Our Lady of Grace (plus school).