The address of Sacred Heart parish is 1253 Shakespeare Ave., Bronx NY 10452, telephone 718-293-2766. As the above photo shows, the church faces the intersection of Woodycrest Avenue and Shakespeare Avenue. Bus route Bx11 comes past the door. Clicking on a photo will enlarge it.
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The address of the parish school is 95 East 168th St., Bronx, NY 10452.
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Please note that the church of St. Francis of Assisi, on Shakespeare Avenue less than a mile north, has been merged with Sacred Heart parish.
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The address of the parish school is 95 East 168th St., Bronx, NY 10452.
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Please note that the church of St. Francis of Assisi, on Shakespeare Avenue less than a mile north, has been merged with Sacred Heart parish.
This door at the back of this photo is to a chapel accommodating about 28 faithful. The large church is to the right. The rectory is to the left.
The Highbridge Community Life Center operated from seven buildings in Highbridge, but in 2014 it suffered from woefully inadequate funding and ceased all or most work. For years, the Brothers teaching at the school lived here at 1252 Nelson Avenue.
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See page 292 of Msgr. Shelley's book for the establishment of Sacred Heart parish in 1875. In 1877, the pastor purchased a wooden church from St. Rose of Lima parish, Cannon Street, Manhattan, and had it disassembled and transported to Highbridge. See page 392 for the visitation by coadjutor archbishop Corrigan on August 15, 1883. The present church dates from 1912. See page 294 for photos. See page 475 for a photo of St. Eugene's chapel on Odgen Avenue. See page 585 for Sacred Heart parishioners affected by fires and destruction in the 1970's. The neighborhood has been rebuilt, and it is alive with residents.
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For decades the Sisters of Mercy and, from 1926, the Brothers of the Christian Schools staffed the school.
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A lengthy and excellent history of Highbridge and Sacred Heart parish is linked HERE.
PASTOR OF SACRED HEART CHURCH (HIGHBRIDGE) FR. MICHAEL SEPP HAS PASSED ON 3/13/09. REST IN PEACE IN GODS NAME . HE WAS LOVED BY ALL AND WILL BE DEARLY MISSED.
ReplyDeleteSacred Heart will have an 8 am Traditional Latin Mass on Easter Sunday 2010.
ReplyDeleteThis is probably the first public extraordinary form Mass since before 1969.
Email from Jim McClean barrackst@hotmail.com
ReplyDeletehi joe came across you on bronxcatholicblog while searching for info on 975 Summit and the chapel opposite on Ogden where I was an altar boy from July 1958 to end of March 59 when we went back to Ireland due to my mom having difficulty with the immigrant life in NYC and missing her own mom with whom we lived in Belfast prior to emigrating.
I was very friendly with the custodian of St Eugene's Mr Spillane and particularly his son John as we were in the same class at Sacred Heart- Bro Louis was our teacher. My younger bro attended there as well and I was aged ten while my sister 3 yrs older went to the convent school. She became very friendly with a girl Paticia O'Reilly who had an older bro Tom, but I don't think he wrote the story of Highbridge.
Back in Belfast I went back to my old school, St Gall's, also under the La Salle Bros and lost contact with John Spillane although I saw him in an 8th grade class photo in a Sacred Heart yearbook I came across online but I would love to meet him again.
My dad worked for Dellwood Dairies in Yonkers and the family who were our building's supers were the Cash family, parents originally from Ireland and I accidentally met the older son John at an Irish music event in Toronto in 1995 or 1996 and we have been friendly ever since ;he visited us in Ireland and we him in Florida.
I am teacher of History and English with the Irish Christian Bros but have had a great interest in the States and visited there often and think a lot of my time in the Bronx, what would have happened if we had stayed and would we have been sent to Nam. I enjoyed reading your blog and if you can help me search for John Spillane in anyway I'd appreciate greatly.
jim McClean
ps the priest i/c of the altar boys was FR Carroll a tall spectacled swarthy retired and in a wheel chair aged 95 about 3 yrs ago, slan agus Beannacht
REMEMBERING FR MICHAEL SEPP, LATE FORMER PASTOR OF SACRED HEART
ReplyDeleteFather Michael Sepp is now a Saint in Heaven. I am sure of it. If he is not, then who can make Heaven? Therefore he is. So, it is in order not only to pray for his soul but to pray to him for intercession for us, still here, to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If you believe when praying to him, you will see the miracle quickly but if you don't, well; faith is necessary for miracles. This is entering 2020 and I am still reeling from his passing. A part of me is gone just like when I lost my dad and mum. I loved and love Father Michael Sepp, a servant of God in Christ. He brought out the best and holiest in me and many. He brought out prayerfulness and even a modicum of holiness in my sinful life. He drew many to all night prayer vigils. I call him my older brother and will always miss him. His passing is one of the greatest hurts and shocks of my life. Then his mother passed shortly after. A family that has given so much to the Christian faith and all of them were turned into Ministers wherever Father Michael worked. They gave materially and their time, talents and treasures to the Churches. The family would contribute renovation jobs and such to help parishes. He was a holy man. We saw him adopt and as I learnt, eventually nurture Lorenzo as a son into the Catholic holy Priesthood, another of his numerous pure miracles blessed by God. A SAINTHOOD CAUSE IS IN ORDER FOR FATHER MICHAEL SEPP, if not inevitable. Who would care to carry this water?
ACEO, Nigeria