St. Clare's Church (Staten Island, New York)

Church of Saint Clare
1921 building (architect's rendering)
Location within New York City
Coordinates: 40°32′49″N 74°9′0″W / 40.54694°N 74.15000°W / 40.54694; -74.15000
Location 110 Nelson Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10308
Country United States
Denomination Roman Catholic
Membership >7,000 families (in 2018)
Website http://www.StClareSI.com
History
Founded July 7, 1918 (1918-07-07) (mission);
January 5, 1925 (1925-01-05) (parish)
Dedication Clare of Assisi
Dedicated October 30, 1921
Events December 25, 1959
(new church opened)
Architecture
Architect(s) Eggers & Higgins (1921);
J.S. Shanley (1959)
Style Colonial Revival
Construction cost $15,985 (1921);
>$1 million (1959)
Administration
Archdiocese New York
Clergy
Pastor(s) Richard J. Guastella
Saint Clare School
Address
151 Lindenwood Road
Staten Island, NY 10308
Information
Established September 14, 1936 (1936-09-14)
Principal Theresa M. Signorile
Grades PreK–8 (originally 1–8)
Gender Co-educational
Enrollment ~700
Slogan Faith, Service, Excellence
Accreditation AdvancED
Website http://School.StClareSI.com

Church of Saint Clare, located in the Great Kills neighborhood of Staten Island, New York City, is the largest-membership parish under the authority of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. It is named for the 13th-century Italian saint Clare of Assisi, and it includes a co-educational PreK–8 Catholic school and Religious Education program. St. Clare's has six major buildings, dating from 1921 to 1979: the church, school, converted convent, parish center, chapel, and rectory.[1]

The parish celebrates seven Masses each weekend in the church, and three Masses each weekday in the chapel.[2] A typical sacramental year also includes fifty weddings and over two hundred funerals, baptisms, first confessions, first communions, confirmations, and anointings of the sick. As of 2018, the parish has over seven thousand registered families, including hundreds of volunteers providing a wide range of ministries and community service.[1]

Parish boundaries

After Eltingville's Holy Child Church was established in 1966, St. Clare's parish territory has been very similar to the Great Kills 10308 zip code.[1] St. Clare's current boundaries are, in clockwise order:[3][4]

  • South – Great Kills Park, Great Kills Harbor
  • West – Littlefield Avenue, Pacific Avenue, Ridgewood Avenue
  • North – Arthur Kill Road
  • East – Corbin Avenue, Dewey Avenue, Greaves Avenue, Greaves Lane, Amboy Road, Bay Terrace

Ministries and programs

The church offers a wide array of spiritual, educational, and social outreach ministries. With priests and nuns no longer in great supply, St. Clare Parish typically relies on an experienced pastor, three or four additional clergy, and ministerial support from dozens of full- and part-time staff members and hundreds of active volunteers. These serve as "teachers, lectors, musicians, ushers, Communion ministers, Parish Council members, and ... [in] counseling fellow parishioners, welcoming new residents, guiding new parents, coaching young athletes and scouts, organizing social activities, maintaining the parish properties, leading prayer groups, caring for the sick and unborn, advising the unemployed, feeding the hungry, consoling the bereaved."[1]

Parish history

Key events

On July 7, 1918, St. Clare's Church was established as a mission of Richmondtown's Church of St. Patrick by its pastor, Father Charles J. Parks. Bolstered by waves of Catholic immigration to New York, mostly from Ireland and then Italy, St. Clare's became an independent parish on January 5, 1925.[1]

The original mission church was a rented hall along then-rural Giffords Lane during 1918–1921, and the hall continued to host church activities until the 1950s. The first church building for St. Clare Parish was dedicated on October 30, 1921, and was physically moved 300 feet (90 m) south along Nelson Avenue in October 1957. It became a chapel when the current octagonal church was completed in 1959 to accommodate Great Kills' surging population, in anticipation of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge from Brooklyn.[1]

The full-time, co-educational St. Clare School opened on September 14, 1936, under the direction of Father Daniel M. Dougherty, Mother Mary Dominic Ward, and the Presentation Sisters. Located along Lindenwood Road behind the church, St. Clare School originally served Grades 1–8, now PreK–8. The building was enlarged twice, with new wings added in 1959 and 1987.[1] The school was one of twelve nationwide to receive a "Catholic Schools for Tomorrow Award for Innovations in Education" in 2008.[5]

St. Clare's Church received widespread media coverage after 29 parishioners died from the September 11 attacks in 2001. The church property now has an eternal flame in their memory.[6] The church also provided extensive assistance when Staten Island was heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.[7][8]

Leadership

St. Clare's Mission, Parish, and School have been led by the following individuals, from founding to present:[1]

Rectors of St. Clare Mission

  1. Father Charles J. Parks (1918–1922)
  2. Father David C. O'Connor (1922–1925)

Pastors of St. Clare Parish

  1. Father David C. O'Connor (1925–1931)
  2. Father Daniel M. Dougherty (1931–1944)
  3. Father Christopher B. McCann (1944–1948)
  4. Father William J. Farricker (1948–1954)
  5. Father/Monsignor John J. Flanagan (1954–1973)
  6. Monsignor John P. Keogh (1973–1985)
  7. Monsignor Joseph P. Murphy (1985–2008)
  8. Monsignor Richard J. Guastella (2008– )

Principals of St. Clare School

  1. Mother Mary Dominic Ward, P.B.V.M. (1936–1943)
  2. Sister Mary John, P.B.V.M. (1943–1951)
  3. Sister Mary Monica, P.B.V.M. (1951–1964)
  4. Sister Mary Assisium, P.B.V.M. (1964–1986)
  5. Sister Rosemary Ward, P.B.V.M. (1986–2004)
  6. Mrs. Jo N. Rossicone (2004–2015)
  7. Mrs. Theresa M. Signorile (2015– )

Father Thomas J. McDonnell, an Assistant Rector of St. Clare Mission, was later consecrated as a Bishop in 1947.[1] Father Edmund J. Dobbin, O.S.A., who graduated from St. Clare School in 1949, later became the longest-serving President of Villanova University.[9] Father Eugene J. Hicks, the first black Catholic priest ordained in New York, was St. Clare's Assistant Pastor and longest-serving priest, from 1957 through 1986.[1]

Architectural highlights

St. Clare's has six major buildings, dating from 1921 to 1979: the church, school, converted convent, parish center, chapel, and rectory.[10][11][12] In counter-clockwise order, they surround the central parking lot, and in turn are surrounded by the neighborhood's detached one- and two-family homes. The church property occupies 2.5 acres (1.0 ha)[13] between Lindenwood Road and Nelson Avenue, within the block to the north of Edgewood Road.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "History of Saint Clare Parish". Church of St. Clare. Retrieved September 23, 2018. Most of this Parish History was taken from the commemorative journal Saint Clare's School: Golden Jubilee 1936–1986. The original 1986 version was researched by Angela Ryan with archival assistance from Monsignor Florence Daniel Cohalan and Sister Marguerita Smith, and written by Thomas Reilly.
  2. ↑ "Mass Schedule". Church of St. Clare. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  3. ↑ Lore, Diane C. (September 24, 1987). "St. Clare's is largest Island parish". Staten Island Advance.
  4. ↑ "Parish Boundaries". Church of St. Clare. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Catholic Schools for Tomorrow Award". Today's Catholic Teacher. March 2008. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  6. ↑ Marbella, Jean (September 11, 2003). "Hit hard, a borough heals". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Hurricane Sandy". Church of St. Clare. 2012–2013. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Robin Hood Announces $9.59 million in latest round of Hurricane Sandy Relief Grants" (Press release). PR Newswire. January 25, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  9. ↑ "In Memoriam: Edmund J. Dobbin, O.S.A., 31st President of Villanova University". The Augustinians: Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova. March 9, 2015. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Architectural Highlights". Church of St. Clare. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Roman Catholic Church of St. Clare". The American Architect. 119 (2351): 40–41, 51. January 12, 1921. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Saint Clare's Church and School Are Dedicated". The Catholic News. May 28, 1960.
  13. ↑ "Property valuation of Nelson Avenue, Staten Island, NY". City-data.com. Retrieved October 13, 2018. 110 Nelson Avenue... CHURCH OF ST CLARE... Land size: 109,000 square feet
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