UnderSouled
Local Church Closings
Riverdale Report
By Robert Press
The Archdiocese of New York has announced that as of August 1, 2015, 115 of its churches will close and/or be merged into other local churches. This move is being done citywide and in lower and upper Westchester County.
As for the Bronx 20 church's are effected. 10 will close or be merged in to 10 other nearby parishes.
The following parishes will merge. The designated parish church is identified with an asterisk (*) in the column on the left. As of August 1, 2015, although remaining a church which may be used on special occasions, Masses and the sacraments will no longer be celebrated on a regular weekly basis at the church on the right.
Bronx County
1. *Saint John Visitation
3021 Kingsbridge Avenue 160 Van Cortlandt Park South
Bronx, New York 10463 Bronx, New York 10467
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2. *Saint Brendan Saint Ann
333 East 206 Street 3519 Bainbridge Avenue
Bronx, New York 10467 Bronx, New York 10467
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3. *Saint Anselm Saint Roch
685 Tinton Avenue 525 Wales Avenue
Bronx, New York 10455 Bronx, New York 10455
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4. *Saint Rita of Cascia Saint Pius V
448 College Avenue 420 East 145 Street
Bronx, New York 10451 Bronx, New York 10454
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5. *Holy Family Saint John Vianney
2158 Watson Avenue 715 Castle Hill Avenue
Bronx, New York 10472 Bronx, New York 10473
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6. *Holy Rosary Nativity of the Blessed Lady
1510 Adee Avenue 1531 East 233 Street
Bronx, New York 10469 Bronx, New York 10466
Bronx merging church's * denotes home church only.
Parish Church
1. *Saint Margaret of Cortona Saint Gabriel
6000 Riverdale Avenue 3250 Arlington Avenue
Bronx, New York 10471 Bronx, New York 10463
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2. *Saint Jerome Saint Luke
230 Alexander Avenue 623 138th Street
Bronx, New York 10454 Bronx, New York 10454
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3. *Holy Family Blessed Sacrament
2158 Watson Avenue 1170 Beach Avenue
Bronx, New York 10472 Bronx, New York 10472
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4. *Our Lady of the Assumption Saint Mary Star of the Sea
1634 Mahan Avenue 595 Minneford Avenue
Bronx, New York 10461 Bronx, New York 10464
Locally St. Gabriel's Church located at 3250 Arlington Avenue will be merged into St. Margret's Church located at 6000 Riverdale Avenue. Visitation Church located at 160 Van Cortlandt Park South will be merged into St. Johns Church located at 3021 Kingsbridge Avenue. St. Ann's Church located at 3519 Bainbridge Avenue will be merged into St. Brendan Church located at 333 East 206th Street.
On Sunday November 9th there will be a Veteran's Day Ceremony at 12 p.m. in the Veteran's Memorial Grove of Van Cortlandt Park. The National Anthem 'The Star Spangled Banner' will be sung in remembrance of those who fought and gave their lives so we could celebrate this Veteran's Day 2014. This Memorial Day ceremony is made possible by the Memorial Grove Restoration Group.
The latest chapter of the Croton Filtration Monitoring Committee took place last week. While some of the faces may have changed this year the answer is the same. The committee made up of Community Board 7, 8, and 12 board chairs and the local councilman and Bronx Borough President's representative keep asking why local Bronx residents can not have access to view the beautiful water in the Jerome Park Reservoir. There are two high iron metal gates that surround the reservoir with a wide interior path for DEP cars and trucks to use. The DEP says that it is due to the security of the water supply that the two high fences are needed to keep out possible saboteurs. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said it best when he told DEP Associate Commissioner Eric Landau that a bad guy can just throw what the DEP wants to keep out over the two fences easily. The DEP's answer is that the inner fence will be only 4 feet high so that the community can see the water better, but the outer higher fence must remain.
While Associate Commissioner Landau was attentive to the community he admitted that he has been with DEP for only 4 months, coming from a job in Prospect Park Brooklyn. By the way the community was sure that Associate Commissioner Landau understood that any water in the Jerome Park Reservoir is unfiltered raw water that will go to the water filtration plant. As for overruns and delays, this water filtration plant was suppose to be on line by the end of 2013. That was 3 DEP commissioners ago, and the delays continue.
This past Monday night’s Community Board 8 Land Use meeting had an update on the proposed Montefiore Medical building that was scaled down from 11 stories to 6 stories, with less medical space and a higher parking ratio. No matter what a group of local residents still say the proposal is to large for the site, and want no medical center at all. Since the meeting went on after our deadline, I will have the recap for you in next weeks column. The next full Community Board 8 meeting will be held at the Riverdale Temple located at Independence Avenue and West 246th Street, and begins at 7:30 PM. If you would like to address the board members in the gallery session on a specific topic, you can call the boards office at 718-884-3959 to place your name on the speakers list.
Lastly the 2nd Annual North Riverdale Merchants Association Street Festival on Riverdale Avenue between West 256th and West 259th Streets went off this past Sunday. I stopped by during the setup, and saw that the weather was exactly as I had said in last weeks column, sunny and 50 degrees. The only thing I forgot to mention was that there might be a little wind that day. Congrats to all who participated in the event, and I can't wait for next years North Riverdale Street Festival.
If you have any comments about this column, have an event that you would like to have covered or listed in this column or on my blog, e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com, , or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.
