On Sunday, Oct. 20, the Church of St. Patrick in Bay Ridge commemorated its 175th anniversary with a noon Mass led by Brooklyn Bishop Robert J. Brennan, who is at the helm of the Brooklyn Catholic Diocese. He served as the principal celebrant and homilist with a presbyterium of 16 priests and Auxiliary Bishop Witold Mroziewski, the Episcopal vicar for Brooklyn west parishes co-celebrating. In addition to St. Patrick’s Pastor Brian Dowd and current staff priests, there were fellow clerics from neighboring churches and others from past years at St. Patrick’s.
The day’s program began with two bagpipers playing as the procession entered the church led by uniformed Knights of Columbus. Pastor Dowd read the gospel and Bishop Brennan delivered the homily. Brennan discussed how New York Archbishop John Hughes traveled by boat to the then-rural area of St. Patrick’s to dedicate the new church building. Pastor Dowd displayed to the congregation a framed certificate signed by Pope Francis extending his blessings on the church’s 175th anniversary.
When St. Patrick’s Parish was founded in 1849 it wasn’t part of Brooklyn. It was established in the Village of Fort Hamilton, in the Town of New Utrecht. Then New Utrecht was annexed by the City of Brooklyn in 1894. And in 1898, Brooklyn lost its independence and became one of the five New York City boroughs.
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The NIA Community Network held its annual Veterans Breakfast on Saturday, Oct. 19 in the Fort Hamilton Community Club. The event was co-sponsored by State Sens. Andrew Gounardes and Iwen Chu and Councilman Justin Brannan. Army Garrison Chaplain Maj. Jonathan Bailey gave the invocation. Many of the veterans present served during the Vietnam and Korean wars.
Gounardes hosted the event, introducing guest speakers that included New York City Commissioner of Veterans’ Services James Hendon, NIA founder and President Joseph Bova, banker and civic leader Frank Naccarato, Sr., Brannan’s Chief of Staff Chrisopher McCreight, and Family Court Justice Samuel Mantilla.
Both Gounardes and Chu nominated two area veterans to the New York State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame who were introduced and given the opportunity to discuss their awards. They were Hector Gonzalez and Leonard B. Aronica.
***On Sunday, Oct. 27, the MTA commemorated the 120th anniversary of the New York City subway system. In the early years, many of the transit subways and buses were owned and operated by private companies. For Wednesday, Nov. 6, the Society of Old Brooklynites has invited highly knowledgeable transportation historian, author and retired transit manager Andrew J. Sparberg to give a presentation on the Brooklyn-based Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Company (the BMT), which built and operated the train routes we use today known as the Culver, Sea Beach, Fourth Avenue, Brighton and Canarsie lines. The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at Brooklyn Borough Hall and is open to the public.
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