Ragamuffin committee adds OLA parish as parade honoree

In further celebration of the coming 60th anniversary of the Bay Ridge Ragamuffin
Parade, President Allison Greaker announced that the parade committee added Our
Lady of Angels Church parish as an honoree for the Sept. 26 march.
The parade was established in 1967 by OLA parishioner Clifford Scanlon at the
suggestion of Father James McKenna, who mentioned his memories of former
Ragamuffin parades held on Thanksgiving by Manhattan’s Madison Square Boys
Club. So, Scanlon called together his fellow parishioners and members of the church’s
Holy Name Society, which included Nick Albanese, Tom Clavin, Walter Kassenbrock
and Edward McCaffrey, to organize the first parade committee. Current OLA
Pastor Kevn Abels will lead his present-day honored parishioners at the event. 
A picture published by the long-gone New York PM Daily included the caption,
“American boys don’t beg.” That was the slogan of the Ragamuffin Parade put on by the
Madison Square Boys Club in an effort to stamp out the habit of street soliciting by
children. The photo, dated Nov. 26, 1943, shows boys representing many of the United
Nations in the line of march.

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Sunday, June 7 is celebrated as the feast day of Corpus Christi, which in Latin means
“the body of Christ.” Catholic churches throughout the U.S. and Canada commemorate
it at masses and outdoor processions. In Bay Ridge, St. Patrick’s Church
commemorated the feast day at its 12 p.m. mass, followed by an outdoor
possession that crossed Fourth Avenue, traveled down 96th Street, then on to Third
Avenue and back up 97th Street to the church. There were three stops at interim altars. 

  
Pastor Brian Dowd directed the procession with Parochial Vicar Father Randy
Nguyen carrying the large monstrance, which holds a consecrated host. Other area
Catholic churches also held similar Corpus Christi celebrations.

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On Wednesday, June 10, the Center for Brooklyn History, 128 Pierrepont St. in Brooklyn
Heights, held a film screening and conversation titled “The Battle of Brooklyn
Revisited,” showing “The Brave Man.” It included a panel discussion with writer and
filmmaker  Joseph M. McCarthy and prominent historian and author Barnet Schecter led
by CBH Chief Historian Dominique Jean-Louis.
Actor Graeme Malcolm narrated the movie in the role of Revolutionary Gen. William
Alexander, also known as Lord Stirling.

The packed event was held in the CBH auditorium with the panelists seated center
stage, with large wall murals of the 149-foot Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort
Greene Park on one side and the Maryland 400 Monument in Prospect Park on the
other.