St. Patrick"s -- Place holder

I have to get back to this...

#8 St. John the Evangelist (348 East 55th Street) August 7, 2011

You know those girls in high school that were nondescript? Blandly pretty, decent grades, not popular but not an outcast, had a tight group of other nondescript friends. Maybe she was the treasurer of the Spanish Club and participated in the Walk-a-Thon every year, but that was the extent of her high school involvement. However, she did have a boyfriend who was absolutely crazy about her -- thought she set the moon. She ends up marrying him after college and lives a very nondescript but content life with their two equally bland children, the American Dream -- but a boring version. (At first I was picturing Brenda Walsh from 90201 -- but only the first season, because then she got CRAAZY...and was most certainly not nondescript).

Okay -- total detour, but I googled "bland family" to find a picture to use to illustrate my completely snarky description and came across this decidedly NOT Bland family. They are a southern gospel family band that travels around the U.S. in their tour bus giving church concerts.

I am sorry, this picture still has me laughing...it is from their album cover, but it looks like the evil ring leader from the Children of the Corn movie's grown up family Christmas photo -- but his wife refused to take yet another family picture in a corn field, so they changed it up this year to a wildflower field. And why is the little kid not dressed in the same color scheme as the rest of the family? Did he throw a tantrum and refuse the black button down? Or is he even in the family? Or is he the farmer's kid (hence the overalls) and just wandered into the picture? The whole thing is just weird...but still cracks me up.

Okay, back to the blog....

Well, if you were to use the characteristics of a high school girl "type" to describe a Catholic Church (which, of course, I am), Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Midtown East would be that girl.  Nice enough, does the job, but isn't setting the world on fire.....(gawd, I was not a mean girl in High School but I certainly am now. I am sure my mother is soo proud!); but the one thing that makes me feel better about my bitchy assessment is that just like Bland HS Girl has her over-the-moon boyfriend, I am sure that St. John the Evange has parishioners who are just crazy about the place.

Full disclosure, this church is very close to my house and it has been my "default" church so I have attended mass here several times before starting this project (and had the same bland experience every time).  In addition, I am totally annoyed with myself for having to pull this church out so early in the process. I planned to keep this one in my pocket and only use when I really needed a quick church to stay on track. Now, I don't have a back up church which probably serves me right for being such a church snob and a really horrible planner.

The Church itself is on the first floor of a much larger building that houses both the Archdiocese of New York headquarters and Cathedral High school. It looks very different from most of the churches I have visited so far, both internally as well as externally. The inside is sleek and modern, with minimalist pews that surround the open altar. I do love the hidden space under the seats to tuck the missalettes -- little secret places make me happy.

The mass was fine...lots of cute, old couples who still hold hands, which I love.  The church has this not sure of the word for it baptismal font that looks like a meteor. If it was actually made out of a meteor it would be the coolest font ever and I might have another child just to have them baptised there. You have to admit that is a pretty cool design.

 

I do like the open floor plan and layout out of the church.  And I really like that they have the church open all day as a place of peaceful reflection.  Again, this church is totally fine...but for  me, it needs something else...a little punch, a little spice, I am not sure what. 

Afterwards, we attended a street fair on Lexington. It didn't seem like there was any particular reason to have the street fair other than to sell junk food, cheap jewelry and touristy t - shirts. There was an unexpected celebrity sighting...Mr. Peanut! How cool is that?

He arrived in the peanut mobile but I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture.  He was just as taken with me as I was with him, proven by the gift of a free t-shirt. We also had chicken kebabs and sat on the some steps and people watched.  Good day....made even better with kettle corn (which I inhaled too fast to take a picture).

Church of St. Monica (413 E. 79th St) July 31, 2011

Again, with the last minute mass (I really need to plan better). I did a search and found St. Monica's had a mass starting in 15 minutes. Mad dash to the M15 bus stop! The church is almost right on the corner of 79th and 1st (and only about 1/2 a mile north of the church from last week). I thought that I might be in for another lonely mass, but the mass was well-attended.  No air conditioning, but they had electric fans at the end of every pew, so the temp was comfortable.  The church itself is beautiful. I feel like many of the churches lately all have blue ceilings -- but they were all built roughly the same time, so maybe that is the reason. I loved all the stained glass windows -- and often, I think of stained glass windows as dark, but this church was bright and well light.  There are stained glass windows everywhere you look at St. Monica's -- it is a really exquisite structure.

The best part of the mass was that one of the deacons looked just like Andy Warhol, circa 1970. He had a great voice too --- and led most of the singing. One of the other cool things that I noticed was that one of the altar "boys" was actually an African-American woman in her 50s. When I was in Ireland (and also in Spain, but that was Easter so don't know if that is standard), I noticed that most of the altar boys were actually men. Whenever I think about altar boys, I think of my brothers serving at mass a very long time ago, so I should probably change that mental picture.

I was at mass alone, so just went around the corner to a pastry shop, Anneliese's.  It is just north of 79th on 1st. Very cute....old fashioned. I ordered an almond croissant and ordered coffee. The croissant was fine, but the coffee was delicious. Piping hot and terrific flavor. I do wish they had real coffee cups, since I was eating in, I prefer real china and silverware rather than paper.  The very BEST thing about this place is that they have current magazines available.  I really enjoyed my alone time with my coffee and a new Marie Claire.  The whole experience was nice and relaxing. A perfect way to spend some time after mass.

St. John Nepomucene (Corner of 66th and 1st) July 24, 2011

Okay, this mass made me a little depressed. This was a last minute choice, went to the last mass on Sunday morning (I believe it was the 12:30 pm). While the church itself is pretty, there were only 25 people attending mass. In a large church, a small number of people just makes it feel lonely.  I hope the church is crowded at other masses -- there was a Slovak language mass before our mass, so I hope that one is well attended. The priest was on the younger side, but unfortunately I couldn't hear him very well. The sound system was pretty bad. Afterwards, an elderly lady was telling the priest that she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to afford the air conditioning this month due to the heat wave, so she had been spending a lot of time at the Irish bar down the street. Which was both funny and sad at the same time.

Afterwards, we first went to Java Girl. A coffee shop on 66th street. It was adorable, but the minute we walked in my companion made a face, said "we can't stay here" and walked out. I hurried out after him expecting he saw something terrible, like racist literature or dead rats behind the counter, but no....the reason why we had to flee the coffee house was because it SMELLED LIKE COFFEE!!!! Seriously, that is what I am working with. I don't know what else to say to that except I apologize to Java Girl and promise that I will try it again, sans cranky coffee smell hating companion. Next we tried Bagel Works on 1st Avenue, but there was no place to sit. This Godhattan session was shaping up to be an epic fail. Then we ventured into a Mexican restaurant, Aprovecho (http://www.aprovechomexican.com/) with me totally expecting a loud declaration of a sudden allergy to guacamole or South America or something similarly ridiculous, but a quick glance at the menu passed muster and we sat down.  The place is cute, very colorful with friendly service. Quite simply, the food was cheap and delicious....to start we ordered a plate of The Works Nachos....I appreciate that they come in small and large. We ordered the small for $5.95 and they were perfect. There is nothing worse then getting nachos and after you get through the first layer of cheese, there is nothing but naked, dry chips. Not this batch...every single chip had stuff on it, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, onions, etc... really, really good. Next up, a chicken tamale and a steak taco platter. All was really yummy, good portions and fresh. Topped off with an ice cold corona (and a lime soda for Mr. Stick-in-the-Mud). We left very comfortably full and only cost about $30 for the two of us.

St. Cecilia (125 E. 105th St) July 10, 2011

Oh Cecilia! By far one of our favorite churches so far, hands down. Even though our visit was a couple of weeks ago (I switched to a new camera, that I don't know how to upload the pictures, which has delayed the blog a bit), every time I think about it, I still smile. Just a terrific place. And quite frankly, any church that has a sign as soon as you walk in the door that says, "If you are suffering from AIDS or love someone who is, you are welcome here" is a church that I am happy exists. In my opinion, that is true Christianity in a nutshell right there.

So we thought we would try something different, and we were up in the Bronx for a basketball tournament, so it made sense to hit Mass on the way back home. I looked up Sunday evening masses in northeasten Manhattan and chose St. Cecilia's. Cecilia is a special name for my family, it was my paternal Grandmother's name (who grew up in the Bronx incidently), my confirmation name and my newest niece's name -- and I have never been to Spanish Harlem, so I thought this parish would be a good choice.

When we showed up, there was a street fair going on in front of the Church. It was at the tail end of the fair, but you could tell there had been some really good food served earlier. There was a young man wearing a bright yellow T-shirt, imprinted with FATHER PETER on the back, who was being bossed around by several old church ladies. We went into the church which was pretty, on the plainer side, but open and calm. Just as an aside, we sat in the side pews -- I have NEVER seen such leg room in a pew before.  Literally, when you stood up, you had to take two steps to get to the pew in front of you.  If NBA players are ever looking for a church, this is the place for them. It was really remarkable. And I wish I knew the story behind why the pews were placed that that.

Father Peter came in, now dressed in his robes and said mass. He apologized that due to the street fair (which was a fund raiser for a new roof) there would be no music today but we could use the sounds of the street fair outside as our background music. Father Peter is lively and gives a great sermon. But my favorite part was at the end of the mass when he gave the announcements and asked if anyone was new to the church. One woman raised her hand and the whole church burst out in applause. He then asked if it was anyone's birthday...but no one raised their hand. He asked again, but still no takers (and for the record, I had a birthday boy (on the 12th) but he had just left to head to the restroom.  After mass, we walked around to take some pictures and then stopped to say hello to Father Peter (it is obviously a close knit parish, so visitors were noticed and I thought we should say thank you). He might be the most adorable priest of all times. Father Peter is from Tanzania and my son and he were immediate fast friends. They talked about our visit to Africa, the Masai warriors and how high they could jump, the NBA, Le Bron James, the history of St. Cecilia's, Harrison Ford, the leaking roof and how many movies have been filmed on the street in front of the church. All in about 10 minutes. He was hilarious when he found out that my son's birthday was that week and told us that he LOVES when it is people's birthdays because the entire church will sign Happy Birthday.  So fun...and very welcoming. We will definitely be back (and I mailed Fr. Peter a donation for the church roof fund. I just really loved this place).

Afterwards, two of the church ladies pointed us in the direction of some street murals.  Pretty impressive. We stopped at the Harlem coffee shop and had a light dinner. I did see a couple of other places I really want to try out, so we will most definitely be visiting the area (and St. Cecilia's) again.

#4 Church of the Blessed Sacrament (152 W 71st St)

Thought we'd try the other side of the park this week.  Beautiful Saturday afternoon, walked across Central Park, stopped for an late lunch/early dinner at Harry's Burritos (Columbus and 72nd).  Very Yummy and relatively reasonable-- and nothing starts off a Saturday night mass like a beer and fish tacos (Jesus was a fisherman, people!) Pleasantly full, we trotted down the street for Mass. The church reminds me of a church we went to for Easter Sunday in Madrid. Big, with huge stone columns (columns which had giant speakers mounted on each one. Which made me wonder how they get the color to match perfectly -- I have seen other churches have the same speakers that almost blend into the columns -- is there a church catalog that has marble and stone colored speakers or maybe the speaker catalogs have a church section).      

                                                                                                                                                                  

I like this church...it is definitely old school. I asked where the restrooms were and one of the ushers took us behind the altar, through the sacristies where the priests were getting ready for mass (side note: the priests were negotiating about mass schedules...one of the priest agreed to trade masses with the other priest but he also got the guy to also promise to make dinner twice this week). It was fun to be back behind the scenes, reminded me of growing up and running around in church while my parents were setting up for bingo, ushering...etc...

The crowd was pretty mixed, lots of young couples with babies.The music was good, priest was funny, all in all a good mass. I also appreciated the second collection for the soup kitchen (Blessed Sacrament runs the shelter next door). And the priest's reminder "that just because you went away for the weekend, doesn't means the church's bills went away too".

Then, the treat to end all treats. Levain Bakery (www.levainbakery.com). Remember that name. Seriously, if you don't believe in God, you will after eating this cookie.  It really is that good. It is basically a small bowl of cookie dough cooked just enough to kill the salmonella.  It is heavenly.  You know a bakery knows what they are doing when then is a line outside the door, and not a one of them a tourist.  They have four kinds, Walnut Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin, Double Chocolate and one more kind that I can't even tell you because I had tunnel vision as soon as I saw my soul cookie. Feast your eyes on this baby....

I realize that you probably aren't reading this anymore because you can't tear your eyes away from that cookie. Just put yourself out of your misery and go get one!

Church #3 Our Lady of Peace (237 East 62nd Street)

First off, please let the record show that I was not only on time for Mass, but actually seven minutes early!!! Color me proud.

 Okay -- down to business: I LOVE this church. Seriously, this could be "my" church. I realize that it is early in the game, but the other 95 R.C. Churches in NYC have alot to live up to.  The bar was definitely set high. The block (between 2 & 3) that it sits on is beautiful -- full of the kind of townhouses and brownstones that make you wish you could knock on their front doors and ask the owners what kind of life choices they made so you can follow their lead and end up living in one of those houses too. I completely fantasize about having 4 or 5 full floors to decorate smack dab in the middle of New York. I am even willing to have an eccentric old guy with an ironclad rent control agreement living in the basement apartment as long as he isn't so weird that I am not comfortable sitting on my limestone front stoop, sipping a glass of chilled Pinot Grigo as I watch the sunset and chat with my wonderfully charming neighbors.

Anyways, considering that my chances to make the life choices that will make me a property owner on the Our Lady of Peace Church block are quickly dwindling, let's move on.  The Church is great -- I chose it today because 1) the name was similar to my childhood parish in Colorado, Queen of Peace and 2) it is only about a 10 minute walk from my non-brownstone 5th floor walk up apartment! The church is peaceful and simple, but with great paintings covering the ceilings and walls. Lots of Saint paintings and the artist was nice enough to paint the saint's names alongside which is always appreciated. I have a special place in my heart for martyrs with male-patterned baldness. The priest was fantastic...reminded me of Carlton Banks from Fresh Prince of Bel Air if Carlton grew up in Africa with a great accent and a terrific singing voice. He sang twice during his homily and tied together his brand new GPS with following your faith's journey ("recalculating"...."need to update your maps"). Loved him!  It also had a great 70s throw back wood carving above the baptismal font which I really liked (probably because Queen of Peace was a 70s era, upside down cupcake looking church).

 The choir was terrific...I don't know how many people were up in the choir loft, but it sounded like a lot.  Or just a few with very big voices. The congregation was on the older side (12:30 pm Sunday service), but got a kick out of the very elegant, older ladies who were so well put together. I hope they all had plans after church because they looked too lovely to just go home (unless it was to one of my coveted brownstones!). I even liked their bulletin. I told you this place set the tone for all the other churches.

After church, I couldn't really decide on a good treat -- plus I had gotten a mani/pedi before Mass which seemed like adding a cookie afterwards would be just greedy on the treat scale. Diva Nails on 1st between 64th and 65th. They aren't fantastic, but until I find a better place, they will have to do.The neighborhood around church seems pretty residential. I did check out one of the cutest grocery stores of all time, GOURMET GARAGE. Pretty pricey, but the produce etc.. was beautiful and I guess if you live in a $5,000,000 + brownstone, you aren't worried about overpaying for eggplant.

Finally ended up at this great little Middle Eastern shop, Melange -- 11188 First Avenue-- that sold meats, olives, and imported foods. Bought some garlic stuffed olives that were delish...

All in all, a terrific way to spend a couple of hours on a summer Sunday.

#2: St. Agnes (June 16th)

Oh Saint Agnes...I really wanted to like you. You have a cool name, you are close to the office and every time I mention this blog, your name always comes up. I even googled you the night before and read the your "appropriate for children" bio. As an aside, the appropriate for children label was a bit misleading...basically a Virginal Agnes is murdered by the King because she won't marry his son (or just sleep with his son...couldn't exactly understand her "crime" due to the child safety locks on the story).  Anyways I thought Agnes story was scary enough, even with all the vagueness, so decided that I would just stick with the "gentler' torture and murder of a young girl for her faith and thought it was best I didn't go read the full blown "adult" version.

The church itself is really pretty...smack dab in the middle of 43rd street (between Lex and 3rd). I was trying to attend the 12:35 mass, but was late (let's hope I am not late to every single of the 98 masses for this project). I fall into the NYC trap where everything is so close, so I think getting someplace will take me about half the time it really does.  I seriously have to work on that.

The inner church is big, open and air...with plain, pioneer-like pews. I am assuming the parish is very devout -- besides the Latin Masses -- there were at least six women at mass with their heads covered (and I haven't seen that many head coverings at one mass since 2nd grade at St. Teresa's in Colorado where the entire O'Toole family of five girls (three boys) attended daily mass with their parents before school. Mrs. O'Toole wasn't a fan of Vatican II obviously). Also, at least 10 people went to confession during mass...there was actually a line. There was also a giant painting above the altar of St. Agnes being welcome into Heaven...I think the side paintings depicted her non-child friendly torture and murder, but I wasn't close enough to be sure (I wanted to stay a resident of Vagueville).

Thanks Pushy Lady!

When mass was over, I tried to take a couple of pictures outside (there was another mass starting at 1:05 so I couldn't take any of the interior) but I couldn't get people to wait half a second to let me take a pic of the cool lion door handles.  Patience, people! We just left church...! So I only have one picture that works -- barely!)

Tried to get lunch on way back to office -- I remembered why I always told people I hate Midtown (which I am sure they find hilarious now that I not only work here, but live here too). Too many people, too little space. Just too hectic -- gives me heart palpitations.  I tried three places -- $0.99 pizza, a rice ball buffet and a dumpling bar but the lines were all out the door. I ended up back at work empty handed and finally bought soup from the work cafe. All in all, a pretty disappointing venture (sorry, St. Agnes).

Church #1: Our Lady of Good Counsel

First off, I was ridiculously late because I decided I would take the bus up to 90th instead of the subway. It is the first time I have taken the bus and there was a receipt check which held things up. Then I didn't look at the route, so I didn't get off at 86th and the next stop was 97th.  The bright note was that on the walk back south, there was a homeless woman doing yoga on 2nd avenue.  Her downward dog was to DIE for...seriously, she put a lot of yogis to shame.

So I finally arrive....Our Lady of Good Counsel is between 2 and 3rd avenue and directly across from a sweet little playground. They have a 6 pm mass on Sunday. The church outside is huge and imposing.  Inside...HOLY DETAILS! This church is OR-NATE! There are carvings everywhere -- at first, I had a hard time listening to the priest because I was taking everything in.  I definately need to bring a camera because my phone is not going to cut it (and after Mass, I wanted to take more pictures, but the priest was standing at the back of the church chatting with people and I felt uncomfortable, so I only took one pic). One thing that was interesting was that the ushers were really young, like not a one over 30. Not a problem obviously, it is just that most churches have ushers that are pre-Vatican II.

Mass was nice...a little long. The priest (visiting) had a lot to say. The little kid behind me had a lot to say too. I hope his mother was praying for better parenting skills, because he was killing me. However, he did make me really concentrate on Mass to try and distract myself from the urge to turn around and clock him.

Afterwards, wanted to head to Two Hens Bakery, but they were closed. So we went to Papaya instead (86th and 3rd). It was completely worth not hitting the brat during mass -- the hot dogs were absolutely delicious! The best I have ever had.....hot, juicy and the perfect amount of sauerkraut.  So so good. Then checked out a great shoe store and ended up our adventure buying the world's largest chocolate chip cookie from Hot & Crusty. It was wonderful...and really liked the neighborhood. There were lots of people out and about and lots of interesting people watching (like the guys smoking pot in front of the pay phones while sitting in leather office chairs. Pretty bold..but no one seemed to care).

Took the bus home, with no missteps (the bus is so much nicer than the subway -- at least for this trip).  I think this project is going to be really fun...but I am going to have to cut out the numerous treats afterwards. One treat per mass is going to have to be one of my guidelines.

List of Roman Catholic Church in NYC (thank you Wikipedia!) But I was wrong about the number, looks like there is less than 70.

Churches in Manhattan

• Cathedral of St. Patrick (50th St. and Fifth Ave.) - Established in 1858
• Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz (New York City) (378 Broome St.) - Established in 2005.
• Church of All Saints (Manhattan) (129th St. at Madison Ave.) - Established in 1879; staffed by the Franciscan Friars.
• Church of Corpus Christi (Manhattan) (529 W. 121st St.) - Established in 1906.
• Church of Notre Dame (405 W. 114th St.) - Established in 1910; formerly staffed by the Fathers of Mercy (1910–1960).
• Church of the Holy Rosary (Manhattan) (119th St. at First Ave.) - Established in 1884; staffed by the Augustinian Friars since 1979.
• Church of Our Lady of Lourdes (W. 142nd St., between Amsterdam Ave. & Convent Ave.) - Established in 1901.
• Church of Our Lady of Esperanza (Manhattan) (624 W. 156th St.) - Established in 1912.
• Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel (Manhattan) (230 E. 90th St.) - Established in 1886.
• Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Bernard (New York City) (328 W. 14th St.) - Established in 2003 as a result of a parish merger.
• Church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary (Manhattan) (7 State St.) - Established in 1884 as a mission; 1887 as a parish. Home to the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.
• Church of Our Lady of Lourdes (Manhattan) (472 W. 142nd St.) - Established in 1901
• Church of Our Lady of Sorrows (Manhattan) (Pitt St. at Stanton St.) - Established in 1867; staffed by the Capuchin Friars. Formerly known as Our Lady of the Seven Dolors Church (New York City)
• Church of Our Lady of Victory (Manhattan) (60 William St.) - Established in 1944; previously located at 23 William St. (1944–45)
• Church of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs (New York City) (91 Arden St., near Broadway) - Established in 1927
• Church of Our Saviour (Manhattan) (59 Park Avenue at 38th St) - Established in 1955.
• Church of SS. Cyril, Methodius, and St. Raphael (New York City) (502 W. 41st St.) - Established in 1974 from the merger of St. Raphael and SS. Cyril & Methodius (New York City)]] . Staffed by the Franciscan Friars (1974–present).
• Church of St. Agnes (Manhattan) (141 E. 43rd St.) - Established in 1873.
• Church of St. Aloysius Gonzaga (New York City) (219 W. 132nd St.) - Established in 1899; staffed by the Jesuit Fathers.
• Church of St. Andrew (Manhattan) (20 Cardinal Hayes Pl.) - Established in 1842; staffed by the Blessed Sacrament Fathers.
• Church of St. Ann (Manhattan) (312 E. 110th St.)
• Church of St. Anthony of Padua (Manhattan) (West Houston St. at Sullivan St.) - Established in 1866; staffed by the Franciscan Friars.
• Church of St. Benedict the Moor (New York City) (342 W. 53rd St.) - Established in 1883 to serve the African-American community of the city; staffed by Spanish friars of the Third Order of St. Francis (T.O.R.) from 1953 to ???. Parish has been reduced to mission status, and is maintained by members of the new Lumen Christi congregation.
• Church of St. Catherine of Genoa (New York City) (506 W. 153rd St.) - Established in 1887.
• Church of St. Catherine of Siena (New York City) (411 E. 68th St.) - Established in 1897 as a mission; 1907 as a parish. Staffed by the Dominican Fathers.
• Church of St. Cecilia (New York City) (E. 106th St., between Park Ave. & Lexington Ave.) - Established in 1873; staffed by the Redemptorist Fathers (1939–present).
• Church of St. Charles Borromeo (New York City) (211 W. 141st St.) - Established in 1888.
• Chapel of the Resurrection (New York City) (276 W. 151st St.)
• Church of St. Elizabeth (New York City) (W. 187th St. at Wadsworth Ave.) - Established in 1869; formerly located on 187th St. at Broadway (1869–1929).
• Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (New York City) (211 E. 83rd St.) - Established in 1887; formerly located on East Fourth St.
• Church of St. Emeric (New York City) (Avenue D, between 12th St. & 13th St.) - Established in 1949.
• Church of St. Francis of Assisi (Manhattan) (135 W. 31st St.) - Established in 1844; staffed by the Franciscan Friars.
• Church of St. Francis Xavier (Manhattan) ^[1] 45 W. 16th St. - Established in 1847; staffed by the Jesuit Fathers.
• Church of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (New York City) (564 Main St., Roosevelt Island) - Established in 1973.

• Church of St. Gregory the Great (New York City) (144 W. 90th St.) - Established in 1907.
• Church of St. Ignatius Loyola (Manhattan) (980 Park Ave.) - Established in 1851; staffed by the Jesuit Fathers since 1866. Known as St. Lawrence O'Toole Church (1851–1866).
• Church of St. Jean Baptiste (New York City) (76th St. at Lexington Ave.) - Established in 1882; staffed by the Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament since 1900. A French-Canadian National Parish until 1957.
• Church of St. John the Baptist (Manhattan) (210 W. 31st St. at Seventh Ave.) - Established in 1840; staffed by the Capuchin Friars.
• Church of St. John the Evangelist (Manhattan) (East 55th St. at First Ave.) - Established in 1830
• Church of St. Joseph of the Holy Family (Manhattan) (125th St. at Morningside Ave.) Established in
• Church of St. Joseph (371 Sixth Avenue) - Established in 1829
• Church of St. Jude (Manhattan) (204th St. at Tenth Ave.) - Established in 1949.
• Church of St. Lucy (Manhattan) (344 E. 104th St.) - Established in 1900; staffed by the Sons of Divine Providence.
• Church of St. Malachy (49th St. at Eighth Ave.) - Established in 1902; known as the Actors' Chapel.
• Church of St. Mark the Evangelist (New York City) (West 138th St., near Lenox Ave.) - Established in 1907; staffed by the Holy Ghost Fathers (1912–present).
• St. Mary's Church (Manhattan) (Grand St. at Ridge St.) - Established in 1826.
• Church of St. Michael (Manhattan) {424 W. 34th St.)^[3]
• Church of St. Monica (Manhattan) (413 E. 79th St.) - Established in 1879.
• Church of St. Paul (Manhattan) (113 E. 117th St.) - Established in 1834; staffed by the Institute of the Incarnate Word Fathers (1998–present).
• Church of St. Paul the Apostle (Columbus Ave. between 60th and 59th St.) - Established in 1876. Mother Church of the Paulist Fathers.
• Church of St. Peter (Barclay St. at Church St.) - Established in 1786; first parish in the diocese.
  • Chapel of St. Joseph (Manhattan) (385 South End Ave.) - Established in 1983.
• Church of St. Rose of Lima (New York City) (510 W. 165th St.) - Established in 1901.
• Church of St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr (New York City) (7th St. at First Ave.) - Established in 1872; stood at 318 Henry St. until 1900. Staffed by the Fathers of St. Paul the First Hermit.
• Church of St. Stephen of Hungary (New York City) (East 82nd St.) - Established in 1927; staffed by Franciscan Friars since 1922. Previously located on 14th Street {1905-1927}
• Church of St. Stephen the Martyr/Our Lady of the Scapular (New York City) (142 E. 29th St.) - Established in 1990.
• Church of St. Teresa (Rutgers St. at Henry St.) - Established in 1862.
• Church of St. Thomas More (67 E. 89th St.) - Established in 1950.
• Church of St. Veronica (Manhattan) (149 Christopher St.) - Established in 1886.
• Church of St. Vincent Ferrer (66th St. at Lexington Ave.)
• Church of the Annunication ((Manhattan)), Convent Avenue
• Church of the Ascension (Manhattan) (221 W. 107th St.) - Established in 1895.
• Church of the Blessed Sacrament (Manhattan) (West 71st Street, just east of Broadway) - Established in 1887.
• Church of the Epiphany (New York City) (21st Street at Second Ave.) - Established in 1868.
• Church of the Good Shepherd (Manhattan) (608 Isham St.) - Established in 1911; formerly staffed by the Paulist Fathers. Currently staffed by the Capuchin Friars.
• Church of the Holy Agony (Manhattan) (98th St. at Third Ave.) - Established in 1930; formerly a mission of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. Staffed by the Vincentian Fathers.
• Church of the Holy Cross (329 W. 42nd Street, between 8th and 9th Aves.) - Established in 1852.
• Church of the Holy Family - The United Nations Parish - (315 East 47th Street, between 1st and 2nd Aves.) - Established in 1924.
• Church of the Holy Innocents (Manhattan) (37th St. at Broadway) - Established in 1868.
• Church of the Holy Name of Jesus (96th St. at Amsterdam Ave.) - Established in 1892; staffed by the Franciscan Friars since 1990. Previously located at Bloomingdale Rd. at 97th St. {1868-1891}.
• Church of the Holy Trinity (Manhattan) (West 82nd St., near Amsterdam Ave.) - Established in 1898.
• Immaculate Conception Church (Manhattan) (East 14th St., near First Ave.) - Established in 1855.
• Church of the Incarnation (Manhattan) (175th St. at St. Nicholas Ave.) - Established in 1908.
• Church of the Most Precious Blood (113 Baxter St.) - Established in 1891; staffed by the Franciscan Friars.
• Church of the Nativity (New York City) (Second Ave. at Second St.) - Established in 1842; formerly staffed by the Jesuit Fathers.
• Chapel of the Resurrection (New York City) (276 W. 151st St.) - Established in 1907.
• Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Manhattan) (457 W. 51st St.) - Established in 1876.
• Church of the Transfiguration (Manhattan) (29 Mott St.) - Established in 1827.
• Proto-Cathedral of St. Patrick (260-264 Mulberry St., between Prince St. and Houston St.) - Established in 1809

Exploring Manhattan, one Catholic Church at a time....

So I recently moved to the city (have worked here for the past two years, but was bridge and tunnel which horrified me) and while I love wandering around, wanted to figure out a way to make sure I see all parts of Manhattan. During a google search to find masses close to my midtown office, I saw that there are 98 Catholic Churches in Manhattan and decided it be cool to attend mass at every one.

Last year, I found out that I surprisingly LOVE attending weekday masses at noon. They are usually very short, yet very refreshing and peaceful. There is something about popping out of the office and taking about 20 minutes to sit quietly in prayer and meditation. It calms me down and resets my stress level to managable.  And it makes me feel close to my father who often attended daily mass while he was alive.  Sometimes during summer vacation, I would wake up very early to attend early morning mass with him. It was a great way to get some one-on-one time with him...and it usually ended up with a trip to get a donut (bonus!) before dropping me off at home before he headed to work.

Full disclosure...I am not particularly pious...actually I am probably the worst Catholic in my immediate family; however, I am absolutely Catholic and always will be. This blog won't be necessarily a religious blog and I don't care to argue the merits of the Catholic Church (let's just get this out of the way....while I don't agree with everything the Church says and does, I am not leaving. To me, it is the same as I don't agree with every decision the government makes, but I am not going to renounce my U.S. citizenship). For me, being Irish Catholic is a huge part of who I am, and I can't separate my religion out of my identity any more than I could separate my name from who I believe I am. 

That being said, I am really looking forward to this project. My plan is pretty simple...attend mass at every Catholic Church in Manhattan. I am going to try to not attend the same church more than once (in order to force me to branch out and keep exploring -- but I am not making any promises). No rules...we will just see how it goes. It might be a daily mass or it might be a Sunday mass. There will probably be a treat after every Sunday mass...a extra bonus may be me hitting nearly every bakery in Manhattan; hopefully, calories consumed right after hearing the Word of God are less fattening. Probably not, but I can always ask God to consider that!