St. Malachy Church - School History

A Brief History of St. Malachy's Parish

submitted by Arthur Pirozzi, Jr., Class of 1962 (click above to see old bulletin)

During the reign of Pius IX and the early episcopacy of Bishop Loughlin, first Bishop of Brooklyn, St. Malachy's parish began in 1854. The new parish took its roots in a village known as New Lots, situated in the northeast corner of the town of Flatbush. In 1837 the area was described as the "First Manufacturing District lying on the Great Eastern Railroad, five and one half miles from New York." An 1843 description said that the area was along side of the great thoroughfare to Boston (the LIRR).

In 1853, Father Andrew Bohan from Holy Cross in Flatbush celebrated Mass in a hotel on the northwest corner of Atlantic Avenue and Vermont Street. Father Bohan was to scout out the area for a church in which he later obtained six lots on the northeast corner of Atlantic and Van Siclen Avenues. The property was transferred to Bishop Loughlin in March 1854. The erection of the church began immediately with pieces coming in from Flatbush in a somewhat prefabricated fashion. A month later, On April 9, the church was dedicated by Bishop Loughlin under the patronage of St. Malachy. There were approximately 500 people in attendance, each paying .50 for admission. Although the cost to build the church was a mere $2,300, most of the debt was paid by that day. The Brooklyn Evening Star reported that "it is a cheap but neat frame building, capable of holding, as Catholic churches are usually filled, about 500 persons. The dimensions are 38' wide on Van Siclen Avenue and extending back 58'."

The following are significant dates and accomplishments:

	Father Thomas McLaughlin established Sunday school at about 1860.
	1862 - Reverend Creighton became the first resident pastor. By securing a 3 story building on Atlantic Avenue and nine adjoining lots, he opened a school in August of 1868.
	1871 - the first group of Sisters of St. Joseph with Sister M. Elizabeth as superior arrive at St. Malachy's.
	1876 - Father McNamara entrusted the Sisters with St. Malachy's Home for Orphan and Destitute children which was previously established by Father Carroll. It was located on the corner of Atlantic and Van Siclen Avenues and sheltered 150 boys.
	1877 - Succeeding Father McNamara was Father O'Connell who erected a new school house to be run by the Sisters. It was shared by the parish children and the orphans.
	1891 - Thirteen Sisters are now caring for 229 boys and 117 girls. Father O'Connell also enlarged the church building at this time.
	Sometime before 1929, the St. Malachy's Home for Orphans moved to a new building in Rockaway. The original building became a receiving and quarantine station.
	1929 - A catastrophic fire destroyed the school building. The Sisters won great recognition in the secular press for heroism during the fire. Father Higgins acquired the former Home for Orphans and converted it into the new parish school. He was also responsible for reinforcing the frame church with brick and concrete.
	1939 - Father Kane renovated the entire school and beautified the parish grounds with outdoor grottos in 1941. Also in 1941, a kindergarten was opened and another school renovation was made in a few years.
	1954 - Father Doheny becomes pastor and discovers that the existing school had become, through age and overcrowding, inadequate for the parish needs.
	1957 - Father Doheny announces an ambitious $200,000 building fund campaign to erect a new 12 classroom school and an adjoining auditorium capable of seating 800. In two months, Father Doheny announced that the fund total was $213, 655.
	1958 - In the early part of that year, the campaign had raised $245,000. The enrollment was nearly 600 and the doors opened to us. Sr. Nicetas was the principal with ten sisters and four lay teachers. NO TUITION WAS CHARGED. FAMILIES WERE STILL PAYING OFF PLEDGES FOR THE NEW BUILDING.
	1959 - Father Doheny died on July 3rd of that year and the pastoral charge went to Father Kleinklaus until his retirement in 1965.
	1964 - Enrollment drops to a little less than 500 and tuition of $30 per year is charged. The teaching staff drops to nine sisters and three lay teachers. The number of children from Spanish speaking homes is twenty-five which doubled by 1967.
	1965 - Father McMonagle started a pledge campaign to build a very needed new Convent for the sisters. The response was so great that when it opened in April 1968, there was no debt!
	1968 - As the Sisters moved in, there were now seven plush the principal and five lay teachers. The bingo games brought money in for the parish but not enough to stop a raise in tuition to $75. The faculty was now at six Sisters and six lay teachers.
	1969 - Father McElroy found the parish to be changing rapidly. We were moving to Queens, Nassau and Suffolk and Spanish speaking families were taking our places. Together with the Associate Pastor, Father O'Neill, they instituted a Spanish Mass. He also initiated many athletic programs which he personally moderated.
	1971 - In October, many were saddened when Lillian McGovern took a fatal attack during lunchtime.
	1973 - Sr. Thomas Vincent was principal. Classes were reduced to eight; one for each grade. Tuition has now reach $270 for one child and a sliding scale was used according to family size. The Spanish speaking families were on the increase.
	1976-77 - A Cluster Coordinating Committee which started in Sister Falvey's time began to talk seriously of a consolidation. Parents were very concerned about what would happen to the school Fund raising projects began but the enrollment was now down to 202 children with 3 nuns and 6 lay teachers.
	June 1979 - St. Malachy's closes the school doors. The committee voted to close St. Malachy's and St. Michael's and open a joint school, St. John Neumann, in the former St. Michael's High School building. September enrollment is 411 staffed by four sisters and eleven lay teachers. Sr. Josephine Adams ended a letter written for the Centennial as follows: "Of those who have graduated, there are representatives in both the secular and religious priesthood. The Sisters of the Presentation, The Daughters of Wisdom, the Franciscans, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Newark, the Blessed Sacrament Sisters as well as our own Sisters of St. Joseph now include former students. Many fine civic leaders attest to the quality of the training given by the Sisters."
	Father Raymond J. Kelly became Pastor of St. Malachy's in October 1983 and continues in that position this this day. It was during his pastorate that the Secular Institute of Neustra Senora de la Alta Gracie took up residence in the Convent adjacent to the Church. Using St. Malachy's School building, in 1995 Catholic Charities began a daycare center, a full-day early childhood education, giving little East New Yorkers a head start in life. Father Kelly was made a Monsignor on March 19, 2003. It was the first time a pastor of St. Malachy's was given that honor.