- Church of Notre Dame (New York City)
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Church of Notre Dame and Rectory
Facade of the Church of Notre Dame
Location: 405 W. 114th St. and 40 Morningside Drive, New York, New York Coordinates: 40°48′18″N 73°57′38″W / 40.805°N 73.96056°WCoordinates: 40°48′18″N 73°57′38″W / 40.805°N 73.96056°W Area: less than one acre Built: 1909 Architect: Daus & Otto; Cross & Cross Architectural style: French Neo-classical Governing body: Private NRHP Reference#: 80002678[1] Added to NRHP: May 6, 1980 The Church of Notre Dame in New York City is a parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. The church is located at 40 Morningside Drive and the rectory at 405 West 114th Street in Manhattan, New York City.
Contents
History
Geraldyn Redmond donated funds[2] to the Fathers of Mercy, a French community of priests, requesting they build a chapel to propagate devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes. They established the Church of Notre Dame in 1910 as a mission of the St. Vincent de Paul Parish on West 23rd Street.[2] The first administrator of the parish was Fr. Maurice Reynauld, who later died in France during World War I.[3] While in France in 1913, he affiliated Notre Dame Church with the Sanctuary of Our Lady in Lourdes, France, thus enabling worshipers at the Church of Notre Dame in New York City to obtain the spiritual benefits of worshipers at Lourdes. From the beginning of the Parish, a special arrangement was made with the ecclesiastical authorities in Lourdes, France that Lourdes water would be sent directly from the mother shrine at Lourdes to the Church of Notre Dame. Since that time Lourdes water has been continuously available at the church.
The sanctuary completed in 1910 was the work of Daus and Otto. Cross & Cross designed the nave, facade, and rectory completed in 1914. A planned dome was never completed.[4] The expansion continued intermittently until completed 50 years later.
The chapel was officially dedicated on October 2, 1910, by Archbishop John Farley. Cardinal Farley dedicated the enlarged structure on February 11, 1915, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.[2]
Notre Dame became an official parish in 1919 and grew from a small chapel to the present church in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It was still a center for New York's French community when Cardinal Charost of Rennes visited the church in June 1926[3] and when Bishop Alfred Baudrillart of the Institut Catholique de Paris presided at a ceremony in April 1927.[5] In 1960 charge of Notre Dame was transferred from the Fathers of Mercy to the Archdiocese of New York.
In 1936, an organization of lay parishioners, the Notre Dame Study Club, was the first group of its type to call upon every Catholic parish to support the Catholic Church in efforts to provide for social justice for the Negro.[6]
In January 1967, the New York City Landmarks Commission designated the Church and the Rectory of Notre Dame as architectural landmarks. The buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 6, 1980.[7]
In 1988, some parishioners sued under cannon law to prevent the remodeling of the sanctuary, specifically relocating the altar in accordance with liturgical reforms established by Second Vatican Council.[8]
Notre Dame today
Over the years the French community was integrated with other ethnic groups. Calling Notre Dame home are many people of Irish, German, Italian, Black, Hispanic and Filipino decent. Today Notre Dame is still just as ethnically diverse as its neighborhood.
In 2003, the Archdiocese of New York entrusted the Polish Province of the Dominican Order with the responsibility of taking care of Notre Dame Parish and all its ministries. Control returns to the Archdiocese in the fall of 2011.
Catholic Campus Ministry at Columbia University became a part of the parish mission of Notre Dame in 1988. Notre Dame's community includes ministry at St. Luke's Hospital and the nearby Amsterdam Nursing Home, part of NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System.
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
- ^ a b c New York Times: "New Notre Dame Dedicated," February 12, 1915, accessed June 9, 2011
- ^ a b New York Times: "Besiege Charost to Kiss his Ring," June 14, 1926, accessed June 9, 2011
- ^ Matthew A. Postal, ed., Guide to New York City Landmarks, 4th edition (New York City Landmarks Preservation Foundation, 2009), 193, available online, accessed June 9, 2011
- ^ New York Times: "Traces the History of Christian Altar," April 25, 1927, accessed June 9, 2011
- ^ New York Times: "Help of Catholics for Negroes Asked," March 27, 1936, accessed June 9, 2011; New York Times: "Catholics Condemn Lynching," January 28, 1937, accessed June 9, 2011
- ^ National Register of Historic Places: Annual Listing of Historic Properties, 10649, accessed June 9, 2011
- ^ New York Times: Ari L. Goldman, "Plans to Split the Altar Split a Church," July 11, 1988, accessed June 9, 2011
External links
Categories:- Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan
- Churches in Manhattan
- Landmarks in New York City
- Roman Catholic churches in New York
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York
- Religious organizations established in 1910
- 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings
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