Country United States Website St. Joseph's Church Dedication Saint Joseph Phone +1 914-337-1660 | Denomination Roman Catholic Founded 1905 Opened 1928 Status Parish church | |
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Location 15 Cedar Street,
Bronxville, New York Address 15 Cedar St, Bronxville, NY 10708, USA Architectural style Gothic Revival architecture Archdiocese Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York Similar St Pius V's Church, St Benedict the Moor, St Frances of Rome's Church, Church of St Simon Stock, St Francis Xavier's Church | ||
The Church of St. Joseph (commonly called St. Joseph's Church) is a Roman Catholic parish located in the Village of Bronxville in Westchester County, New York. Officially founded as a church of the Archdiocese of New York in 1922, the Church of St. Joseph consists of the parish church, adjacent parochial St. Joseph School, rectory, and parish center. It serves residents of Bronxville as well as residents of nearby neighborhoods in Eastchester and Yonkers. In addition to Sunday and daily masses, the church performs and prepares Catholics for the sacraments of baptism, first holy communion, confirmation, penance, matrimony, and anointing of the sick. It also conducts charitable and philanthropic efforts and a CCD (catechism) religious education program. St. Joseph's has a permanent chaplain to the nearby Lawrence Hospital Center.
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History
The Church of St. Joseph began as a mission in Bronxville by neighboring Church of the Immaculate Conception of Tuckahoe in 1905. Having no dedicated structure, masses were celebrated in the ballroom of the illustrious Hotel Gramatan by Immaculate Conception pastor Fr. John McCormack who traveled by horse each Sunday. The first masses were attended by only seventeen families. In 1906, the mission purchased the no-longer-used Bronxville schoolhouse on the corner of Park Place and Kraft Avenue, converting it into St. Joseph's Chapel.
The once-small Bronxville Catholic community grew rapidly. In 1922, the mission was elevated to an official parish of the archdiocese by Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Fr. Joseph L. McCann its first pastor. The church quickly outgrew its home and began construction on the present-day church building on the corner of Kraft Avenue and Cedar Street, having raised $50,000 over the preceding four years. The new building was designed by Yonkers architect William H. Jones in the English Gothic Revival style. The stone from which it was constructed was locally mined from quarries in Westchester. In 1927, the church was dedicated by Cardinal Hayes and was completed in 1928.
The new pastor, Fr. Francis X. Scott oversaw the opening of the school in 1951. Monsignor Joseph Moore led the parish's transition following the Second Vatican Council. Under Monsignor Patrick J. Sheridan and Fr. James Connolly, the church and rectory were renovated and a pipe organ was installed in the church, as the staff was expanded. A parish center was constructed in 1986, which replaced the limited space of a previously-used house on Meadow Avenue.
During their time of residence in Bronxville, the Kennedy family attended St. Joseph's Church. The young Ted Kennedy was an altar boy at St. Joseph's Church and was later married there by Cardinal Spellman.
St. Joseph's celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1972 with Terence Cardinal Cooke and Monsignor Theodore E. McCarrick (later Cardinal Archbishop of Washington) in attendance.
School
St. Joseph School opened on September 10, 1951 adjacent to the church at 30 Meadow Avenue and was staffed by the Congregation of the Most Holy Rosary (Adrian Dominican Sisters) while operated by the parish. Francis Cardinal Spellman dedicated the school on October 7 of that year. Monsignor Patrick Sheridan oversaw the start of construction of the parish center that included a gymnasium and additional space for teaching and offices in 1985, with dedication by John Cardinal O'Connor occurring on September 27, 1986. St. Joseph School consists of an upper and lower school of grades kindergarten through eight. It was presented with a National Blue Ribbon Award by the U.S. Department of Education in 2010. The school's facilities are used also for the CCD religious education program for students who attend secular schools. St. Joseph School has an active Mothers' Club and Men's Club. Many students who graduate go on to attend local Catholic high schools in Westchester and Manhattan. As of 2015, 239 students attended the school.
Pastors
In order from founding to present: