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St. Sebastian's Parish Center
The Pool at the Parish Center
The Weight Room at the Parish Center |
The Pastorate of Rev.
Edward Lodge Curran
On March 23, 1962, Archbishop McEntegart ap-
pointed the nationally known Rev. Edward Lodge Cur-
ran as pastor of St. Sebastian's. A controversial figure
who was a civil lawyer and radio commentator, he was
a long-time president of the International Catholic Truth
Society and participated in numerous anticommunist and
proisolationist rallies, lawsuits and actions in the 1930's
and 1940's. A spellbinding orator, Fr. Curran was also
the author of numerous books, pamphlets, and poems on
religious and patriotic topics. He promoted the bishop's
desire to build a parish center and oversaw a successful
fund-raising drive (chaired by Ed Fowley) that resulted,
along with the monies left from the 1952 campaign, in
the opening of the parish center with no debt at all on
June 8, 1968. In that same year, he facilitated the pur-
chase of the Boys' Brigade camp in upstate New York,
which would later bear his name. Despite his stern
reputation, Fr. Curran was a particular benefactor of the
parish youth, even financing numerous Catholic school
tuitions from his own pocket. The parish CYO grew
ever stronger with twelve activities under the direction
of a CYO Board of Directors.
He took pride in the 1,232 students who attended
the parish school, often complimenting the principal, Sis-
ter James Catherine, and the 15 Sisters and 10 lay tea-
chers who staffed the school. It should be noted that
from the opening of the school in 1928, the teachers of
the parish school continued to conduct the Confraternity
of Christian Doctrine (CCD) religion classes for the pub-
lic school children of the parish, with a parish school
Sister serving as the CCD principal.
One of the notable parish societies founded
during Fr. Curran's pastorate was the Catholic Daugh-
ters of America (CDA) on June 22, 1964, with the aims
of "the promotion of Catholic Action, support of the
missions, and help to young men who wish to enter the
seminary." The first Grand Regent of the parish CDA
was Mrs. William Shea, and there were 54 charter
members.
The year 1969 saw the founding of the parish
drama society, the Sebastian Players, which began a
nearly unbroken string of annual or semiannual
productions with You Can't Take It With You in 1970.
One of the innovations permitted by Vatican II
was the notion of retirement of priests from the active
ministry. Fr. Curran was among the first pastors of the
diocese to make use of this procedure when he became
pastor emeritus in 1973. His death on February 14, 1974
was widely mourned, and he was one of the few pastors
of the Brooklyn Diocese to merit an article on the
obituary page of The New York Times. |
