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PASTORS
OF ST. SEBASTIAN PARISH
The Pastorate of Rev.
Michael J. Walsh
Fr. Walsh was the pastor of St.
Sebastian's for 23 years, from 1914 until
his death of heart disease in 1937. By 1915,
the parish's growth merited the assignment
of a second priest, Fr. Terence Sharkey. The
need for a parish school was clear. Fr.
Walsh began the fund- raising efforts and
ground was broken on October 3, 1926. The
sixteen-room school was opened on September
10, 1928 under the capable direction of the
first principal. Sister Mary Alexis, S.C.H.
It was dedicated by Bishop Thomas E. Molloy
on September 23, 1928. The Sisters of
Charity of Halifax, who taught in the
school, lived at first on the top floor of
the school, but as their numbers increased a
convent became a necessity. Construction
began in the spring of 1931, under the
architect Henry V. Murphy of Brooklyn. The
Sisters moved in on January 9, 1932, and
Bishop Molloy formally dedicated it on May
11, 1933.
Fr. Walsh presided over the first great
growth period of the parish, seeing the
parish membership increase to 8,000 within
ten years. Immediately upon construction,
the school auditorium was converted into the
parish church. A third parish priest was
assigned in 1926, and it became necessary to
have weekend help in the person of the
Capuchin Friars from Garrison, New York. The
Tablet reported in Lent 1930 that nearly
2,000 people each week attended the parish
mission con- ducted by the Albany Diocese
Mission Band.
The growth of the parish was reflected in
the growth of parish societies. The Newtown
Register of November 12, 1921 reported that
Fr. Walsh was the spiritual director of a
club known as St. Sebastian's Lyceum, which
just had elected Joseph Markey as president
along with twelve other officers. It was
noted that:
The football committee reported on the
team record to date, which showed that three
victorious home games had been played. The
basketball committee reported marked
progress, having two practice sessions
during the past week. A committee of which
Michael Kimmel was the chairman was
appointed to arrange for the decoration of
the clubhouse on Armistice Day.
Within a few years, however, more
familiar parish organizations had emerged.
The Rosary Society celebrated its golden
jubilee in 1975, indicating that it was
founded in 1925. The Tablet reported in
January 1932 that Francis R. Wenzel was
reelected president of the Holy Name
Society, indicating it was already in
existence by that time. By December 1935, it
was reported that "large numbers" of men
attended the election of new officers that
month, including W.J. Murphy as president.
In June 1936, the society filled the school
auditorium for a lecture on "The Church and
the Social Order" by M. John Splain. In June
1940, it held its third annual Communion
Breakfast at the Hotel Commodore in
Manhattan, featuring the national president
of the Holy Name Society as the guest
speaker, the Rev. Henry Graham, O.P.
Nor were the youth of the parish
neglected. In 1922, a national organization
known as the Catholic Boys' Brigade had been
founded, and on December 6, 1935, a branch
was founded in St. Sebastian's by its first
spiritual director, the Rev. Thomas J.
Dunnigan. Two hundred and forty-three boys
were accepted as cadets, according to The
Tablet. Co-commanding officers were Harry R.
Matthews and John G. Musgrave, assisted by
John Donovan, Robert Fenton, Raymond Blake,
J. Me Lean and Joseph Markey. The Catholic
Boys' Brigade ceased operation in 1942 when
World War II took away the young men who
were its leaders. With the help of the local
Catholic War Veterans Post #870, it was re-
established in January 1947, led by Frank
Keane, and today continues to enroll nearly
300 boys for its weekly events. Ed Fowley,
K.H.S., has served as the chairman for most
of that time. On the distaff side,
parishioners remember a Girls' Brigade in
existence in the 1930's un- der the
direction of Mrs. Flynn. The current Girls'
Brigade was established around 1984 for
similar purposes, replacing the local Girl
Scout troops that had flourished for many
years with the help of devoted leaders such
as Eileen Quinn. Both Brigades have
benefited from the acquisition in 1968 of
Camp Edward Lodge Curran, eight and one-half
acres of rustic retreat near Highland Lake,
New York.
A notable landmark was achieved on June
6, 1925 with the first ordination to the
priesthood of a parish native. Richard J.
Egan, who was later to be- come a captain as
chaplain in the United States Army, was
ordained on that day for the Diocese of
Davenport, Iowa.
At Fr. Walsh's funeral Mass, his brother,
the Rev. John F.X. Walsh, pastor of St.
Anthony's Church in Bretna, Louisiana, was
celebrant. He was assisted by a cousin, the
Rev. William Keane of Schenectady, New York,
as deacon, and the Rev. Daniel Dwyer, pastor
of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in
Brooklyn as sub- deacon. The Rev. James
Bennett, pastor of St. Stanislaus in
Maspeth, preached, with the Rev. John
Michalak (a former curate here) of Our Lady
of Consolation as master of ceremonies.
Bishop Molloy gave the final absolution,
with 125 priests attending.
The Pastorate of Rev.
Thomas Fenarty
Fr. Thomas Fenarty assumed his duties in
the parish on February 15, 1937 and
immediately began to carry out the plans of
Fr. Walsh which had been interrupted by his
sickness and death. Necessary repairs and
improvements to the parish buildings were
made. Additional Masses were added to the
schedule. A Perpetual Novena to Our Lady of
the Miraculous Medal was be- gun. By
September 1938, the school enrollment stood
at 877 pupils, taught by 19 Sisters. The
Sisters of the school also helped run the
teenage girls' society, The Children of Mary
Sodality, which even published its own
newsletter known as "The Chimes." The
moderators in 1948 were Fr. Francis J.
O'Hara and Sr. M. Katherina, S.C.H.
A significant part of the parish life has
been the Catholic War Veterans (CWV).
Founded nationally in 1935 by Msgr. Edward
Higgins of Astoria and the Rev. Edward Lodge
Curran, St. Sebastian's Post ^870 was
founded on July 8, 1946 by the Rev. Clement
J. Walsh, a curate here, who served as a
military chaplain in World War II. The
Ladies Auxiliary of the CWV also came to
play a prominent role here. On Easter Sunday
night in 1947, over 300 members of CWV posts
in Woodside picketed the Sunnyside Gardens
Arena during a rally sponsored by the Joint
Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, which was
alleged to be a Communist-front
organization. In February 1948, the CWV
sponsored well-at- tended lectures here and
throughout Queens on the evils of Communism.
A featured lecturer was a future pastor of
St. Sebastian's, the Rev. Edward Lodge
Curran.
It seems appropriate that the CWV should
have played so prominent a part in our
parish history, for St. Sebastian's and
Woodside have contributed a great deal to
our nation's armed forces in this century. A
plaque on the front of the school
commemorates the 119 parishioners who fought
for our country in World War I, and
especially the six who died in that
conflict. A monument to the dead of World
War I, World War II and the Korean War
stands in the plaza at Woodside Avenue and
60 Street. And at the corner of the parish
property at 57 Street is the notable Vietnam
War Memorial, commemorating the fact that
more young servicemen from Wood- side died
in Vietnam than from any other postal zone
in the United States. The memory of all our
war dead is still honored every year on
Memorial Day with special services and a
parade which ends at the famous "Dough- boy"
statue in Doughboy Park. Nor was our parish
out of touch with the latest in Catholic
social teachings in the thirties and
forties. A noteworthy event in American
Catholicism during this era was the creation
of a few "labor schools," designed to teach
Catholic social doctrine to unionized
workers. The earliest labor school in the
Brooklyn Diocese was the Jesuit-run School
of Social Studies in Crown Heights. St.
Sebastian's Holy Name Society sponsored a
lecture series here in early 1946, presented
by notable experts such as Dr. George A.
Brenner and Jesuits William J. Smith and
Philip Dobson. These lectures proved to be
the forerunners of further social justice
activity here. In October 1946, Bishop
Thomas Molloy established the Social Action
Department of the Diocese of Brooklyn. In
1947, this department established the
Brooklyn Institute of Labor Relations, and
in 1948 the Queens Institute of Labor
Relations, with the Rev. William F. Kelly as
director. The purpose of the labor
institutes was, as The Tablet noted at the
time, to "present the Christian point of
view on modern social and economic problems,
and to develop Catholic awareness of the
need for justice and charity in the social
order." These institutes instructed
thousands of workers for several years via
eight regional centers, in- cluding one at
St. Sebastian's. These courses were offered
for a nominal fee and were affiliated with
St. Francis College.
Fr. Fenarty began plans for the building
of a larger church, a better rectory, and an
extension on the school. Unfortunately, the
reality of the Great Depression and of World
War II delayed these plans. After the war,
only the school extension moved ahead. By
the time of Fr. Penalty's transfer to the
pastorate of Holy Cross Parish in Brooklyn,
the situation was again radically changed.
The plans for an 850-seat church were
rendered inadequate by the burgeoning
postwar population. This was the dilemma
facing the new pastor, the Rev. Edward
Moran.
The Pastorate of Msgr.
Edward Moran
Fr. Moran needed a larger church, but had
inadequate land and funds to build the
1,500-seat church that the parish population
demanded. Providentially, on February 1,
1952 a Federal antitrust suit against
several of the largest of the Hollywood
filmmakers required them to get out of the
business of theatre ownership. This fact,
combined with the impact of television upon
movie attendance, resulted in the
availability of the Loew's Woodside movie
theatre, which had opened in September 1926.
A fund-raising drive under the direction of
chairman Eugene Cavanagh exceeded its goals.
Thus, in March of 1952 Fr. Moran was able
for $250,000 to purchase the theatre, which
then required another $422,000 in
renovations, a total probably one- half the
price of building an equivalent church from
scratch. Several store fronts were also
acquired to create the daily Mass chapel.
The architect for the conversion project was
William J. Boegel, and the church designer
was Harold W. Rambusch. Douglas Persich
designed the chapel. The church was
dedicated on October 23, 1955 at the 11:00
A.M. Mass, with Bishop Thomas Molloy
presiding. The new church was said to be the
first air- conditioned church in the
Brooklyn Diocese and to have the longest
center aisle of any Catholic Church in
Queens.
Parish societies continued to flourish.
In 1950, the Holy Name Society reached out
to the youth of the parish with the
establishment of the Junior Holy Name
Society under Fr. James Mc Inenly, assisted
by Ed Fowley. The year 1950 also saw the
creation of the Catholic Youth Organization
(CYO), with Ed Fowley as the chairman and
Jimmy Scalfaro as the coach of the first
boys' basketball team. Other "first team"
coaches in sub- sequent years were: Frank
Kehoe, Sr. (baseball), Bill Strack (boys'
track), Ann Me Court (girls' track), Marty
O'Kane (boys' swimming), Helen Coyne (girls'
swimming), lan Gillespie (soccer), and
Jeanne Connelly (cheerleading). The St.
Vincent de Paul Society, caring for the
immediate needs of the parish's poor, was
headed by Joe Bostwick. The parish organist
for many years was Mrs. Rita Kaljian.
Meanwhile, the parish school enrollment
reached a peak in the late 1950's: 1,292
students filled the school. Sister Mary
Justa, S.C.H., the principal then, was
assisted by 20 Sisters and 5 lay teachers.
The fund-raising campaign for the new
church had exceeded the goal and left the
parish with a surplus. The old church was
torn down in 1956, and a house was purchased
as a residence in anticipation of the
arrival of religious Brothers who would
teach in a projected parish high school.
Circumstances were to ordain otherwise.
Archbishop Molloy's death in 1957 occasioned
the division of the Diocese of Brooklyn to
create the new Diocese of Rockville Centre
from the counties of Nassau and Suffolk.
With the arrival of Archbishop Bryan J. Mc
Entegart came a major diocesan effort to
build a number of Catholic high schools. The
idea of a strictly parish high school was no
longer in favor. By the time of Monsignor
Moran's death from cancer on February 7,
1962, a new need had surfaced: that of a
Parish Center.
Fr. Moran had been made a monsignor
within a short time of his death. He was
widely mourned, not only by the parish, but
also by the community of St. Francis College
in Brooklyn, of which he had been a great
benefactor. The Rt. Rev. Msgr. Richard B. Me
Hugh, the pastor of St. Joseph's Church in
Astoria, was the celebrant, assisted by the
Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph P. Wiest, V.F., the
pastor of St. Augustine's Church in
Brooklyn, and the Rev. Thomas Dunnigan, the
pastor of St. Clare's Church in Rosedale, as
deacon and subdeacon, respectively. The Rev.
John H. Walker, Kings CYO director, was the
master of ceremonies, and the Rt. Rev. Msgr.
Thomas F. Little, executive secretary of the
National Legion of Decency, was the
eulogist. More than 100 priests attended,
including 21 monsignori and 3 auxiliary
bishops. Bishop McEntegart gave the final
absolution.
The Pastorate of Rev.
Edward Lodge Curran
On March 23, 1962, Archbishop McEntegart
appointed 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, Sister James
Catherine, and the 15 Sisters and 10 lay
teachers 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 public 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 Daughters 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.
The Pastorate
of Msgr. John T. Egan
Fr. Curran's successor as pastor was the
Rev. John T. Egan, who had been the rector
at Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in
Elmhurst. He brought not only impeccable
academic and administrative credentials, but
also a priestly pastoral sense, very much in
tune with the reforms of the Second Vatican
Council. In addition to the various physical
changes such as the renovation of the daily
Mass chapel in 1974 and the modernization of
rectory offices in 1975, he began to broaden
the pastoral staff to meet specific needs in
the parish. In 1973, he hired a Religious
Education coordinator and First Sacraments
programs directors, Sisters Kathleen Finan
and Mary Parry, O.P., and Patricia Dixon,
R.S.M. Miss Maureen Friss became principal
of the Junior and Senior High School
Religious Education Program. In 1974, Sister
Jeanne Elaine, O.P., was brought on staff to
coordinate elderly homecare, a position held
in subsequent years by Brother Joseph Moore,
C.F.X., and since 1989 by Mrs. Eileen Quinn.
Sister Bernadette Fortier, O.P., worked with
the charismatic prayer and liturgical groups
and the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
Senior citizens' needs were met with the
founding of two social groups during this
time. The St. Sebastian Senior Group (1969),
which meets on Wednes- day, and the Leisure
Club of Woodside (1979), which meets on
Friday, assemble in the Parish Center and
serve over 400 members. The two groups
arrange numerous trips, parties and social
events.
In accord with the teachings of Vatican
II, lay- people and religious began to
exercise the liturgical ministries
appropriate to them. The year 1977 saw the
installation of the first extraordinary
ministers of the Eucharist to bring Holy
Communion to the homebound and assist at the
Sunday Masses. Those pioneers were:
Mary Bishop, Jeanette Me Shane, Mary
Trainor, Mary Moore, Robert Puppa, Joseph
Ferguson, Eleanor Gundlach, Owen Mahon, and
Dominican Sisters Mary Parry, Kathleen Finan,
Kathleen Thomas, Jeanne Elaine, Maureen
Burke, and Eve Gilchrist. Today our parish
has more than 70 "EM's" assisting at weekend
Masses and many daily Masses as well. In
addition, they visit nearly 100 homebound
parishioners regularly. Parish lectors al-
so made their appearance in the 1970's and
now number almost 40.
Ethnic ministries began to emerge in a
full- fledged way during Fr. Egan's
pastorate. Spanish surnames begin to show up
in the baptismal records of the parish in
increasing numbers in the early 1960's. As
the sacraments were offered only in Latin
until 1967, little need was felt for a
Spanish-speaking apostolate at that time.
Fr. Egan saw to it that Mass in Spanish was
initiated in 1973, offered by the Rev.
Thomas J. Ryan and the Rev. Said Sanchez. A
census taken at the Spanish Mass in March
1973 showed the following points of origin:
Colombia (141), Dominican Republic (28),
Ecuador (26), Cuba (25), Puerto Rico (13),
Peru (9), Bolivia (5), Panama (4), Spain
(4), Paraguay (3), and Honduras and Mexico
(1). In the ensuing years, the Spanish Mass
outgrew the chapel and was moved first into
the school auditorium and then into the main
church. In addition, a committee known as
the Apostolado Hispano was organized to
coordinate the various events in the Latino
community. In 1983, the annual Mass in honor
of Our Lady of Chiquinquira was celebrated
in honor of the patroness of Colombia. In
1984, a charismatic prayer group was formed.
Later, under Fr. Paul Sanchez, the Cursillo
de Cristianidad was organized. Bible classes
in Spanish have frequently been offered over
the years.
Other Parish societies over the years
have been; the League of the Sacred Heart,
the Antone Guild, Parish Council, Ushers'
Society, and Teen Club. The Choir, after
flourishing for many years under Rita
Kaljian, was later directed by Lisa Kelly
and Jim Schaefer, and Matt Murray, who had
been song leader at St. Patrick's Cathedral
and for Pope John Paul II in his 1979 Mass
at Yankee Stadium.
The parish school went through a period
of great change during this difficult period
for Catholic education, adjusting to the
changing face of both Church and society.
After a period of 15 years with several lay
principals, the Sisters of Charity of
Halifax signaled their high regard for this
early Queens outpost of their community by
reassuming in September 1988 the
principalship (a most unusual step) in the
person of Sister Kathleen Michael. Under her
careful guidance, the parish school achieved
accreditation by the Middle States
Association of Elementary Schools in October
1991.
Monsignor Egan died suddenly at the
Jesuit Retreat House in Auriesville, New
York, of a heart attack on June 14, 1990.
The homilist at his Mass of Transfer was the
Rev. John E. Delendick. The funeral Mass
homilist was the Rev. James J. Haggarty.
The Pastorate of
Msgr. D. Joseph Finnerty
In September 1990, Bishop Thomas Daily
named Msgr. D. Joseph Finnerty as the eighth
pastor of St. Sebastian's Parish. It was one
of the first appointments made by the newly
appointed bishop of Brooklyn and Queens.
Monsignor Finnerty had just completed his
first six-year term as the pastor of the
neighboring parish of St. Teresa. He was
born in Brooklyn and grew up in the parish
of St. Saviour in Park Slope. Monsignor
Finnerty prepared for ordination to the
priesthood at St. Mary's Seminary in
Baltimore, the oldest seminary in the United
States. Here he studied theology while the
Second Vatican Council was taking place in
Rome. Ordained by Archbishop Bryan J. Mc
Entegart in St. James Cathedral on June 1,
1963, he began his priestly ministry with
the excitement of Vatican II's call for
renewal in the church in his heart. He
worked as a newly ordained priest in St.
Paschal Baylon Church in St. Albans where,
besides his duties as a parish priest, he
taught religion in the parish high school.
St. Paschal's Parish was a predominantly
black neighborhood and under the direction
of his first pastor, Msgr. Archibald V. Me
Lees, young Fr. Finnerty was involved with
Protestant and Jewish leaders during the
civil rights struggle of the 1960's.
For his next assignment, Archbishop Mc
Entegart sent him as a theology professor
for college seminarians to the newly opened
Cathedral College in Douglaston. It was
there that he met college students James
Frost, Sean Ogle, and Kenneth Grande, who
would later join him as priests in the
ministry at St. Sebastian's. After teaching
at the college for ten years, Bishop
Mugavero assigned him to St. Brendan's
Church in Brooklyn. At St. Brendan's, he was
involved in the liturgical renovation of the
church and the restoration of other parish
buildings. This experience prepared him for
the major restorations that he would be
called upon to direct at St. Teresa's and at
St. Sebastian's. During these early years of
his priesthood, our pastor served the
diocese as a member of the Priests' Senate,
the Liturgy Commission, the Ecumenical
Commission, and the Art and Architecture
Commission of the Diocese. His graduate
studies in theology at Fordham University
prepared him to become a visiting lecturer
in theology at Queens College, the Diocesan
Pastoral Institute, Fordham University, and
various diocesan workshops for priests,
religious, and laity.
His first pastorate was at the
neighboring parish of St. Teresa. His first
years as pastor saw him involved in efforts
to meet the many different groups of people
that make up that large urban parish in the
midst of Queens County. While at St.
Teresa's, Bishop Mugavero appointed him to
be the first Coordinator of the Irish
Apostolate of the Diocese, serving the needs
of the new wave of Irish immigrants who
settled in our diocese during the 1980's and
1990's. Ever sensitive to the fact that he
was everyone's pastor, Monsignor Finnerty
spent the summer of 1985 in the Dominican
Republic to study Spanish so that he could
minister more effectively to the many
Hispanic parishioners. Here at St.
Sebastian's, his desire to foster greater
devotion to the Santo Nino de Cebu, the
patron of the Philippines, and St. Lorenzo
Ruiz, the first canonized Filipino saint,
encouraged deeper bonds of love and
affection with our large Filipino community.
When he became the pastor of St.
Sebastian's, he devoted all his efforts to
fostering new lay leadership and to
strengthening the parish school and
religious education programs. Soon after his
arrival, the new pastor of St. Sebastian's
was forced to make decisions regarding the
restoration of aging buildings that were in
need of extensive repairs. Hearing the
story, the people responded with generosity
of time, talent, and treasure. Together with
the pastor, parish priests, religious, and
dedicated lay leaders, the parishioners
restored the interior of the chapel, the
church, the rectory, the convent, and parish
center with a generous response to each of
these campaigns, work supervised by John
Gillooly, Director of Buildings and Grounds.
At a time when the economy of the nation was
at a low ebb, the people of St. Sebastian's
contributed more than a million dollars for
their parish. At a Mass of Thanksgiving on
September 11, 1993 in the newly restored
church of St. Sebastian's, Bishop Daily came
to express his admiration and gratitude for
the quality of Catholic life and commitment
that the people of St. Sebastian's give to
the diocese.
Monsignor Finnerty, his associate
priests, the religious, and staff rejoice in
the ethnic diversity of St. Sebastian's,
which makes it such an exciting place to
minister to God's people from so many
different countries. Indeed, the pastor
frequently reminds the parishioners that
"the whole world is represented here in St.
Sebastian's." This commitment to Christian
hospitality and genuine welcome, so
important for the parish, is not lost on
visitors and new members of St. Sebastian's
who are happy to call our parish their
spiritual home.
The Pastorate
of Msgr. Michael J. Hardiman
Coming Soon...
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