Bronx Catholic

Our Lady of Refuge School, 2708 Briggs Avenue, just south of East 196 Street, will close in June, 2025. The annoucement from Sister Mary Grace Walsh, Superintendent of Schools, is linked HERE.

The title Refugium Peccatorum has been used since the eighth century, Mary as a powerful intercessor who helps sinners.

The parish dates from 1923. The 1925 construction placed the church inside the school. Several Bronx and Brooklyn parishes used that remedy for the high cost of land.

To enlarge any photo, please click on the photo.



See pages 472 and 474 for the parish of Our Savior, East 183 Street and Washington Avenue, in 1911. The present church dates from 1914. The rectory address is 2317 Washington Ave., Bronx NY 10458, telephone 718-295-9600. A website is under construction at this link, and it already shows strengths and information. At that website, the top left tab is particularly useful as it lists past and present bulletins, each available as a pdf file. Look for the current year (as -14) at the end of the date, then select the month and available issues.
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The bulletin of January 19, 2014, is the four-page sheet distributed this past Sunday at Mass. It highlights the Scripture of the Day (John's, "Behold the lamb of God .."), Mass and devotional schedules, one tweet from Pope Francis, several "tweets to God," and the parish itinerary of La Virgen de Altagracia, patroness of the Dominican Republic, and La Virgen de Suyapa, patroness of Honduras.
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In some lists, the name "savior" is spelled "saviour." The 2008 Official Catholic Directory shows no school. The priests are Yarumal Missionaries, M.X.Y., a Society of Apostolic Life founded in Colombia in 1927.
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Note that land in The Bronx was already so scarce that the church is within the school. When the above photo was taken in late 2009, the school floors, presumably above the church, were rented to a public school. Five stained glass windows of the church can be seen by enlarging the photo.
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A grandfather of a friend of mine was a young man in this parish when its pastor, the famous Father Francis P. Duffy, became chaplain of "The Fighting 69th" and went off to the Mexican border during the fight with Pancho Villa (1916?). It is said that the young man was with this regiment there.
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A comment follows:

Blogger franchot Richard said...

I plan on coming to NYC in April or May of this year. The memories of Ol continue to flood my mind and I did have some very nice memories of that school. I especially remember Frank Augart, Raymond Maldonado Patricia MCclave, Tony Spano, Robert Ross, David Smiley, Sister Rose Anthony,Sister Norbert, Sister Jerome, Father Carway, Father Sullivan, Mrs Ritter. I look forward to hopefully seeing some of these people again. I still remember some of the words to the school song, wow!!

January 18, 2012 at 10:49 AM

As I tour The Bronx, I sometimes encounter parish schools that have a church enclosed within the school, as at St. Ann (Bainbridge Ave.), Sts. Philip and James (Boston Road), Our Savior (Washington Avenue), St. Gabriel, Christ the King, and Blessed Sacrament. I hope to learn more about the architects that designed these buildings, which tend to have construction dates between 1900 and 1940, although there are examples newer and older.

Update, July 13, 2020 -- The church is open, the school is closed. The pastor is Father Steven Masinde, A.J. A relevant article from 2017 is HERE.
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See pages 488 and 489 for the 1949 establishment of the parish of Saints Philip and James on Boston Road at East 213 Street. The parish address is 1160 East 213 Street, Bronx NY 10469, telephone 718-547-2203. I neglected to take a photo of the church entrance on East 213th Street, which just around the right corner of this view from Boston Road. The property is bounded by Boston Road, East 212 Street (to the left of this photo), Msgr. Cahill Place, and East 213 Street.
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The parish and school website, offering much information, is linked here. The school address is also 1160 East 213 Street, Bronx NY 10469. The school telephone is 718-882-4576.
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For many years the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt staffed the parish school. The Sisters also have a blog here.
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The patrons face northwest on the school wall. Since St. James wrote an Epistle, I presume he holds a scroll. The parish website has biographies of each.

In Msgr. Shelley's book, see page 481 for the parish of St. Anthony, Van Nest. The parish was established in 1908 for Italians, but now includes faithful of many heritages. For years, the Sisters of Charity staffed the parish school. The above view is from Commonwealth Avenue. The church-within-a-school was built in 1930.



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The above photo looks west across Briggs Avenue at East 196th Street. The parish center is on the southeast corner of the intersection, where all traffic meets stop signs. The parish school can be seen to the right. As an older, larger public school is on the north side of 196th Street, the neighborhood is filled with young students and their parents at arrival and dismissal. During school hours, traffic is prohibited on 196th Street from Briggs Avenue to Bainbridge Ave.

In the above photo, the combined parish school and church is to the left of the red houses.


See page 478 for the founding of the parish of Our Lady of Refuge on Briggs Avenue at East 196 St., Fordham, in 1923. The church is within a combined school-and-church building. The extensive parish website is linked here. Under "About us" is a posting board. The website also has an informative history, the pastor's blog, photos, and a guest book. The rectory address is 290 East 196 St., and the phone number is 718-367-4690.
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The school address is 2708 Briggs Ave., telephone 718-367-3081. From the photos on the parish website, it appears that each grade numbers 25 to 29 students.

Above is the view from Arlington Avenue. The church entrance is seen ahead. Access to this door is from three directions: a short driveway from West 235 Street, a often-closed gate on Netherland Avenue, and the stairway from Arlington Avenue. The stairway is to the right of the photographer's position.

Until the school was closed, this sign was at the southwest corner of Netherland Avenue and West 235th Street. For an article in America magazine in September, 2023, please see this link.

The above view looks north. Inside this center door is a foyer, a few steps down, and then the east-west main section of the church. The altar is in the corner where the two wings meet. It appears that folding doors allow an expansion of church seating in the north-south wing (at the right side of this photo). The school is located upstairs.
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See pages 487 and 513 for St. Gabriel parish at Arlington Avenue and West 235 Street, Riverdale. The parish was created in 1939, and the combined church and school were completed in 1941. The address is 3250 Arlington Ave., Bronx NY 10463, telephone 718-548-4470. The parish website here includes both church and school.
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An excellent bird's-eye view of the school appears on Flickr here.



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Christ the King School is at 1345 Grand Concourse, corner of Marcy Place, as in the above photo. The school's website is linked HERE. The school's Facebook page, nicely kept up-to-date, is linked HERE.

A helpful person forwarded this explanation as a comment:
"A building fundraising drive was initiated in 1962, and ended on November 16th with 275,000ドル pledged by parishioners. This was added to another 200,000ドル that the parish had already set aside for building.

"The new school building was dedicated on September 12, 1965. The school was constructed over the old church. Only the lower portion of the church had originally been constructed before the Depression put a halt to building plans. (Information obtained from the Dedication Album for Christ the King, printed in 1965.)"

East 163rd Street is at the right. The church entrance can be seen in the center of the school. Please continue reading below the next two photos.

Both the school and church in this post are now closed (2017).
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See pages 478 and 478 for the 1927 creation of the parish of St. Ann on Bainbridge Avenue, just north of Gun Hill Road. Inside the door, another set of stairs leads up to the church. Higher up is the school. Several Bronx parishes have a similar construction of school-above-church. Because of the steps, a ramp has been installed to a new church door along the left side of the building.



For years, the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill staffed this school.
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The New York Times of March 31, 1928, announced the filing of plans for the school and convent. The pastor was Rev. Martin Cavanagh. The architects were Viemuster and Brady.