{"id":10491,"date":"2025-10-21T10:31:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T10:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/10491\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T10:31:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T10:31:06","slug":"staten-islands-church-of-the-sacred-heart-marks-its-150th-anniversary-with-mass-gala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/10491\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island’s Church of the Sacred Heart Marks Its 150th Anniversary with Mass, Gala"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even the standing places at the Church of the Sacred Heart<\/a> required a ticket for the Staten Island parish\u2019s 150th anniversary Mass, principally celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, on Saturday, October 18, such was the overwhelming interest and support.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations, Sacred Heart Parish on Staten Island, on 150 years! Alleluia!\u201d Cardinal Dolan said in his welcome remarks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The interior of the West Brighton church was painted, and the roof was repaired ahead of the anniversary celebrations. The parish\u2019s first Mass was celebrated on July 25, 1875, by Father William Poole, the founding pastor. That Mass took place at St. Rose of Lima Parish on Taylor Street before the current Sacred Heart Church was constructed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his homily, Cardinal Dolan thanked his many concelebrants and the parish community for both the day\u2019s commemoration and its long history. \u201cThank you for your loyalty and your love for Jesus and this church that has kept this spirit going strong. It gives me a chance to let you know how proud I am of your parish. It gives me the chance to let you know that I love you, I love you very much, and that it is a great joy for me to be here with you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cardinal recalls prayers to the Sacred Heart\u00a0<\/p>\n

Referring to the name of the parish, Cardinal Dolan recalled prayers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that he learned as a child from Sister Mary Bosco Daly and says daily even now. \u201cEvery morning, I was taught to start the morning when I literally got out of bed: \u2018All for the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus,\u2019 as I would dedicate the entire day to Jesus. Then, Sister said, \u2018During the day, especially if you have any troubles, say, \u201cSacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in Thee.\u201d\u2018 And the last thing we do before we go to bed: \u2018Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner.’\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of Mass, Father Rhey Garcia, Sacred Heart\u2019s pastor, addressed Cardinal Dolan, along with his parishioners and guests. \u201cYour Eminence, what stands before you this evening is not just a beautifully restored church. It is, as you have witnessed, a living church. A church filled with hope, love, faith, and life. Sacred Heart may be 150 years old, but it remains young at heart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pastor thanks the cardinal for his presence\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYour Eminence, thank you once again for being here with us, for witnessing firsthand the enduring spirit of Sacred Heart Church. And so, as we look ahead for the next 150 years, may we be filled with the same joy and love that brought us here tonight. And maybe, just maybe, with the next pastor, fewer roof repairs\u2014that would be great. Thank you so much. May God bless us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Concelebrants of the Mass included Archdiocese of New York Auxiliary Bishop Peter Byrne, episcopal vicar of Staten Island; Father Garcia; Monsignor William Belford, pastor at St. Theresa Church in St. George and dean of Staten Island; Monsignor Greg Mustaciuolo; and Father Brian McWeeney.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Community leaders, including Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella and his wife, Mary, and District Attorney for Richmond County Michael McMahon, attended the Mass.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parishioners praise restoration and community spirit\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deacon Jim Cowan, who served at the Mass, told The Good Newsroom, \u201cThe generosity of so many benefactors enabled us to replace the slate roofs, repaint the interior of the church, and refurbish the pews so that our spiritual home truly reflects the vibrancy and stability of our parish community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of our parishioners have told me that they see and feel a resurgence of the spirit of Sacred Heart parish that was so vibrant years ago. That can be attributed to our pastor, Father Rhey, as he truly is a happy priest, and it shows every day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this parish because it\u2019s diverse. It\u2019s always fun. And listen, to me, history, the 150th anniversary of anything, is great. I was very pleased to be able to donate to them for the bricks and for the restoration. I think it\u2019s important that we spend time emphasizing our Catholic faith these days. I feel like we\u2019re under just a lot of scrutiny. I\u2019m thrilled to be here,\u201d Donna Wilson, a Staten Island native who has been a parishioner at Sacred Heart for 23 years, told The Good Newsroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cardinal Dolan and many parishioners continued the celebration at the parish\u2019s 150th anniversary gala, held at LiGreci\u2019s Staaten, also in West Brighton.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even the standing places at the Church of the Sacred Heart required a ticket for the Staten Island…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[8575,8576,6300,4840,8577,8578,9,24,63,8579,134,136,135,8580],"class_list":["post-10491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-auxiliary-bishop-peter-j-byrne","tag-cardinal-timothy-dolan","tag-catholic","tag-catholic-church","tag-deacon-jim-cowan","tag-father-rhey-garcia","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-sacred-heart-church","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news","tag-timothy-cardinal-dolan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}