The Church of St. Joseph (commonly called St. Joseph's Church) is a Roman Catholic church located in the Village of Bronxville in Westchester County,

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. Officially founded as a parish of the Archdiocese of New York in 1922, the Church of St. Joseph consists of the parish church, adjacent parochial St. Joseph School,

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

, and parish center. It serves residents of Bronxville as well as residents of nearby neighborhoods in Eastchester and Yonkers. St. Joseph's has a permanent chaplain to serve the needs of nearby

Lawrence Hospital NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester (formerly NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital, and Lawrence Hospital Center before that) is a division of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, located in Bronxville, New York. It is a 288-bed general hospital providi ...

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 John McCormack who traveled by horse each Sunday. The first masses were attended by only seventeen families. In 1906, the mission purchased a former 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 Patrick Joseph Hayes (November 20, 1867 – September 4, 1938) was an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of New York from 1919 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1924. Early life and ...

, 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 Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style, constructed from stones quarried locally in Westchester. In 1927, the church was dedicated by Hayes and was completed in 1928. The second pastor, Francis X. Scott, oversaw the opening of the school in 1951. Joseph Moore led the parish's transition following the Second Vatican Council. Under Patrick J. Sheridan and 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 in 1957 was married there to his first wife

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Cardinal Francis Spellman Francis Joseph Spellman (May 4, 1889 – December 2, 1967) was an American bishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church. From 1939 until his death in 1967, he served as the sixth Archbishop of New York; he had previously served as an auxiliary ...

. St. Joseph's celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1972 with

Terence Cardinal Cooke Terence James Cooke (March 1, 1921 – October 6, 1983) was an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of New York from 1968 until his death, quietly battling leukemia throughout his tenure. He was named a cardina ...

and

Theodore E. McCarrick Theodore Edgar McCarrick (born July 7, 1930) is a laicized American bishop and former cardinal of the Catholic Church. Ordained a priest in 1958, he became an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York in 1977, then became Bishop of M ...

(who would later become a Cardinal and

Archbishop of Washington The Archdiocese of Washington is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. Its territorial remit encompasses the District of Columbia and the counties of Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, P ...

) in attendance.

Parochial school

St. Joseph School opened on September 10, 1951, adjacent to the church at 30 Meadow Avenue and was staffed by the

Adrian Dominican Sisters The Adrian Dominican Sisters is a Catholic religious institute of Dominican sisters in the United States. Their motherhouse is in Adrian, Michigan. Current Mission The Congregation serves in ministries education, health care, pastoral and retreat ...

, while operated by the parish. Cardinal Spellman dedicated the school on October 7 of that year. Msgr. Patrick Sheridan (a future bishop) oversaw the start of construction in 1985 of the parish center, which included a gymnasium and additional space for teaching and offices, with the 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

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. 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 County and Manhattan. As of 2015, 239 students attended the school.

List of pastors

In chronological order, the following

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in p ...

have served as pastor: # Rev. Joseph L. McCann (1922–1942) # Rev. Francis X. Scott (1942–1967) # Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph P. Moore (1968–1980) # Rt. Rev. Msgr. Patrick J. Sheridan (1980–1985) # Rt. Rev. Msgr. James Connolly (1985–1998) # Rt. Rev. Msgr. James F. Doyle (1998–2013) # Rev. Peter McGeory (2013–present)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Joseph, Church of Roman Catholic churches in New York (state) Gothic Revival church buildings in New York (state) Churches in Westchester County, New York Christian organizations established in 1922 Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York Roman Catholic churches completed in 1928 Bronxville, New York Stone churches in New York (state) 1922 establishments in New York (state) 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States