St Michael's Catholic Church, officially the Church of St. Michael, is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

under the authority of the

Diocese of Brooklyn The Diocese of Brooklyn () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the State of New York. It is headquartered in Brooklyn and its territory encompasses the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, co ...

, located at 352 42nd Street at Fourth Avenue in the Sunset Park neighborhood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Before the founding of St. Michael's parish in 1870, Catholics in the area had to travel to mass at either St. John the Evangelist at 21st St. or St. Patrick's in Fort Hamilton. The first pastor was Rev. Michael J. Hickey.Lafort, Remigius. "St. Micahel's, Brookly, N.Y.", ''The Catholic Church in the United States'', New York. The Catholic Editing Company, 1914, p. 571
/ref> The current church was built 1905, and was designed by noted church architect Raymond F. Almirall. The exterior is in early Romanesque. Often referred to as Brooklyn's own " Sacré-Cœur", the domed tower once was the second tallest building in Brooklyn after the Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower, until a late 2000s high rise development claimed that title. St. Michael's parochial school opened in 1886; it closed in 2005.

In popular culture

The comedy film ''

Heaven Help Us ''Heaven Help Us'' (also known as ''Catholic Boys'') is a 1985 American comedy-drama film directed by Michael Dinner. It stars Andrew McCarthy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Kevin Dillon, Malcolm Danare, Patrick Dempsey (in his film debut), and St ...

'' (1985) was filmed in the neighborhood, using external and internal shots of the church and the now closed St. Michael's Parish School as the fictional ''St. Basil's Church'' and ''St. Basil's School'', run by the factual Order of St. Basil.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Michaels Church, Brooklyn, Saint Roman Catholic churches in Brooklyn Roman Catholic churches completed in 1905 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1921 Religious organizations established in 1870 Romanesque Revival church buildings in New York City Byzantine Revival architecture in New York City 1870 establishments in New York (state) Sunset Park, Brooklyn 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States