We are now in our 80th year, but there was a wonderful celebration, which was held in the school gymnasium on Saturday, September 12, 2015, at 5:30 pm for St. Helena's 75th Anniversary, which began in the church with the Holy Mass.  A Bronx priest, the Most Rev. John Jenik, who was the pastor of Our Lady of Refuge Church and the newest auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York, was the main celebrant. Msgr. Thomas Derivan, who was the parish's fourth pastor, was the homilist, and Rev. Emilio Sotomayor, Sch.P., the parish's fifth pastor and Rev. David Powers, Sch.P., the sixth and current pastor, were also present at the Mass. The parish's two current and several former parochial vicars were also present. Bernie Waters, who was the music minister at the parish for many years, was the featured soloist. Following the Mass, there was a reception, and appetizers and light refreshments were served. Current students gave tours of St. Helena School, and there was a lot of parish memorabilia displayed on several tables.  St. Helena has a rich and fascinating history.

At the end of the Civil War, a sharp rise of children in New York City found themselves abandoned and living on the streets. In 1861, the New York Catholic Protectory, outgrowing its Lower East Side location, came up to Westchester county and set up a school and dormitories for the children. The boys and the girls were taught a trade so they’d be employable once released. Many of the boys were tough kids living by their own set of rules and often ran away from the Protectory. The boys learned letterpress printing, chair caning, shoemaking, baking, carpentry, blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, farming, gardening. The girls learned to embroider, cook and make gloves. Their uniforms were sewn by them in their tailoring department, and the shoes they wore (each child had two pairs) were cobbled on site too. The boys even had a functioning fire department. Semi-pro baseball teams sometimes rented the fields for games, and Lou Gehrig played there when he was in high school. In 1904, there were well over 2,500 children under the care of the Protectory. Around 1938, a developer from the Starrett Corporation, a Mr. Robert Dowling, went about looking for land. Seventy-five sites later, he found the land owned by the Protectory. His assessment was that the buildings were “outmoded and dangerously inflammable.” According to his profile in a 1960 New Yorker article, Mr. Dowling, a Protestant, never revealed to the fathers in charge at the Protectory who he was representing. He convinced them that if they sold the site to him, they could find a more cheerful site somewhere else. Mr. Dowling’s company paid five million dollars for the land. He secured the 129-acre site, which was the equivalent of fifty-five city square blocks for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company project: Parkchester, the world’s largest apartment house community. The Protectory was razed completely, and no original buildings exist. However, some of the Protectory trees still survive in what is now the Metropolitan Oval.

Holy Angels School on Unionport Road in 1938.


St. Helena's was built as the Catholic Church for the newly built region known as Parkchester.   Construction of Parkchester began back in 1938 by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and by 1940 the south quadrant was completed allowing for the first 500 families to move in as the rest of development was constructed and completed by 1941, and by 1943, all 12,271 apartments were rented.  The architects had designed the apartment buildings in such a way that every apartment would get direct sunlight at some point in the day.  The diocese expected over 10,000 Catholics would live near the parish. 

On May 3, 1940, His Excellency the Most Rev. Francis J. Spellman, Archbishop of New York, announced the establishment of a new $600,000 parish and parochial school in the Bronx in the new massive Parkchester development. The parish was dedicated to St. Helena, the saint who found the true cross, and it would also serve as a permanent remembrance of the Cardinal's own mother, Helen Spellman.

The parish replaced the beer garden of Loeffler's Picnic Park.  The popular German beer garden and tavern also boasted of a bowling alley, a dance hall, and picnic grounds.  The area received quite a boost when the El (Elevated trains) went up in 1916. Prohibition put only a slight dent in the business and in the 1920's it became known as Schulz's Casino.  Competition became stiffer when Prohibition was repealed in 1933, and the casino closed down only a couple of years later. One of the beer garden's original buildings was preserved.  It was painted barn red and then green in the 1990s.  The first floor of the building became the kindergarten, while the second floor housed some of the sisters who taught in the classrooms below.

        Loeffler's Park & Casino, which is now known as the Green Building, in 1938.




The wedding of Henry Fink and Evelyn Braun on September 13, 1941, in what is now the Green Building.


Eggers and Higgins were chosen as the architects for the new structure, and the George Fuller Company was chosen as the builders.  Eggers & Higgins was a New York architectural firm partnered by Otto Reinhold Eggers (1882–1964) and Daniel Paul Higgins (1886–1953). The architects were responsible for the construction phase of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial beginning in 1939, two years after the death of its original architect, John Russell Pope; they also completed construction of Pope's other famous design, the West Building of the National Gallery of Art, also in Washington D.C. The pair were longtime associates of Pope in the firm he founded in 1903 as the Office of John Russell Pope, Architect. Eggers was a brilliant designer and renderer who served as Pope's right hand for almost thirty years. They changed the name of the firm to Eggers & Higgins in 1937, soon after Pope's death.


The new parish's very first Mass took place on June 9, 1940. Mass was celebrated by the newly appointed pastor Msgr. Arthur J. Scanlan, S.T.D. in the Loeffler building, and about 1,000 parishioners attended it.  It is said that Msgr. Scanlan had arranged the taproom mirrors so people could see the altar no matter where they sat.  Msgr. Scanlan had been appointed the president of St. Joseph's Seminary in 1930, having previously served 20 years on the Seminary faculty.  The Christmas Midnight Mass in 1940 was celebrated by Msgr. Scanlan in the newly constructed Loew's American Movie Theatre.

  The parish church was dedicated on Sunday, May 3, 1942.  

The first children baptized in the parish were the daughters of John and Antoinette Roden. They were twins named Linda and Lorraine Roden, and they were baptized on July 14, 1940, by one of the two newly appointed Parochial Vicars Rev. Gustav J. Schultheiss, who was later appointed chancellor of the archdiocese in 1954.  The other assistant was Rev. Henry J. Vier. 

Kindergarten classes were held in what is now the Green Building, 1947.


The wedding of John and Dolores O'Leary, performed in St. Helena's Church on April 15, 1950, by Fr. Owen McEnaney.

Groundbreaking for the Church building took place on December 1, 1940, and on June 8, 1941, the cornerstone was laid.  Addresses were given by Msgr. Scanlan and his two assistants Rev. Charles Giblin and Rev. Francis Murphy, and the two trustees, Police Inspector John Burke and Patrick Byrne.   Of early Italian Renaissance influence, the new parish plant was constructed of select brick with limestone trim.  The church and school face east with a frontage of 146 feet on Olmstead Avenue, while the north side of the church and convent occupy 170 feet on Benedict Avenue.  The nave of the church was designed to seat 900 and the balcony to accommodate 177 additional.  The school was built to provide classroom facilities for 600 pupils.  The convent was built to provide living quarters for 23 sisters.  On October 4, 1941, Msgr. Scanlan celebrated the first Mass at St. Helena's in the auditorium of the Church, but it was on Christmas morning
1941 that Mass was celebrated for the first time at the altar of the new Church of St. Helena.


The first regular Mass in the new church was held on the day that the three marble altars, the main and two side altars, were consecrated on April 14, 1942, by the Most Rev. Stephen J. Donahue, Auxiliary Bishop of New York.  Sealed within the three altars were the relics of  Saint Helena (Feast Aug. 18), St. Pia of Numidia (Feast Jan. 19), and St. Amantius (Feast June 6).  

The old tavern and dance hall that had been the temporary parish church soon served as the school. St. Helena Elementary School officially began on September 11, 1940, at Loeffler’s Tavern, and in September 1941 the new school building was finished and could accommodate 600 children in grades 1-8.

The Church of Saint Helena was dedicated on Sunday, May 3, 1942, by Archbishop Spellman.  Msgr. Scanlan was the pastor, and there were five assistants.

Shown below, the St. Helena School eighth grade graduating class of 1945.


On opening day, there were 461 students, and they were taught by eleven Dominican Sisters of Sparkill.  The first principal was Sr. Purissima Reilly, O.P.  In 1958, Sister would become the founding major superior of the new Sparkill Dominican mission in Pakistan. She is shown below with the other seven founding sisters leaving for Pakistan.  Soon afterward, some Marist Brothers joined the faculty at St. Helena Elementary. 

Sr. Purissima Reilly, O.P. departs for the foreign missions


At its zenith, there were over 100 priests and nuns teaching in the school. Many alumni remember how they would always bring a lemon on the last day of class to shine the top of their desks for the next school year.

Every Christmas at St. Helena’s School, Msgr. Scanlon would come to the auditorium and meet each class (sometimes dressed as Santa Claus), and he would personally give each and every student a box of hard Christmas candies. The students would then sing Christmas songs to Mrs. Laning’s piano playing and get an early dismissal. Many alumni have said that these were the “greatest days of our lives.” 

On May 30, 1943, Msgr. Scanlan dedicated the Victory Shrine.


Rev. Joseph J. O'Shea was born in New York on March 7, 1914.  He was ordained on May 30, 1942, just 27 days after the May 3, 1942, dedication of the Church of St. Helena by Archbishop Francis J. Spellman. Father O'Shea was assigned to St. Helena as a curate in 1942, and he remained there until his death on August 7, 2003, a feat that earned him the record for continuous service to a single Catholic church in New York City history.  The influx of immigrants to St. Helena caused Father O'Shea to become known as the Chinese Wedding Priest.

Because St. Helena's gymnasium was one of the largest venues in Parkchester, many community events took place there.  For example, in 1958, AA co-founder Bill Wilson once spoke there to a packed house. 

Dan Gleason was once a traffic cop at the entrance to Fordham University, and he came to know many of the instructors there.  He attended night school, resigned from the police force, was accepted by the Holy Ghost Fathers, and was sent to their college in Washington, D.C. to complete his studies.  He was ordained at the age of 38 on June 24, 1943, at the University of Notre Dame, and his First Mass took place at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on June 30, 1943, and was attended by many members of the New York City Police Department. He was stationed at St. Helena for a few years, and Gleason Avenue is named after him.


The 1952 grammar school intramural football team.  Frank Kelly was the quarterback.


The parish purchased some land in 1949 that was owned by St. Joseph's School for the Deaf and opened two high schools, St. Helena’s Girls’ High School and St. Helena’s Boys’ High School, both of which later merged to become the co-ed Msgr. Scanlan High School. The school soon became the largest parish high school in New York City. The high school first opened in September 1949.  In 1951, there were 2,974 students enrolled at St. Helena School, and the upper grades were transferred to the high school buildings.  

When the sisters were not teaching in the classroom, several of them enjoyed watching WHEEL OF FORTUNE on television in their recreation room.


The 1967 St. Helena Boys High School Senior Prom.  The band consisted of 4 seniors and 1 junior:  Tommy Cassella on vocal lead, Barry D'Alessio on drums, Joe Ambrosso on bass, and Rich Lando lead guitar.


It was very common in the 1960s for schools to conduct Civil Defense Attack Drills such as this one conducted at St. Helena High School.



In September 1957, the parish opened a two-year business school, which became known as St. Helena Commercial High School.



THE HISTORY OF THE BUSINESS HIGH SCHOOL
 

• It was opened in September of 1957
• The first name of the school was St. Helena Business School
• It was created for students who were not necessarily college-bound – secretarial, NYPD, NYFD, etc.
• It was a 2-year school (Juniors & Seniors only)
• The principal and teachers were mostly religious (Sisters) with some lay teachers
• The school was housed at the opposite end of the campus from the St. Helena Girls’ School & Boys’ School
• The school name was changed in 1973 to Monsignor Scanlan Business School
• The school name was changed again in 1975 to St. Helena Commercial High School
• The school eventually became a 4-year high school  - still named St. Helena Commercial High School – and moved to a different building on campus
• St. Helena Commercial High School closed for good in June 2002 to the great disappointment of many
• In December 2014 the Business School Alumni Association was formed……and thanks to their efforts a Business/Commercial reunion was held on campus in May 2015 and was attended by many!
• And thanks to the generosity of many of the Business/Commercial school alumni, nearly $4,000 was raised to pay for the Memorial Stone monument that is being dedicated on October 3, 2015.

The very first funeral at St. Helena took place on Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941, and it was the funeral of Hannah Hickey.  The joyful spirit of St. Helena’s flourished in fervent worship, bustling bazaars, parades, shows, a parish band, basketball games, parish dances, the annual New Year’s Gala Celebration, movie night, and roller skating.  The parish Glee Club was founded by Fr. Owen McEnaney, who wrote many original songs and lyrics including the world-famous "Happy Birthday Jesus."

Roller skating in the St. Helena basement attracted many people from the community.


Msgr. Owen J. McEnaney, affectionately known by all as "Fr. Mac," served at St. Helena's from 1947-1970, when he left to become pastor of Holy Name of Mary Parish in Montgomery, NY.  He was born in 1916 in Carrickmacross, Ireland and was one of three brothers.  He had a "big" personality, and he oversaw the Women's Sodality.   Msgr. McEnaney composed many poems and hymns. Two of his more memorable songs were Happy Birthday Jesus and Our Lady of Guadalupe.  He formed and directed the St. Helena Men's Glee Club which made hundreds of appearances in the tri-state area and sang at the 1965 New York World's Fair and Carnegie Hall, where it performed with Carmel Quinn, an Irish singer, as well as at many communion breakfasts in the 1960s, often traveling up into Connecticut. Every year, the Glee Club gave a Christmas concert at the Metropolitan Oval.., and the reading of his poems by Jack McCarthy was an annual feature of television coverage of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade. He was named a monsignor in 1975 and died in 1997, and his Month's Mind Mass was celebrated by Msgr. Derivan at St. Helena's that October. 

Shown below, the Glee Club sang in the NY State Pavilion at the 1965 New York World's fair.


Mrs. Lanning put on many school shows in the late '40s and 50s. Msgr. Scanlan once said that the reason for the plays was that he wanted each of his “kids” to have stage presence!
In the 1950s and early 1960s, St. Helena had more than 4,000 parishioners attend Mass on any given Sunday. That number declined to about 1,750 by 2002 and by 2017 had dropped to 1,200.  Msgr. Scanlan often said:  “It’s fun to be good, and it’s good to have fun.”


 Msgr. Scanlan is shown here blessing the marriage of Arthur and Norma Panetta on September 19, 1953.  The Panettas had three children, all of whom attended St. Helena's.  "Msgr. Scanlan was special to my family and is remembered with affection and respect," said Mrs. Panetta, who celebrated her 92nd birthday in 2019.

Every year the St. Helena priests would march in local parades.  Msgr. Scanlan is in the middle with Fr. Carney to his right and Fr. Edmund Fogarty to the far right. Fr. Owen J. McEnaney is to his left.


St. Helena's marched in the Catholic War Veterans Parade.  On July 2, 1943, 213 parishioners who were also war veterans established St. Helena Post Number 202 of the Catholic War Veterans, Inc.


There was always a school musical, and here it is from 1949-50.


The second pastor, Msgr. John Voight (1969-82) eased the parish through the mandates of the Second Vatican Council.  Monsignor Voight, who was a native New Yorker, held educational posts in the archdiocese for nearly 20 years. After serving for several years in various parish assignments, he was named associate superintendent of schools in charge of a new division of high schools in 1944. In 1945 he was appointed as superintendent of schools.  In 1953 Monsignor Voight became the senior official responsible for educational policy in the archdiocese as its secretary of education. He held that post until 1963 when he became pastor of St. Peter's Church in Yonkers. He moved to St. Helena's in 1969. He was a man of great accomplishments and distinctions.  He was a leader for many years in the field of Catholic education, Superintendent of Schools, and Secretary of Education. He began many programs at the parish, such as Leisure Club, Parish Council, and Project HAND, which is the largest senior citizen center in the city, starting as a little storefront on Winchester Avenue.  In a homily for All Saints Day, he wrote: "The danger today is that we get so bombarded with bad news, so bogged down in things that are wrong, that we forget the things that are right.  The tragedy is for you and me to stop believing in ourselves and in our fellow human beings.  If any of us are here today, it is because there are some people who had faith in us, back there; somewhere, sometime, somebody believed in us and believed in life and taught us to do the same.  As we are constantly confronted with the raw and ragged edges of human nature, the outlook is often dark and discouraging.  The need of the hour is for people who can believe and work for the best things in the worst times.  Jesus did that.  The Apostles did that.  Let us do the same." Following his death, a Mass of the Eucharist was offered at 8 P.M. on June 18, 1982, at St. Helena's Church. A funeral Mass of the Resurrection was offered there at 10 A.M. the following Saturday


The baptism of Kevin O'Leary by Fr. Owen J. McEnaney in 1953.

The third pastor, Msgr. Philip J. Mulcahy (1982-96) was born on November 28, 1923.  He was a poet who instilled within the parish a tremendous love for Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and the Holy Eucharist.  He would tell Bible stories in the school, and he had a "never-ending smile." He introduced many new activities and organizations.  Over the years, the demographics of Parkchester began changing, and the area became more multicultural.  The current parish Rodgers electronic organ, which was built in 1968, was bought during his first year as pastor.  A Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe was built where a venerable old oak tree once stood in the parking lot, and the parish celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1990.  Sr. Jean Ann made a series of beautiful banners by hand for the church. The first Multicultural Mass was held in 1994 and has become an annual tradition.  Msgr. Mulcahy died on April 3, 1996, and was buried in the new part of St. Raymonds Cemetery.  

The parish sanctuary got a new look in the 1980's, but it soon returned to its former style. The modern cross contained a first class relic of the True Cross, and that cross and its relic is now located in the St. Helena Shrine side altar.


A 1996 photo of Friends For All Ages.

Msgr. Thomas Derivan (1996-2014) became the fourth pastor on September 15, 1996.  He ran the boys and girls intramurals, bowling, Boy Scouts, and track, as well as a summer camp in upstate New York for children.  He would keep the gym open until 10PM every day so the children would have a place to go and something to do. The elementary school began a program for three-year-olds in 1996.  The Sparkill Dominican presence gradually declined, and the convent building was sold to a parishioner who intended to transform it into low-income apartments,  but he went bankrupt, and the building was bought by Sheikh Moussa Drammeh who transformed it into an Islamic Center. The last Sparkill Dominican, Sr. Margaret Mary Rankin, O.P., departed in 2001. Fr. Derivan was the pastor during the 9/11 tragedy, at which three alumni (Thomas Farrelly '61, Dennis Devlin '64, and John Gallagher '83); Harry Thompson (the father of two students); Sean Tallon (the brother of a teacher); Curtis Noel (the son of a parishioner); and two parishioners, Frederick Ill, Jr. and Jose Nunez, lost their lives.  That very day, on September 11, 2001, an Islamic Leadership School that had just been established in the old convent building opened its doors. Enrollment slowly began declining at Msgr. Scanlan High School and there was talk that it might close.  Some members of the Board of Trustees decided to separate the school from the parish, and Msgr. Scanlan High School officially became a private, Catholic high school at the beginning of the 2014-15 school year. 

In 2014, Msgr. Derivan became the pastor of neighboring St. Theresa's parish, and a new religious community, the Piarist Fathers, began ministering at St. Helena’s.  The Piarist Fathers were founded in 1617 by St. Joseph Calasanz, and its members profess a fourth religious vow to educate youth, especially the poor. The former convent, when had been unoccupied for several years,  became a seminary for three young Piarists seminarians who were studying theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary. Four Piarist priests moved into the rectory, and Fr. Emilio Sotomayor, Sch.P. (2014-15) became the fifth pastor in September 2014. Fr. Emilio was from Spain. He renovated the church's sound system and replaced the worn church kneelers.  He left St. Helena in July 2014 to become the headmaster of a Piarist School in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The other three Piarist priests, Rev. Hector Cruz, Sch.P., who is from Puerto Rico; Rev. Andrew Berinyuy, Sch.P., who is from the Cameroon; and Rev. Szymon Kurpios, Sch.P., who is from Poland, also left.

Fr. David Powers, Sch.P. (2015- present) became the church's sixth pastor on August 1, 2015, the year the parish celebrated its 75th anniversary. He was joined by Rev. Richard Wyzykiewicz, Sch.P. from Philadelphia, and Rev. Nelson Henao, Sch.P. from Colombia, South America. The elementary school began a city-sponsored Universal Pre-kindergarten program in 2015 and opened a city-sponsored ASPIRA after-school program in 2016.  The very first diaconate ordination took place in the parish in June 2017 when Rev. Br. Vinod Angadathu George, Sch.P. was ordained as a transitional deacon by the Most Rev. Felix Lazaro, Sch.P., the bishop emeritus of Ponce, Puerto Rico. 

The Kindergarten 1 class of 1957 contained 51 students, and there were four Kindergarten classes that year.


The Eighth Grade graduating B Class of 1961
 


Miss Guidotti's Third Grade Class 1973



The St. Helena Cadets 1n 1974.  Front: Richard Torres, Middle: Kevin Horgan; Back: Fran Wisniewski.


MEET ST. HELENA'S OLDEST ORIGINAL PARISHIONER

The last surviving "founding member" of St. Helena's Parish was Helen Urban who turned 103 on November 21, 2017.  Her daughter, Marilyn, was the very first baby born in Parkchester.  Marilyn attended St. Helena School.  Helen's husband, Joseph, bought the very first car in Parkchester.  Helen passed away in 2018, and with her passing, the parish's "first-generation" have all departed for their heavenly reward.

 


St. Helena's Boy Scout Troop 65 was founded in 1951, which means the troop celebrated its 65th anniversary in 2016.  Each year, the troop enjoys going to summer camp at Camp Keowa, as they did here in 2014.

                        


Today, there are 1,400 registered families in the parish and on average nearly twenty children a month are baptized at St. Helena’s, and the parish is looking forward to celebrating its centennial celebration in 2040.  Imagine what wonderful things will take place here at St. Helena’s within the next 25 years.  One thing is for certain:  “We will have fun!” 

 

                                                                   ********************
Dear St. Helena,
Thank you for inviting the Marist Brothers to attend Saturday's 75th graduation.  I am a 1954 St. Helena Graduate, and I first met the Marist Brothers as a 7th grader at the Hutch campus, and I am grateful to St. Helena Parish for so much.  Distance prevents my attending, but St. Helena Parish and School will always be in my prayers.

Warmly,
Br. Edmund Sheehan, FMS
Librarian, Christopher Columbus HS
Miami, Florida
        
                              PHOTOS FROM THE 75th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
                                                                  September 12, 2015