22. St. Benedict the Moor (CLOSED)

NOTE: As of April 2016 I heard that this church closed about a year ago. I'm not sure if this was due in part to the Archdiocese of New York's great closings & mergers of 2015. If I am mistaken or you have any further information on St. Benedict the Moor church either continuing to be open or not, please let me know by leaving a comment in the comments section below. If you're looking for a similar nearby church to this one, check out Sacred Heart of Jesus parish.

(church info last updated 04/04/2016)
Address: W. 53rd St. (between 8th & 9th)
Phone: 212.265.5020 (Sacred Heart of Jesus' phone number)
Links:
St. Benedict the Moor
Catholic Online: St. Benedict the Moor
Wikipedia: St. Benedict the Moor
Hell's Kitchen History


If you call the number above you will reach the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church - again, I believe they are conjoined somehow - if anyone is out there you can post a comment and let us in on the tale - as always, I tire easily of research...


As far as I know there is one Mass offered here at St. Benedict the Moor each week and that is Sunday at 12:30pm in Spanish. This is a small, clean, simple church and one very easy to find peace within. It appears renovated and even though I did not understand the language of the Mass, of course I could follow along with the ritual of the service, and participated in Communion and stuck around and took some photos.


Once again, a very nice NYC church - especially one you should visit if you live in the area and speak Spanish.


Go ahead investigate, there may be weekday services too.

19. Sacred Heart of Jesus

(mass times & church info last updated 03/31/2016)
Address: 457 W. 51st St. (between 9th & 10th Aves.)
Phone: 212.265.5020

Weekend Mass Times: 

Sat: 5pm (English), 7pm (Spanish)
Sun: 9:30am (Family Mass, English), 11am (Spanish), 12:30pm (English)
Weekday Mass Times: 
Mon-Fri: 8:30am (English)
Sat: 9am (English)
Confession: Sat: 4pm-5pm
Adoration: First Thursdays 7pm
Links:
Official Website
About the Organ
Catholic Online: Sacred Heart of Jesus School
The Sacred Heart of Jesus
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

I went to Saturday mass today as I am forced to work tomorrow - on a Sunday! It's a terrible thing to miss one's weekend, one's peace time, one's respite.


I went to this church tonight thinking at first I was attending St. Benedict the Moor church - however I quickly realized it was Sacred Heart of Jesus Church. Quick research suggests St. Benedict the Moor church was once a larger parish that has since been taken over by the Church if the Sacred Heart of Jesus - I don't really know. Perhaps if you are reading this and have some knowledge on the matter you can post a comment. It seems St. Benedict the Moor church is still around, right around the corner on 53rd street - very small and now, I believe, offering only a 12:30pm Spanish mass. I may find myself there next week.

If you've been reading any of these posts then you know things are not well with me. What does it mean, a young man approaching thirty, church-going though he is, job and apartment in New York, all the beginnings of a good long life, but lost, seemingly free but stuck in many ways, desperate in others, drunk as often as he can be, fighting his notion of poverty but not very fiercely, and spending so many nights and days and moments of all this existence puzzled and perplexed and weeping?




I realize something over coffee alone, overhearing a somewhat dynamic conversation between a young woman and her pregnant friend about religion and family and sex and baby names.









Something just clicked, you know?








The pregnant friend never got up to use the restroom as I so willed her, pouring glass afer glass of water to persuade, so I never gained the chance I thought of to ask the other one out.





And so I walked out, alone into the cold, for a little while longer. And next week, church again...



*I feel obligated to include this next picture which appears on many internet searches of "Sacred Heart of Jesus". This is a picture which hangs in my family's home (and I'm sure in many Catholic homes across the world) and which when I see brings me back to my parent's hallway, the dim lights of a Saturday evening at home, comfort and safety.



(09/23/2010)
additional photos...
*Note: attended the 12:10pm Mass today in a small side chapel to the main church. this is a very nice church and i found myself more at peace today and joy than the first time i arrived here...