St. James R. C. Church at 429 Route 25a E, Setauket, NY 11733 US - About Our Church
About Our ChurchSaint James RC Church-Parish is located on Long Island, in an area on the North Shore called the Three Village Area: the Villages of Old field Setauket, and Stony Brook. Included in its Parish Foundries are the State University at Stony Brook, the University Hospital, the University Health Science Center, and the New York State Long Island Veterans Home.
Saint James Church-Parish now spans three centuries. It began at the end of the 19' century, in the late 1890's as a Mission Church when the Bishop of Brooklyn requested a Mission Order of Priests from Canada, the Montfort Fathers, to found a Catholic-Parish in the area. The Montfort Fathers started the Parish of Infant Jesus in Port Jefferson, a town situated where the North-Shore Branch of the Long Island Rail Road terminated- At the same time, as requested by the Bishop, they began the Mission-Church of Saint James on Main Street in Setauket, the location of the mainline Protestant Churches. They also purchased land nearby for a Saint James Church-cemetery. From the few dozen families that worshipped in the new Mission Church as the Century changed from the 19' to the 20t" Century, the Catholic population increased to hundreds of families, as World War Two ended. Bishop Thomas Molloy had the vision to change the status of the parish. In 1949 the Mission Church of Saint James was changed to Saint James RC Church.
By the way, in 1823 the first Catholic Church in Brooklyn and Long Island was Saint James Church in the City of Brooklyn, which was then part of the Diocese of New York. The Catholic Brooklyn Diocese was created by Pope Pius IX in 1853. In 1957, Pope Pius XI I divided the Brooklyn diocese into two parts, and established the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre to cover the Long Island, which included the counties of Nassau, and Suffolk, where almost three million people live, close to half of them are Catholics.
During the last half of the 206 Century, the Three Village Area has changed from a country rural area to one of the significant suburban growth areas of Long Island. In 1968, due to the population increases brought on by business and housing expansion, Saint James RC Church moved into a new church, adjoining their cemetery on Route 25A. The Church is now engaged in further expansion plans as their population continues to grow.
The year 1999, Saint James RC Church marked their 50th Anniversary as a Church, and more than a Century since it was established as a Mission Church.
in that period of one hundred plus years, the catholic population of Saint James Church increased from a few dozen families in 1898, to 3,500 families, with more than 10,000 people as the 21st Century begins. Amen!!!
Hugh J.B. Cassidy, Parishioner, Saint James RC Church; Chaplain, American Legion, Harbor Post 417, Setauket, New York.
May 1999