Holy Rosary Church at 170 Bradhurst Ave, Hawthorne, NY 10532 US - The History Of Holy Rosary
| The History Of Holy Rosary |
Holy Rosary officially became a parish in the Archdiocese of New York in 1915, though the Dominican Fathers had a strong presence in Hawthorne since the late 1800s. Although the parish struggled financially at first, its leaders believed in its future and refused to close it down. Thanks to the hard work of the priests, the parish debt was paid off and the church and rectory were maintained and improved. As the area prospered andt he Catholic population grew, life in the parish steadily became more active and dynamic. The Dominican Sisters opened St. Hyacinth's school, which operated as both a boarding school for boys and a co-ed day school. The school shut down after a fire in 1932, but the baby boom after WWII called for a new school to be opened. The Sisters taught their classes in a nearby firehouse until construction was completed and the school was ready for use in early 1956. The parish put much effort into accommodating its rapidly growing population, offering Mass in the firehouse, an outdoor tent, and the school auditorium. The school building evolved into a parish center and hosted a variety of activities from athletics to drama to picnics. While a new church was too expensive to build just yet, the existing church and the auditorium were refurbished to become a more comfortable place of worship. Finally in 1986, thanks to the tireless sacrifice and generosity of our parishoners, we broke ground for the new church, which was dedicated two years later. Because of the declining clergy population, the Dominican Fathers regretfully turned the parish over to the charge of the diocesan priests. The parish has been growing and changing continuously, but always sets out with the purpose of providing spiritual and social service to the people of the Hawthorne area.