Holy Name of Jesus R.C. Church
Encyclopedia
96th Street (Manhattan)
96th Street is a major two-way street in East Harlem and the Upper West Side, which is a part of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from the East River at the FDR Drive to the Henry Hudson Parkway at the Hudson River...
and Amsterdam Avenue
Tenth Avenue (Manhattan)
Tenth Avenue, known as Amsterdam Avenue north of 59th Street, is a north-south thoroughfare on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It carries uptown traffic as far as West 110th Street, also known as Cathedral Parkway for the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
It was taken over by the Franciscans in 1990. The parish has an attached elementary and middle school, as well as a community center on West 97th Street.
The current Pastor of Holy Name Parish is Father Daniel Kenna, OFM, replacing Father Francis X. Gunn, OFM. The associate friars or parochial vicars are Father Lawrence Ford, OFM, Father Michael McDonnell, OFM, and Father Gonzalo Torres, OFM.
History
Bloomingdale District
Bloomingdale is a part of Manhattan's Upper West Side between 96th and 110th Streets and bounded on the east by Amsterdam Avenue and on the west by Riverside Drive, Riverside Park and the Hudson River.-History:...
. A wood-frame church was erected on the northwest corner of Bloomingdale Road (now called Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
) and 97th Street.
Thomas Henry Poole
Thomas Henry Poole
Thomas Henry Poole was British-born architect who designed numerous churches and schools in New York City.Poole was born in Shrewsbury, England, in 1860. He was educated at Rugby and Christ Church, Oxford. Poole is listed in a Manhattan city directory as an architect in 1887, when he was 27,...
designed the present Gothic Revival church, located at 740 Amsterdam Avenue at 96th Street, which was built in stages from 1891 to 1900. The steeple
Steeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
was added in 1918. The large interior is noted for its hammer-and-beam ceiling, stained glass windows, terrazzo floor, and beautiful marble altars.
In 1997 the church suffered damage when the air compressor in the organ caught fire during a noon mass. The church took the opportunity to renovate, which was finished in 2000.
Community Roles
Holy Name has taken a leading role in addressing social justice issues on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Under the direction of Fr. Mike Tyson, the church had sponsored numerous petitions and took a leading role in closing a zoning loophole that a land developer had exploited in order to build two large condominium towers. Holy Name also organizes an interfaith March for Peace every year on Martin Luther King, Jr Day, along with several Lutheran and Episcopal Churches and several synagogues and is the epicenter of the organization West Siders for Peace.Complaints about excessive noise:
Since April 24, 2011, the church started to ring their bells bell/chiming system every 15 minutes, becoming a real nuisance to the neighborhood. On April 29, 2011 the church rang the bell/system all night. Since then it started on a 30 minutes basis, continuing to become a continuous horrible nuisance to the entire neighborhood. The chiming system goes off every 30 minutes on the half hour and on the hour, playing the same music over and over, and gonging the time on the full hour, Monday through Saturday, and on Sundays, several times a day, without being hour related. The church wakes people up, and on holidays it gongs for 15 minutes, continuing the nuisance all day. Numerous complaints have been made to Community Board 7 which claims to have actively pursued the matter, however, the church along with its Parish Vicar have brushing off, including denying the very existence of the 30 minute clocking. At the same the time that they deny the frequency, they say that the gonging system is working to remind people of the existence of god and that the church has been getting donations from non-christians due to the beauty of the gonging system. Despite all activity from city council and Community Board and resident complaints, they continue, waking residents up on a daily basis at the time they find fit to pray, in blatant disrespect to others schedule and needs in a city like New York where many people work at night and have small dwelling units upsetting even Catholic parishioners. No complaints have been to avail that they stop such nuisance and let the neighborhood be back in peace and quiet. The pastor of the church has stated that the police, fire department and ambulances are the ones that bother them.