avatarAngie Mangino

Summary

The website content details the historical journey of Our Lady Help of Christians parish in Tottenville, which is celebrating its 125th Anniversary, and the author's involvement in documenting and expanding upon its history through a series of articles and books.

Abstract

Our Lady Help of Christians parish in Tottenville is commemorating its 125th year of existence. The parish's history was first documented by the author for its centennial celebration in 1998, leading to further research and a grant from COAHSI. This initiative evolved into a series of interactive workshops and is now part of an ongoing book series titled "Tottenville History Comes Alive." The author, a parishioner, was motivated by a desire to contribute to the parish and has since been recognized for their historical work. The history includes notable figures such as Dorothy Day, who was received into the Catholic Church by Fr. Hyland in 1927. The author is currently finalizing the second book in the series and plans to incorporate the additional 25 years of parish history into the third book. The history will be shared through a series of articles, each covering a 25-year period, inviting readers to engage with the past in a conversational manner.

Opinions

  • The author expresses pride and honor in being chosen to document the parish's history, viewing it as a way to give back to the community they cherish.
  • The author believes that good deeds have a lasting impact, as evidenced by the ripple effect of their initial research leading to further opportunities and recognition.
  • There is a clear enthusiasm for making history engaging, with the author emphasizing that history "comes alive" when presented as part of a conversation.
  • The author values the recognition and support received from the Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island (COAHSI), which validates their historical work.
  • The mention of Dorothy Day suggests the author's admiration for her contribution to the Catholic Church and the broader

Tottenville History

125 Years of History To Interest You

Our Lady Help of Christians 1898–2023

Photo by Author

Our Lady Help of Christians parish in Tottenville is celebrating its 125th Anniversary this year.

In 1998 when the OLHC parish was preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary, the pastor asked me to write up the history to document it for the parish.

Having a professional writer part of the parish, Father Connors was able to spare the parish the expense of hiring one!

I was honored to take on the unpaid assignment, however, as a way to give back to the parish I love.

What I never anticipated was that the research for the centennial anniversary would lead to the Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island (COAHSI) awarding me a grant in 1999 to continue my Tottenville research.

This was followed with my holding an interactive workshop at Our Lady Help of Christians Auditorium on September 24 of that year, that now has grown into the Tottenville History Comes Alive book series I’m working on now.

When we put good into the world it really does ripple forward!

Travel back in time with me to see the parish grow.

You may recognize familiar names in it, most especially Dorothy Day.

In 1927 Fr. Hyland received Dorothy, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, into the Catholic Church.

After attending a special Mass celebrated by His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan on May 13th for the 125th Anniversary, I decided it was the perfect time to rewrite the 100-year history with updated information on the additional 25 years since then.

The information I’ll share now will be in 19th Century Tottenville History Comes Alive, the third book in that series, but you don’t have to wait.

Currently I’m still in the process of completing the second book for publication, 18th Century Tottenville History Comes Alive.

Only after publishing that book will I be organizing the 19th century research and begin writing that book.

To share the history with you I will be breaking it down by each 25 years, put into five articles.

You can count on my belief that history comes alive when the facts are part of a conversation. I have found this to be the best way to give readers value in the experience.

I will be doing that in this series of articles, similar to my writing style in the Tottenville History books.

So keep an eye out for this series, or become an email subscriber to make sure not to miss any.

History
Tottenville History
Catholic Church
Dorothy Day
Writing
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