Among the most beautiful churches in North America, St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church of Glen Cove is a classic. Its Irish gothic architecture has been the subject of highbrow art lectures. Passersby too discover that it is impossible to turn from its elevated vastness and beauty. It is why, now and then, somebody stops, looks up at the imposing gray granite structure trimmed in red terra cotta, and, after a while, moves on. The Church's inside is something else. It is not large. Still its devotional hold is such that the worshipper is made aware of being in a holy place.

Within its over-arching mission to preach the word of God, St. Patrick’s is so involved in meeting the needs of its parishioners that in some ways it has taken on the trappings of a social agency assisting the poor, the infirm, the immigrant, the young and the old. The result is that within the towers, chambers and pathways of this old church, there is a beehive of activity that seems never to cease, never quiet.

Historically, St. Patrick’s mirrors the early Irish immigrants forging their ways in the strange land that was America’s past. There were no Catholic churches on Long Island until the Irish escaped the certainty of starvation in Ireland during the middle of the nineteenth century. Until they came, the few Catholics there were relied on priests riding out from their frontier parishes located in Flushing and Queens to conduct Mass and hear confession. Historians record that the first Catholic Mass in Glen Cove was held in 1850 at Garvies Point. A big rock next to a mulberry bush serving as altar.

It was the promise of work that lured the Irish to Glen Cove. Their growing numbers eventually drew Father Patrick Kelly from the Brooklyn diocese. He came with a mission: to build a church, and, in so doing, he stayed true to Irish tradition. He looked around and when he spotted the highest point in Glen Cove, the towering hill at Glen Street and Pearsall Avenue, he knew that he had found the proper site for the first church of Saint Patrick. The small, wooden edifice of 60 by 30 feet was dedicated on August 16, 1857.

 The next year Father McEnroe became Pastor, his work in Glen Cove only a part since he has to tour the mission churches that dotted an area of 240miles and which encompassed Sea Cliff, Oyster Bay, Roslyn, Westbury, Mineola, Farmingdale, Massapequa, Garden City, Bethpage, Hicksville, Hempstead, Freeport and Bellmore. Take a moment to consider the rich lore that was Father McEnroe’s life! An immigrant himself, he mounted hid horse to hoof the country roads that weren’t roads, among the wild country that was Long Island then, bringing the sustaining gospel to parishioners. What a richly textured life it must have been, its achievements resounding to this day!

One of his first tasks was to rebuild the rectory, almost totally destroyed by a fire, which almost cost Father Healy his life.  In 1966, the Parish Hall was completed and dedicated.  Air-conditioned and comfortable during the summer months, it became a place of worship, as well as providing needed space for Communion Breakfasts and dances.  A new tradition began of moving all our Masses to the Parish Hall for the summer, and wondering how did we ever manage without air-conditioning for all those years.  Once we renovated and air-conditioned our main church in 1993, a 28 year tradition of moving to the Parish Hall for Mass in the summer ended.

During the sixties, following the decree of the Second Vatican Council, men and women began to undertake an increasingly active role in Church services, and the functions of the parish.  Lectors began to do the readings before the gospel and commentators began to assist at Mass by leading the congregation in their responses to the prayers of the priest. (Do you remember the commentators?) Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion were trained and installed to aid in administering the Eucharist at Mass, in Nursing Homes and to the homebound.  As the liturgy was studied and understood better, a renewed interest and emphasis was placed on liturgical music, and a strong tradition of music ministers, cantors and choir singing emerged that has fostered the enthusiastic participation of the people.  Visiting priests and bishops are often amazed and edified by the degree to which St. Patrick parishioners sing and participate in the liturgy.  We can thank our choir directors and music ministers for that.

In 1983, the then Monsignor Healy requested to be relieved of his administrative duties, due to ill health and Bishop John R. McGann appointed Father John J. McCann, an assistant in the parish as Administrator of St. Patrick’s.  Monsignor Healy retired as the pastor of St. Patrick’s effective June 15, 1984, and Father McCann was appointed pastor on that same date.   Father McCann’s first year of pastoral service was saddened by the death of Monsignor Healy on December 14, 1984.

In March of 1984, new bells in a completely renovated clock tower had once more begun to peal the hours and call parishioners to worship.  June of 1988 brought a heart-breaking event: the shrinking number of sisters teaching, the rising cost of tuition and operating a school, the growing financial burden on the parish and the declining enrollment signaled the closing of St. Patrick School after 72 academic years.  The same crushing situation was being felt in St. Boniface School in Sea Cliff, in St. Mary’s School in Roslyn and in St. Hyacinth School in Glen Head.  The pastors of the four parishes and the pastor of St. Rocco’s whose children had always traditionally attended St. Patrick School, got together and in a historic decision decided to ensure the future of Catholic education in this part of the north shore by opening a Regional Catholic School, something new that would become a model for the diocese in the following years.  In September of 1989, all Saints Regional School opened, using St. Hyacinth school building for grades Nursery through grade 3 and using St. Patrick school building for grades 4 through 8.  The opening of the new school was not without its problems.  Many people from the four closed schools wanted nothing to do with the new school.  There was anger and hurt.  However, the years have proven the wisdom of the decision.  By 1999, we had consolidated grades K through 8 in the St. Patrick Campus, and the St. Hyacinth Campus remains our Early Childhood Education Center with nursery and pre-kindergarten.  The first principal of the regional school was Sr. Helen Dolan, one of St. Patrick School Sisters of Notre Dame.  She was followed by Sr. Maureen Vellon, RSHM and she was followed by our current principal, Mr. James Thompson.  Over the years, All Saints ahs received accreditation by Middle States Association of Schools and remains an excellent school with a committed faculty and administration and generous and involved parents.  St. Patrick is proud and delighted that All Saints is operating in our school building.

The next challenge for Father McCann, named as an Honorary Prelate by Pope John Paul II in September 1991 and installed as a Monsignor in November of that year, was to carefully examine the church itself, in regard to structure, improvements and refurbishing.

After years of preparation and over six months of construction, Monsignor McCann reopened the church on schedule in June 1993.  Several months later, Bishop John R. McGann officially rededicated the Church of Saint Patrick in an awe-inspiring ceremony attended by hundreds of faithful parishioners.

The School sisters of Notre Dame arrived in St. Patrick Parish in 1915, when our school opened.  When the new convent was built in 1956 it accommodated some 30 sisters. Over the years the vocation picture had changed drastically for many religious orders of women.  In the summer of 1997, another era came to a close as the last four School Sisters moved out of St. Patrick Convent and returned to the Motherhouse in Wilton.  For 82 years the parish had benefited from the example and service and ministry of the School Sisters of Notre Dame and we will be forever grateful and feel a special connection with them.

During Monsignor’s pastorate, St. Patrick’s began its Parish Human Services outreach program, the first on the North Shore.  It continues today, providing direct assistance to more than 1,000 families a year, regardless of religion, race or parish residence.  We assist people in need with job referrals, housing, immigration, food, clothing, bereavement consolation, support groups for the divorced, and any way that there are people in need.

In June of 1998, Monsignor McCann was asked by Bishop McGann to assume new pastoral responsibilities at St. Mary’s in Manhasset and Reverend Thomas C. Costa was appointed pastor on June 24, 1998.  Father Costa had served as a deacon in St. Patrick’s in 1977 and was ordained by Bishop McGann in St. Patrick’s Church on January 28, 1978.  Twenty years later, he was returned as the tenth pastor.  Father Costa’s formal installation by Monsignor Richard Bauhoff, our dean, took place on November 22, 1998. 

In 1998, Father Costa welcomed a group of Dominican Sisters from the Amityville Congregation to St. Patrick Convent, which had been empty for a year since the School Sisters left.  The Dominican Sisters lived and prayed in St. Patrick Convent and were a familiar sight a daily and Sunday Mass.  They blessed us with their witness and presence for eight years, and we are sure that another group of women religious will soon move in and enrich our parish with their witness and come to enjoy and love our community.

The parish began to prepare for two great events: the celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the dedication of our historic Church building and the beginning of a new century, a new millennium.  The cornerstone for our Church was laid in September of 1899 and just one year later the new Church was consecrated in September of 1900.  Father Costa invited the parish to consider the period from September of 1999 until December of 2000 a Holy Year for our parish.  We began on the feast of the Holy Rosary, October 7, 1999 with the inauguration of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in the Notre Dame chapel of our convent.  Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week throughout our Holy Year (of 15 months), faithful parishioners prayed for our parish before the Blessed Sacrament.  In the spring of 2001, we reluctantly decided to cut back our hours of Eucharistic exposition and adoration due to changing patterns (a lot of our parishioners were becoming “snowbirds” and the winter months were hard to staff during the nights).  We now have adoration from 10 AM to 10 PM Monday through Wednesday and from 10 AM Thursday around the clock until 10 PM on Saturday. 

During this Holy Year, Father Costa decided to take an unused piece of lawn between the Convent and the Parish Hall and turn it into a meditation garden with an outdoor Way of the Cross.  Stephen Dougherty, a life-long parishioner came up with a beautiful design and it serves as a place of calm and beauty, peace and prayer.  Memorial stones enable us to remember special events or deceased loved ones, and it also serves as a connection to those who have gone before us.  Special dedication Masses were held to celebrate the Church anniversary and the dedication of the garden during that special year. 

Under Fr. Costa, who is fluent in several languages, we began to try to bring the Spanish speaking community and the English speaking community together more often; our choirs adult and children, have joined together in song, and we have had bi-lingual Masses for Holy Thursday, Thanksgiving, and bi-lingual Healing Masses. We try to learn each day what it means to be one family that prays in more than one language.  We have begun the tradition of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with readings and prayers in the Irish language, to appreciate the great heritage that is ours and the great sacrifices made by the first immigrant parishioners.

September 11, 2001 did not leave our parish untouched.  We lost four parishioners in the attack on the World Trade Center, and many members of our parish lost loved ones.  Four funeral Masses were celebrated here and a list of remembrance was posted for a year on our wall and written forever in our hearts. 

Today, nearly a full page in our bulletin, lists parishioners, friends, loved ones in military service, many in Afghanistan and Iraq.  We remember them in our prayers and Masses and pray for their safe return from duty.  We pray that war will end and we never have to have an honor roll of the fallen again.

With the development of our two children’s choirs under our current Music Minister, Fran Howlett, (one in English and one in Spanish under the Spanish Music Director Erin Howlett-Avci) and with the growth of an active Family Ministry Committee we have worked hard at developing a real family oriented Mass.  Every Sunday the 10 AM Mass is directed at families with grade school aged children, with a special homily and activities geared to their spiritual growth. The children’s choir sings twice a month in English. The Spanish children’s choir sings on the fourth Sunday at the Mass in Spanish; that week we have a Spanish family Mass, with a homily in “Spanglish” (half English/half Spanish) so the children in the Spanish community, many of whom do not speak Spanish, can understand and their parents can, too.