By Adam Kramer
The Roman Catholic Church of the Incarnation in Queens Village celebrates two major milestones in its history this year — the 75th anniversary of the church’s founding and the 50th anniversary of the school’s opening its doors.
The church, which held its first mass in 1927, and the school, which cracked its first book in 1952, have planned a wide array of events from a dinner dance to a block party and from an alumni reunion to a graduation gala to mark the occasion.
“It is a jubilee for the church after so many things it accomplished in the past,” said Monsignor John Casey. “It has been making an impact on the Queens Village community for many years.”
The church, at 89-43 Francis Lewis Blvd., kicks off the celebration Sunday, April 28 — three days before the original mass was held in a theater on Jamaica Avenue 75 years ago — with Bishop Ignatius A. Catanello, regional bishop for Queens South, leading the mass.
People organizing the events, Casey said, “are delighted with what is going on.”
He said there are about 60 parishioners who have been meeting regularly to organize the celebratory events. Some of the happenings include an area block party June 15, a parish picnic in July and a fall dinner dance.
Many of the church parishioners also have organized a pilgrimage to Mexico City to visit the basilica Our Lady of Guadalupe. Casey said she was the patron saint of the Americas and it is an “appropriate pilgrimage” for his multi-cultural church.
“There is enthusiasm not only for our old members but for many of the church’s new congregants,” Casey said. “I am delighted with it.”
Sister Ellen Patrice, the school’s principal, said she and her staff are looking forward to the events they have organized starting in September. She said the school is inviting all of its former graduates back to see how the parish’s education annex has changed and to hear what the alumni have accomplished.
The school started in 1952 and has 456 students from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade.
She said the school’s student population includes 12 different nationalities from the Queens Village area. The school’s most famous graduate — Charles Wang, the founder of Computer Associates — will come back in June to speak at the graduation ceremony.
“It is very exciting,” Patrice said. “We hope people can come back, especially the school’s first graduating class.”
For more information on the Incarnation’s anniversary celebrations and activities, please call the church’s rectory at 468-8534.
Reach reporter Adam Kramer by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 157.
