Father Brian Dowd (Photo by Manny Gomez)
Oct. 10, 2012 By Bill Parry
The Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce is awarding this year’s Luke Adams Sunnysider of the Year award to Father Brian Dowd, Pastor of Queen of Angels Catholic Church.
The Chamber selects one person each year for the award—which is named after Luke Adams, in recognition of Adams’ life-long dedication to Sunnyside.
To win the award, the recipient must illustrate exceptional community service without regard to politics, fundraising or faith.
“Father Dowd brings people of all faiths to his church,” said Luke Adams. “When others just see a parish he sees a whole community.”
Adams said he was impressed by Father Dowd’s embrace of the neighborhood art scene. “He opened the doors of his Church to the Sunnysideartists.org Art Fair, [where]over a thousand people came this past year,” Adams said.
Dowd has been a priest for 21 years and has been the pastor at Queen of Angels (44-04 Skillman Ave.) for the last 3 1/2 years.
“It’s a great honor to be recognized by the community,” Father Dowd said. “It’s something I greatly appreciate.”
“We’ve developed programs for senior citizens as well as the youth,” Father Dowd said. “You can see the increases in parishioners every Sunday.”
The ceremony will be held at 6:00pm, Oct. 29, at Dazies Restaurant, at 39-41 Queens Blvd.
Tickets to the event are $50 and are available by calling Frances Schmidt at (718) 786-0322 and Luke Adams at (718) 784-8437
