A Sea Cliff Parish Since 1898
Serving the people of Sea Cliff on the Gold Coast of Long Island, St. Boniface Martyr Parish has been a Catholic anchor in this quiet North Shore village since 1898. The current pastor, the Very Reverend Dom Josef Norys, Can. Reg., leads a parish of roughly 1,300 families whose story stretches back to mission priests who rode in from Glen Cove to say Mass in an old wooden chapel, and forward to today, where Sunday Mass at 10:30 is streamed live and a parish food pantry quietly feeds the neighborhood.
Mass Schedule and the Sacraments
Daily Mass is celebrated at 8:00 am Monday through Friday and at 9:00 am on Saturday mornings. Saturday evening brings the Vigil Mass at 4:00 pm, and two Sunday Masses follow at 8:00 am and 10:30 am. All Masses are celebrated in the church building at 145 Glen Avenue.
Baptisms are celebrated on the fourth Sunday of the month at the 10:30 am Mass. Engaged couples planning to marry at St. Boniface are asked to call the parish office before making any other arrangements; a minimum of six months is requested. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) welcomes those not yet baptized, Christians from other traditions who wish to be received into the Catholic Church, and baptized Catholics seeking First Communion or Confirmation. Reconciliation is offered together with Holy Hour on Saturday afternoons at 4:00 pm.
In addition to the regular schedule, two periods of Eucharistic Adoration shape the week. On Wednesdays a Holy Hour runs from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm, and on Saturdays silent adoration is held from 4:00 pm to 4:45 pm.
Streamed Liturgies
The parish began streaming Mass on Sundays during the COVID-19 pandemic and has continued the practice. Sunday Mass at 10:30 am is broadcast live on the parish livestream page, as are weekday Masses at 8:00 am Monday through Friday and the Saturday morning Mass at 9:00 am. Selected other liturgies are also streamed, and families may arrange for weddings and funerals to be broadcast as well. Live and recorded streams are available on the parish Facebook page and YouTube channel, and the parish bulletin is distributed digitally along with email updates to several hundred subscribers.
A Parish Born by the Shore
Catholic life in Sea Cliff predates the parish by a generation. Mission priests came out from Glen Cove to celebrate the first Mass on July 18, 1897 in the Old Chapel on 14th Avenue, where visiting clergymen had been holding summer camp meetings. Father James McEnroe presided, assisted by Father Frederick Lund, and they continued to ride the train over from Glen Cove throughout the following year. In 1898, Bishop Charles E. McDonnell of the Diocese of Brooklyn formally established St. Boniface Martyr Parish and named Father James J. Donohoe as its first pastor. Father Donohoe celebrated his first Mass in Sea Cliff on July 3, 1898, and within months was building a church.
Volunteers, including many non-Catholics, hauled fieldstone and bricks from the Glenwood Landing dock and from the Long Island Railroad station at Glen Head. The cornerstone went in on June 11, 1899, and Bishop McDonnell dedicated the completed church on April 22, 1900. Father Donohoe quickly organized a Sunday School, a Junior Choir, the Apostleship of Prayer, the Holy Name Society, the St. Aloysius and Holy Angels Sodalities, and the St. Boniface Guards for boys aged nine to fifteen. Fund-raising was part of the social life from the start, with lectures, balls, fairs, picnics, lawn parties, and euchre evenings. The first St. Patrick's Day Supper in 1902 netted $142.40.
Father Donohoe was transferred in 1906, and a procession of pastors followed. Father William L. O'Hara, who served from 1906 to 1909, was remembered for civic engagement and generosity; in 1906 he urged parishioners to send relief to victims of the San Francisco earthquake. Father Louis J. Sloane, who served until 1926, paid off the parish debt and began setting aside funds for a parish school.
A new church bell was blessed on Thanksgiving Day 1916 and began calling the parish to worship three times a day for the Angelus. The 1,000-pound bell, cast by the Meneely Bell Company of Troy, New York, and donated by Miss Mary A. Neville, now sits in a small brick tower beside the present church.
The School on the Avenue
The dream of a Catholic school lived for almost thirty years before it was realized. In 1928, Father Patrick J. Ford opened the parish school on the eve of the Great Depression. The Sisters of Mercy of Dallas, Pennsylvania, came to teach, and 150 pupils enrolled in grades one through six on the first day, September 10, 1928. By 1931 the first eighth-grade class of fourteen students graduated, and over the school's 62-year history more than 2,000 pupils followed them out the door.
The school building grew with enrollment, adding a library and gymnasium and eight new classrooms in 1962. By 1989 enrollment stood at about 220, and a year later, in June of 1990, St. Boniface joined with St. Mary's in Roslyn, St. Patrick's and St. Hyacinth's parishes in Glen Cove and Glen Head, and St. Rocco's to form All Saints Regional Catholic School. The St. Boniface School building closed, a painful moment especially for the families whose children had attended it.
All Saints Regional Catholic School operated on two campuses at first and then consolidated onto the St. Patrick's parish campus in Glen Cove, eventually adding SMART Board technology to every classroom. Fr. Elias Carr, a Canon Regular of the Canonry of Saint Leopold, was appointed as the school's first Headmaster in 2012 with Joanne Fitzgerald as Academic Dean. The school closed in June of 2019 after financial pressure and demographic change made continued operation impossible.
Building and Rebuilding the Church
The little 1900 church seated only about 300 and had become too small by the late 1950s, and in 1959 the Diocesan Commission on Parish Boundaries redrew St. Boniface's borders to match its growing population. Father John J. Fee launched a capital campaign in 1960 that oversubscribed its $250,000 goal. Six new classrooms were added to the school, a convent extension for thirteen sisters was built, an adjacent house was acquired as a rectory, and a new and larger church building was constructed. The Most Reverend Walter P. Kellenberg, Bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, dedicated the new edifice on May 3, 1964.
The architects used oak throughout the nave and doors in tribute to the saint who once felled an oak sacred to the pagans, carrying the oak leaf and acorn motif into the altar rail, the lectern, and the speaker grilles. Eight stained-glass windows in the transepts depict scenes from the life of St. Boniface, four nave windows illustrate the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary, and a large window above the entrance shows the Coronation of the Blessed Mother as Queen of Heaven and Earth. The original church bell, rung automatically with manual override from inside, was placed in a free-standing brick tower to bridge the old and new buildings.
Two more renovations followed. In 1985 Bishop John McGann rededicated a renovated church interior shaped by the changes of Vatican II: a permanent altar facing the people, a wide shallow sanctuary, pews reset to bring the assembly closer to the celebrant, the original baptismal font moved into the sanctuary, and the tabernacle placed in a position of prominence. The original marble altars were reworked into a single permanent altar, the base for the tabernacle, and the face of the ambo, with oak leaf fretwork from the old communion rail preserved above the tabernacle.
The most recent renovation, completed between 2013 and 2015, was a three-year effort the parish called "Renewing and Restoring the House of God." A capital campaign raised over $1,230,000 in pledges, and a thirty-five-member committee worked with liturgical designer Lawrence Hoy through five design alternatives before settling on the final plan. On the Sunday after Christmas 2014 the last Mass was celebrated in the older church, and the parish moved across the street to the gym for weekend Masses. The first Mass in the newly renovated church took place on Holy Thursday 2015, and Bishop William Murphy rededicated and consecrated the new altar on Sunday, April 12, 2015.
The same day, the parish renamed the Parish Center as the Fr. James Donohoe Parish Center, in honor of the founding pastor, and the chapel inside the building became Our Lady of Mercy Chapel, honoring the Sisters of Mercy who taught at the former school.
Faith Formation and the Sacraments for Children
Faith Formation for parish children is built around regular attendance at Sunday Mass and a flexible program of family activities. Families with children in kindergarten through fifth grade gather once a month on Sunday mornings from 8:45 to 10:15 in the parish school building, beginning with prayer in the gym with Fr. Josef and breaking out into family groups for discussion. Middle school students in grades six through eight meet at the same time on the same Sundays without parents, guided by volunteers, learning what it means to be a disciple of Christ. For families who want an at-home option, an online catechesis uses the Faith and Life series from My Catholic Faith Delivered.
First Communion preparation is offered to second graders, and Confirmation is now prepared for seventh and eighth graders together. Parents are invited to mandatory Parents Nights in the church, and baptismal certificates are requested for first Communicants. Parents can register online, and the registration fee for the program is $250 per family with no additional fee for sacramental candidates. Throughout the year families can take part in a Thanksgiving food drive, Trees of Joy during Advent, a Christmas Pageant and Christmas Around the World, Lenten 40 Days 40 Items and Mite Boxes, a Children's Stations of the Cross during Lent, an Easter Egg Hunt, a May Crowning, the Feast by the Shore, and parish Sandwich-Making Saturdays for the food pantry. A parish WhatsApp group is the primary channel of communication during the program year.
Walking with the Grieving
The Bereavement Support Group at St. Boniface Martyr meets on the third Sunday of each month at 3:00 pm in Room 11 on the first floor of the school building at 12 Main Avenue in Sea Cliff. Dr. David Meagher and Linda Rose, both experienced grief counselors, lead the group. Sessions are open to anyone coping with the loss of a loved one, regardless of the type of loss, the cause of death, or when the death occurred. There are no fees, although pre-registration is requested. The parish also runs a Ministry of Consolation that helps families through funeral planning, with parish volunteers coordinating readings, music, and ministers for each funeral Mass.
Food, Clothing, and a Hand at the Door
St. Boniface Parish Outreach operates out of the lower level of the Parish Center on Glen Avenue, accessible from the Carpenter Avenue side of the building. A food pantry distributes groceries to families and individuals free of charge, and a thrift shop sells gently used clothing and household items. Both programs run on Saturdays from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Long Island Cares and Long Island Harvest supply much of the food, and about 35 to 40 people a week pick up a bag of groceries. During the holidays, the pantry distributes 120 Thanksgiving and Christmas bags of food along with gift cards for fresh goods.
The St. Vincent de Paul Society, established at St. Boniface in 1934 in the depths of the Great Depression, has always met neighbors' need through home visits by pairs of Vincentians, providing advocacy, food vouchers, financial help, and furniture. The conference meets on the third Wednesday of each month at 7:30 pm in the parish center, and parishioners interested in joining or seeking assistance may call the parish office and ask for extension 124. The Vincentians also accept donated furniture and vehicles, with proceeds going directly to neighbors in need.
The wider Ministry of Service and Social Care is rooted in a desire to serve both the spiritual and corporal needs of neighbors. Help arranging a home visit from a priest or layperson, receiving the sacraments at home or in hospital or nursing home, or working through rent, utility, or other bills is coordinated through the parish office.
Mondays of Prayer, Thursdays of Knitting and Books
Several small groups meet regularly through the week. The Charismatic Prayer Group gathers on Monday evenings at 7:30 pm via Zoom for an evening of contemporary praise and worship music. The Knitting Circle meets on Thursdays at 7:00 pm for knitters of any level. The Women of Faith Book Club meets monthly in person at the Parish Center and via Zoom. The Men's Ministry gathers for breakfast, prayer, and fellowship on the second Saturday of each month from 7:30 to 8:45 am in Room 11 of the school, with discussions about how Catholic men grow in their faith. The Scripture Study Group meets by Zoom on Thursday evenings at 7:30 pm.
CYO, Music, and Young People
The parish CYO, coordinated by Kevin Kelly and run by volunteer parents, provides youth with opportunities to grow through team sports. Boys and girls in fourth through twelfth grades are welcome to become altar servers, assisting the priest at liturgical celebrations. April Meier serves as Youth Minister, working to involve young parishioners in the life of the parish, and Jeff Schneider leads the music and liturgy program as Director of Music and Liturgy. St. Boniface has long supported a children's choir and an adult choir along with a bell choir.
Joining the Parish
New parishioners are warmly welcomed. Anyone wishing to register may contact the parish office at 516-676-0676 or by email at stbonchurch@gmail.com. The office is open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, and is staffed by Joan Schiller. Eileen Krieb serves as Business Manager. The church is at 145 Glen Avenue, and the parish is part of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Father Josef Norys works alongside the Sisters of Jesus the Saviour, who live in residence at the parish, together with Deacon Tom Fox, parochial vicar Father Stanislaw Choragwicki, and Christine Whited, who coordinates the VIRTUS child protection programs.
Parish Outreach is also on the same Glen Avenue campus, on the lower level of the Parish Center with its Carpenter Avenue entrance. Parish giving is supported through Faith Direct, including a text-to-give option, and traditional giving envelopes are also mailed weekly. Supporting the wider work of the Church on Long Island, the parish takes part in the annual Catholic Ministries Appeal of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which serves more than 600,000 people annually across Long Island.
St. Boniface Martyr has always been a parish whose life crosses the threshold between the church and the town. The St. Patrick's Day Suppers of the early 1900s fed the Oyster Bay peninsula. The blood banks and fire watches of World War II held the parish together when more than 400 of its men and women served in the armed forces. The capital campaigns of 1960 and 2015 built and rebuilt the church. The food pantry quietly distributes bags of groceries every Saturday morning. From the Old Chapel on 14th Avenue to the rebuilt church on Glen Avenue and the livestream reaching family members across the country, the parish continues what Father Donohoe began in 1898: a community gathered around the Eucharist, sending its people out to serve their neighbors.