St. Catherine of Sienna

Intersecting streets and intersecting faith

New Hyde Park Road becomes Franklin Avenue right before meeting with Hempstead Turnpike where a favorite gathering spot for churchgoers is located — the Franklin Square Coffee Shop. The three roads lead to several churches, but none so prominent as St. Catherine of Sienna. You can’t miss it with its European edifice.

The church itself dates back to the 19th century, when there were few, if any, organized religious congregations in Franklin Square. At the time, most residents were German-speaking Catholics who attended St. Boniface’s Church in present-day Elmont. The German-speaking Protestants attended the German Presbyterian Church, also in Elmont, while the Englishspeaking non-Catholic Christians favored the Methodist Church in Hempstead.

In 1908, the Catholics decided to organize their own parish by petitioning the bishop of Brooklyn for assistance. On July 5, 1908, Franklin Square held Mass in the front parlor of the old Kinsey Homestead. That dusty pioneer land is now filled with Franklin Square roads and buildings running through it, but it also was a place that connected its people.

After approximately a year, St. Catherine of Siena was constructed on New Hyde Park Road. Because of its location, the church saw a boon in parishioners. After it opened, the church structure itself became far too small, causing the church to grow even more.

The parish received its first resident priest in 1913. Four years later, Msgr. Conrad Lutz became pastor, a position he held until 1953. Monsignor Lutz, who planned the new church, had St. Catherine’s become one of the most beautiful public buildings in the area.

When entering the church, the stainedglass windows to the left and right were specifically crafted in Germany to Monsignor Lutz’s particular specifications to illustrate the life of St. Catherine.

Aside from the grandeur of the church and its ever-growing Catholic base, Franklin Square welcomed all.

In the 1940s, the Jewish community organized the Franklin Square Center. The Jewish center’s current place on Pacific and Lloyd streets is where one would find the old St. Catherine’s chapel. This is where the old and the new connect through Franklin Square’s roadway system. In 1956, the Bethel Assembly of God opened on Court House Road.

Geographically the intersection of these places of worship point toward the center of the hamletm but also act as the heart of the Franklin Square community. — Brian Pfail