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HOLY NAME OF MARY PARISH
Valley Stream, N.Y.
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On December 15, 1999, Reverend Thomas J. Harold was appointed temporary Administrator of Holy
Name of Mary Parish. After the death of Monsignor Fagan in April 2000, Father Harold was appointed Pastor effective June 28, 2000.
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Father Thomas J. Harold was born in New York on March 1, 1954, and baptized at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in West Hempstead.  Reverend Thomas J. Harold He attended elementary school at St. Thomas the Apostle School, and at that parish celebrated the sacraments of First Communion and Confirmation. He is the middle of seven children and has five brothers and one sister. After graduating from St. Thomas the Apostle, Father Harold attended Chaminade High School from which he graduated in 1972. After graduation from Chaminade he entered the Society of Mary, Marianists, and attended St. John's University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology with a double major in English. Father Harold began teaching English at Chaminade in 1976 and soon after beginning his teaching career, earned a Master of Arts in English from Hofstra University. While a teacher at Chaminade, he served as guidance counselor, the newspaper and yearbook moderator, and student government moderator. |
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Leaving Chaminade in 1987, Father Harold felt the call to the priesthood
and entered the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in September of
1987. Bishop John R. McGann ordained Father Harold a priest on May 25, 1991, and assigned
him to Holy Family Parish in Hicksville where he served for five happy
years. |
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On September 1, 2000, Reverend Saji George Mukkoot was the first priest
appointed to Holy Name of Mary in the new century. Father Saji was
the founding Administrator of St. John Chrysostom Malankara Catholic Mission in Hempstead.
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It was Tuesday, September 11, 2001, when Father Harold made an announcement a few minutes prior to
the start of the 9 A.M. Mass, that there was a report of an accident at the World Trade Center in New York City. Little did anyone
know based on those initial reports, of the tragedy that was to befall our country on that day. September 11, 2001, was a “Day of Infamy,” as the sneak attack on the World Trade Center
and Pentagon caused more casualties than the attack on Pearl Harbor. Seven parishioners lost their
lives in the tragedy of September 11. |
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Deacon Robert P. Walsh was ordained as a Deacon on May 26, 1978, for the N.Y. Archdiocese. Deacon Walsh was assigned to Holy Name of Mary on June 24, 1983. After serving here for six years, he was reassigned to work as a chaplain at Mercy Medical Center on October 1, 1989, while he continued as a member of our parish.
He retired from Mercy in October 1999 and was reassigned to Holy Name of Mary on December 24, 1999.  Deacon Robert P. Walsh Deacon Robert Walsh died suddenly on September 21, 2001. Many parishioners have fond memories of Deacon Walsh for his consoling ministry at Mercy Hospital as well as his enthusiastic service to Holy Name of Mary Parish.
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| On Sunday, September 23, 2001, following the noon Mass, the redesigned Path to Mary Centennial Shrine was dedicated. Father Stephen Brigandi, who was in charge of its redesign and restoration, was commended for the outstanding results.  Path to Mary Centennial Shrine Memorial plaques in memory of Monsignor Daniel E. Fagan, Monsignor Peter P. McGovern and Bishop James T. McHugh were incorporated on the wall behind Our Lady's statue. |
| In December 2001 a detailed schedule of events and celebrations for the Centennial was finalized.
Included in the schedule were 22 different items. Several of the highlights were: a January 1 opening day noon Mass followed by a reception;
a Mardi Gras celebration; a St. Patrick's Dinner Dance;
Parish picnic; international celebrations; and a Pilgrimage to Our Lady of the Island Shrine. The primary liturgical celebration of the year was a Centennial Anniversary Mass on September 8. There was a special Mass of Remembrance on the first anniversary of the tragedy of September 11.
On November 8 there was the Centennial Anniversary Dinner Dance.
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Tuesday, January 1, 2002, was a clear brilliant day and the beginning of our Centennial Year. A standing room only crowd of over one thousand parishioners and friends filled the church
to celebrate the noon Mass of the Solemnity of Mary. Father Harold concelebrated the Mass with the three Associate Pastors, Fathers Maltese, Brigandi and Mukkoot. Father Sebastian Fernando,
who had had been with our parish for several months during the illness of Monsignor Fagan, and Father Gerard Ringenback, who had served here from 1978 through 1983,
also concelebrated the Mass.
Prayer, music, joy, memories and community spirit filled the air. The feeling was electric.
Each person who attended was presented with a Centennial lapel pin. |
Marge Chvatal supplied us with the following letter summarizing a few of her many memories. “My sisters, Adelaide, Marion, Anne, and myself were born in our grandmother, Louise Rohner McDermott's house at 44 East Jamaica Avenue, across from Holy Name of Mary Church. Our father came to Valley Stream in 1906 and was an altar boy for Father McGovern.
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Many of our original group have gone home to God, but almost seventy years later the remaining group,
Catherine Murphy Bonora, Fran Horn Cook, Marian Masterson Schaufler, Martha Raeder Budischak and myself, still get together three or four times a year. We are a little past the age to call ourselves the JCD of A, so we are known as the GDFM girls, God Doth Friends Make.
 Rectory Annex, new home of Parish Outreach The Most Reverend Bishop John R. McGann died on January 29, 2002. A plaque in memory of Bishop McGann was later added to the wall in the Path to Mary Centennial Shrine area. |
| The following provides a flavor of the time and the community spirit that filled the parish. In his weekly column of February 16, 2002, Father Harold wrote, “On Tuesday, we had Mardi Gras for about four hundred fifty people, mostly young families with children from our religious education program and parish school. In true Mardi Gras spirit, the kids enjoyed face painting, masks, balloons and beads. They were invited to design their own shopping bags and there were many recreational events in the gym and in the downstairs meeting rooms. Parents of the kids cooked more than eight hundred hot dogs. It was great to see so many young children and their parents come together and have so much fun. Sr. Barbara came up with this great idea, organized it, and probably will make it an annual tradition.”  Holy Name of Mary Church, March 2002 The Centennial events continued to be extremely popular among parishioners, with sold-out and oversubscribed becoming the keywords. |
| On Tuesday, April 16, 2002, the building permit was approved to allow renovation of the Rectory Annex.
The Annex provides offices and consultation area for Parish Outreach. The basement of
the house is the new place of operation for our St. Vincent de Paul ministry to families in need of food. |
The Valley Stream Volunteer Fire Department was on the scene within minutes and extinguished the fire with
precision and speed. Fire damage was limited to a small section of the cafeteria.
However there was extensive smoke and soot damage. Parishioners began to arrive at the school before 8 A.M. More than sixty parishioners helped in the cleanup, which was completed about seven
hours later. This spirit was reminiscent of the early 1970s when the outside wall of the church was defaced with graffiti. Approximately five hundred volunteers eagerly arrived on the scene and cleaned the wall.
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The sky was cloudless and intensely blue, as if this day was created especially in honor of Our Lady.
It was the feast day of the Birth of Mary and the Liturgical Celebration of our Parish Centennial.
The temperature was ideal and the sun was beaming, as were the faces of over a thousand people who filled Holy Name of Mary Church on September 8, 2002.
Bishop William F. Murphy was the main celebrant of the noon Mass before a standing room only crowd.
 Left to right on the top step: Father Saji George Mukkoot, Father Theodore LeTure, Bishop William Murphy, Father Thomas Harold and Father James Maltese Bishop Murphy concelebrated the Mass with sixteen priests. Among them were:
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and ten priests who formerly served in our parish. The ten priests who formerly served in our parish as priests or deacons are listed in the order of their starting date of service. |
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Our four parish deacons assisted in the celebration. Approximately a dozen Sisters of Saint Joseph who served in this parish were also present.
Bishop Murphy led the congregation in the renewal of their Baptismal vows. Each person in the church was given a Centennial Candle that was lighted during the renewal.
Prayers were offered for the victims from our parish who died on September 11, 2001.
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Father Harold's letter of September 14 best described the music that day. “Our music and song stirred many. Mr. Kevin
Faughey spent much time and energy organizing,
preparing, rehearsing and bringing together the efforts
of more than sixty musicians and singers. Our
cantor, Reneé Socci, our three sopranos, the Choir,
Folk Group, Spanish Choir, and Children's Choir
combined talents and their own enthusiasm to provide
a music program that helped draw us all together
on this important occasion and express our
shared joy.”  Bishop William Murphy being welcomed to Valley Stream by Mayor Edward Cahill and his wife Mary Ann
A festive reception with lunch followed on the church lawn. Parishioners had a chance to reminisce
with each other and the priests and nuns who had served this parish for many years. |
On Wednesday, September 11, 2002, the first anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedy, our Parish offered a special Prayer Remembrance for the victims.
The Remembrance began with a Mass on Tuesday, September 10 at 7:30 p.m for Peace and Justice with the intention of the Victims and their families.
It was followed by a 24-hour
period of prayer that extended through the night on Tuesday, through all day Wednesday and
concluded Wednesday night with Mass at 7:30 p.m. |
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On October 16, 2002, which was the twenty-forth anniversary of his elevation to the papacy, Pope John Paul II issued an apostolic letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae.
In it he proclaimed the year from October 2002 to October 2003 as the Year of the Rosary. He proposed to expand the Rosary by adding the Mysteries of Light, specifically “to include the mysteries of Christ's public ministry between his Baptism and his
Passion. ... It is during the years of his public ministry that the mystery of Christ is most evidently a mystery of light: ‘While I am in the world, I am the light of the world’ |
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| DECEMBER 31, 2002
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