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Pope Francis: Please come to BKLYN on your next NYC trip

Eye On Real Estate: Cool places for you to see in the Borough of Churches — Part Three

September 30, 2015 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle
The Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights looks so fine, it could play host to the Pope on a moment's notice. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan
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Pope Francis, your big visit to the Big Apple was awesome. If only you had come to B’KLYN!

We know there wasn’t time for you to visit our borough. So we hope you will return to NYC soon — and include Brooklyn on your itinerary. Everybody calls this the Borough of Churches. Doesn’t that sound like a good fit? We made a list of some places you’d surely like.

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Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, 856 Pacific St., Prospect Heights: In the 19th Century, when the Irish were a persecuted minority in New York, one of their champions was Dagger John.

John Hughes, the Archbishop of New York, was known by this nickname because he drew Christ’s cross in a dagger-shaped symbol as part of his signature.

Archbishop Hughes saved St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in Little Italy from being burned down by anti-Catholic mobs in 1844. He mustered men who belonged to the Ancient Order of Hibernians to guard the church and keep would-be arsonists at bay.

Here in Brooklyn, the archbishop established St. Joseph’s for immigrants who had fled the Irish famine. The first church on the site was completed in 1853. The land cost $500, St. Joseph’s website says. The construction of the current church was finished in 1912.

Recently, it was renovated at a cost of $18.5 million. It looks so fine, it could play host to the Pontiff on a moment’s notice if he decided to visit B’KLYN.

Prospect Park, Eastern Parkway at Prospect Park West: Pope Francis rode the Popemobile through Central Park to meet and greet New Yorkers. Prospect Park would work well for a similar motorcade.

The Smith-9th Streets Subway Station: Pope Francis, a big believer in living humbly, rode the subway in Argentina when he was a bishop and even a cardinal.

We think he’d enjoy seeing the Smith-9th streets subway stop for F and G trains. The Statue of Liberty is visible from the elevated train platforms. So are Downtown Brooklyn’s skyscrapers and the Gowanus Canal.

7th Avenue Donuts, 324 Seventh Ave., Park Slope: Pope Francis gets up at 4:30 a.m. each morning. He could share some pre-dawn camaraderie with customers at 7th Avenue Donuts, which is open 24 hours a day. The freshly baked donuts are definitely worth waking up for, by the way.


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