I found I had overlooked one sad item of recent news, of special significance to those familiar with Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Visitation Monastery and its all-girls academy have closed after 169 years. The convent and school were established in Brooklyn in the 1855; at least initially the nuns taught both Catholic and Protestant girls. The monastery moved to its location in Bay Ridge after 1900. The site has over seven acres, a lake – but only two remaining nuns. For those of us with no family connections to anyone studying or teaching there, the walled Visitation compound was a mysterious presence in Bay Ridge.

The closure of Visitation Academy was announced earlier this year.

“The Diocese of Brooklyn is truly saddened by the impending loss of the presence of the Sisters of the Visitation of Holy Mary in Brooklyn.”

Parents and alumnae organized against it, but, as usual in such cases, the opposition seems to have been unsuccessful. The neighborhood feels understandably threatened by the sale of such a valuable property. Fears for the continued existence of other Catholic schools are also rising. For Visitation Academy is just one more example of the ongoing decline of Catholic education in both the Brooklyn Diocese and the Archdiocese of New York.

For more details see:

Camille, Jada, “Nun you can do about it! Visitation Academy to shut down at end of school year,” Brooklynpaper.com (2/7/2024

Youtube, “Historic all-girls Catholic school closing Brooklyn campus after 170 years,” CBS NEWS NY

For complete details and information: National Latin Mass Pilgrimage (TLMPILGRIMAGE.COM)

The Annual Three Hearts Pilgrimage is scheduled for October 10-12 in Oklahoma. Deadline for registration is September 29. Please see this link to register and for more information: https://www.threeheartspilgrimage.org

From the organizer’s website:

Each October, the annual Three Hearts Pilgrimage guides thousands of participants through a rigorous terrain for 35 miles over 2 days  to their destination – the Benedictine monastery, Clear Creek Abbey. 

The 2023 sacrificial walk of reparation had over 2000 pilgrims from 43 states walk a 2-day journey that culminated in a Pontifical High Mass offered by His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke. 

We welcome you to join us in 2024 and discover how one can find beauty in great sacrifice! Join us in seeking all that is Good, True, and Beautiful!

News from the Catholic Sacred Music Project at Princeton:

I want to invite you all to two events later this month:

1. Behold, I Make All Things New: A Discussion and Concert of New Sacred Music

Saturday, June 15 11am-3:30pm at the Princeton Theological Seminary Chapel

Come and meet Sir James MacMillan, Dr. Margarita Mooney Clayton, Paul Jernberg, Dr. Timothy McDonnell, and hear eight new compositions setting the antiphons of the Mass of Corpus Christi as well as a modern premiere of a forgotten metrical chant setting of the Sequence of Corpus Christi Lauda Sion!

More information and RSVP here.

2. Conducting Institute Sacred Music Concert, Friday, June 21 7:00pm-9:00pm at the Princeton Theological Seminary Chapel More information and RSVP here.

…at the Hispanic Society of America in New York on June 13. Part 3 of a series:  Path of Miracles by Joby Talbot

A concert-length masterwork for choir, tracing the steps of Spain’s most enduring pilgrimage, the Camino de Santiago.

Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles may be the first true choral masterwork of the 21st century. Talbot, whose dramatic compositions include well-known film scores and luscious ballets, composed the piece in 2005 for the British ensemble Tenebrae, a group similar to Skylark both in size and vocal virtuosity. The piece takes the listener on a mesmerizing vocal journey across the ancient Camino de Santiago, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Northwest Spain. With its four varied and theatrical movements named for important cities along the pilgrim’s path, and its moving libretto by poet Robert Dickinson, Path of Miracles has been called “little short of a musical miracle in itself.”

The Hispanic Society of America. (West 155th Street, New York)