St. Clare's Church (Staten Island)

About

The Church of Saint Clare, located in the Great Kills neighborhood of Staten Island, New York City, is the largest-membership parish under the authority of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. It is dedicated to Clare of Assisi, and it includes a co-educational PreK–8 Catholic school and Religious Education program. It became an independent parish in 1925 and has six principal buildings dating from 1921 to 1979: the church, school, converted convent, parish center, chapel, and rectory. St. Clare's has received national attention for its architecture, its educational programs, its heavy casualties from the September 11 attacks, and its two priests lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The parish normally celebrates six Masses each weekend in the church, and three each weekday in the chapel. A typical sacramental year also includes 50 weddings and more than 200 funerals, baptisms, first confessions, first communions, confirmations, and anointings of the sick. The parish has over 7,000 registered families & 19,000 registered members, including hundreds of volunteers providing a wide range of ministries and community service.