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I went to Saint Ephrem's Grammar School in Brooklyn, NY.  After graduating from Saint Ephrem's, I attended Xaverian High School also in Brooklyn.  After graduating from Xaverian, I earned my Bachelor's degree from NYU's College of Business in NYC. 

While Saint Ephrem's was a Catholic school run by the Diocese of Brooklyn, Xaverian was a private Christian High School run by Xaverian Brothers of America.  NYU is located in the heart of Greenwich Village, was established in 1831 and is one of America's leading research universities. It is one of the largest private universities, and it has one of the largest contingents of international students in the U.S.

  While I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, my family came to America as Eastern Rite Catholics.  Most Americans have never heard of the Eastern Rite Catholics.  There are many separate Catholic churches that are considered Eastern Rite churches.  Some  of these churches are Armenian, Chaldean, Coptic, Croatian, Ethiopian (Ge'ez), Italo-Albanian, Italo-Greek, Knanaya, Maronite, Melkite Greek Catholic, Romanian, Russian, Ruthenian, Syriac, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, Ukrainian.  We came to The US as Greek Catholics.

I had heard my mother explain that we were Greek Catholics, but I certainly never heard the term Melkite before.  (As a child I had a hard time understanding how we were Greek Catholic since we were not Greek!)

It does seem clear that my family's religion was originally Melkite - Greek Catholics.  On special occasions my family made a special trip to The Church of the Virgin Mary in Brooklyn.  (Pictured at left.)   While we regularly attended Saint Ephrem's Roman Catholic Church (five kids in their Sunday best) just a few blocks from our home, on special occasions, like a Baptism, we traveled about 30 minutes to The Church of the Virgin Mary. 


The Church of the Virgin Mary
216 Eighth Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11215		  

Since The Melkite Greek Catholic Church lists only four churches in the entire state of New York and two churches in New Jersey, I certainly understand why my family chose to raise us in the Roman Catholic Church.

All five kids attended Saint Ephrem's Grammar School.   Billy and I both attended Xaverian HS.   I believe Carolyn went to Bishop Kearney HS.  Jimmy and Michael attended McKee Technical HS on Staten Island.

 

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Music Midi file:  Coming to America