FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com september 4, 2014 • The Queens Courier 5 Astoria church to celebrate 90 years of faith BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO aaltamirano@queenscourier.com @aaltamirano28 One Astoria Catholic church will soon be celebrating nearly a century of serving the community. The Immaculate Conception Church, located at 21-47 29th St., will be marking 90 years since it held its first Mass in 1924. There are two celebratory Masses planned for this fall, followed by a party in the new year. “It’s wonderful. It’s a great way of marking the accomplishments of the parish,” said Monsignor Fernando Ferrarese, the current pastor of the church, about the celebrations. “When you see the accomplishments of the parish over 90 years, you see the possibilities for a future as well.” The Rev. Michael Lopez held the church’s first Mass in the Immaculate Conception School, which will also be celebrating its 90th anniversary, on Oct. 4, 1924. The church’s current building, located on the corner of 29th Street, was fully completed in 1951. The National Organization of Catholic War Veterans was started in the parish by the Rev. Edward Higgins in the 1930s and Post 1 is still located at the church as various other posts have become established throughout the nation. “The church has been a unifying factor and the celebration of diversity that people from all different countries, all different walks of life, all believe in God and believe that God is the best thing for community,” Ferrarese said. “It brings us together, it gives us the virtues and values that we need as a city and it is a real anchor for people.” The Astoria church now offers Mass in four languages — Spanish, English, Italian and Tagalog — and Ferrarese said he has seen the community and parish itself grow and bring a “wonderful mixture of people.” Other programs and services the parish offers include a homeless shelter in the winter, a food pantry throughout the year, an introductory opera course, an active school, a religious education program and spiritual courses. For the past five years, the church has also been holding film festivals every fall and spring. This fall’s festival, which begins on October 17 and is free to the public, will surround the topic of “hate,” and screen three movies including “42.” “We want to be able to give our people a real sense of growth of development on all levels,” Ferrarese said. “It also is a kind of way to introduce people to issues of faith.” The first celebratory Mass of the church’s 90th anniversary will be on Oct. 4 at 5 p.m., and the second Mass will be on Dec. 7. The gala reception is expected to be held on Jan. 18, 2015, at Russo’s on the Bay. For more information on the Immaculate Conception Church, visit www.immacastoria. org. Bayside residents accuse neighbor of using his home as a synagogue BY ERI C JANKIE WICZ @ericjankiewicz/ejankiewicz@queenscourier.com A Bayside homeowner is being accused of using his home as an illegal synagogue, according to city records. The Department of Buildings received a complaint that Jacob Hasis, a rabbi, is using his 26th Avenue residence as a house of worship, in violation of its certificate of occupancy as a residence, a spokesman said. “This property has many past issues so we take the complaints very seriously,” the DOB spokesman said. Hasis acknowledged that residents complained to him about loud noise coming from his home. But he said that people mistake his large family of 12 and a couple of friends who come over for religious reasons as a synagogue. “My family is 12 people and maybe another three or four of my friends come over to pray,” he said. “I don’t know why they were complaining.” But in a flier that Hasis made, he invites “the whole community” to “Rabbi Yaakov’s shul for the high holidays service,” although the flier does say there is “limited space available” in the single-family home. Hasis has a history of constructing additions to his home “illegally” and has paid $1,200 in fines to the city in regard to the property, according to the DOB spokesman. The home also has three open violations relating to construction without the proper work permits. This construction includes creating entry doors for the cellar, two of which the DOB has deemed “immediately hazardous.” The front yard of the house is filled with bricks, wheel barrels for cement and an abundance of wood. Community Board 11 and state Sen. Tony Avella’s office have also received complaints about the building. A spokesman for Avella said that the office was aware of the complaints and that they were in the process of trying to figure out the situation. Henry Beringer, who lives near the alleged synagogue, said he tried to complain to the community board, but someone had beaten him to it. “When I called the community board, they said they had a complaint already about it being used as a synagogue,” he said. The DOB plans on inspecting the property within the next 60 days, according to its spokesman. With additional reporting by Salvatore Licata THE COURIER/Photo by Salvatore Licata THE COURIER/Photo by Angy Altamirano
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