Saint Raphael Parish
A year after the parish was established a worship space was built on Seventy-First Street. Reverend William Nillane was pastor and celebrated Mass in a storefront on Vermont Avenue. He was succeed by Reverend Noel Dillon. In 1934 the Carmelite Fathers were assigned to the parish. In 1947 Reverend William Patrick Russell opened an elementary school under the direction of the Adrian Dominican Sisters. Father Matthias Ewing served as associated in 1966 and pastor from 1971 to 1979. The worship space, built in 1926 is still in use and the congregation includes African Americans, Hispanic and Anglo cultures. Reverend Tracy O'Sullivan, a native of Chicago, was named pastor in 1994, his first pastorate in the Archdiocese.
