St Malachy's Catholic Church

Story

St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church is a parish church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located in Manhattan on West 49th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. The parish has served the theatre community in a special way since 1920, and its parishioners have included a large number of celebrities in the field of acting, such as Bob Hope and Gregory Peck.FoundingThe parish was founded in 1902 by Archbishop Farley, with the Rev. William Daly being named the first pastor. Services were soon being held in a basement sanctuary. The current church complex was designed by prolific ecclesiastical architect, Thomas J. Duff, and built the following year.The Actors' ParishAround 1920 the Theater District started to move uptown into this area, and actors, dancers, and musicians became prominent worshipers at the church, replacing the traditional, working class congregants. To answer their needs, the pastor, Monsignor Edward F. Leonard, had the Chapel of St. Genesius, the patron saint of actors – commonly called the "Actors' Chapel" – constructed below the main church in 1920. He sought the special permission of the Archbishop of New York for Masses to be celebrated there at 4 A.M. (which was banned by canon law at the time) to accommodate the non-standard schedules of theater workers and thus make worship convenient for them.