The parish of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Red Hook celebrated its 170th anniversary on Sunday with a mass, a gala fundraiser, and a new song reflecting the history and community spirit of one of Brooklyn’s oldest churches.

Like other city churches, Visitation in 1854 first welcomed Italian, Irish and German immigrants, many of whom worked nearby on the docks and in factories. Now the church has been reborn as a community for Latin American Catholics, who have helped revive it under the guidance of an Italian pastor with a sparkling sense of humor.

Father Claudio Antecini's serendipitous journey to Brooklyn started with a missed connection. He originally arrived in the United States in the 1980s, thinking he was going to serve a Catholic community in New Jersey. When hi

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