RED HOOK — A CATHOLIC PARISH IN RED HOOK HAS OVERCOME MANY CHALLENGES TO REACH ITS 170TH ANNIVERSARY, reports the Daily News . Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church on Richards St., has endured fire and flooding, a recession, the pandemic, which emptied sanctuaries, and changing demographics.

Two years after the Diocese of Brooklyn was established and its first bishop, Fr. John Loughlin, had been named as leader, Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church was established. More than two million Catholics lived in New York by then. Bishop Loughlin dedicated the first church on Oct. 29, 1855; but within 20 years, the increasing parish population, many of whom were seeking jobs in the shipping industry had outgrown the building.

Father Claudio Antecini, Visitation’s current

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