Hundreds of parishioners joined Cardinal Timothy Dolan to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Holy Rosary Church in the Eastchester community of the Bronx at an afternoon Mass on Sunday, October 5. 

“You know you’ve got a great pastor here,” Cardinal Dolan said, referring to Father Dennis Williams. “I’m gratefully aware of the diversity of ministries you have here at Holy Rosary Parish. I’m gratefully aware of the welcome you extend with your reach, your civic life, your different organizations and councils that you have.” 

With the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary being celebrated on October 7, Cardinal Dolan tied the parish’s centennial to its namesake. 

“I’ll be driving along sometimes. Sometimes when we get to a stoplight, I look over and I see the car next to us. There’s a rosary hanging from the rearview mirror! And I’ll get out, and I’ll take mine out, and I’ll say, ‘When did you get your rosary too?’ And sometimes I say, ‘Well, keep it in your hands, not over your mirror.’ I say, ‘You got it backwards.'” 

As he concluded, Cardinal Dolan again complimented the parish and emphasized the importance of praying the Rosary. “There are five decades to the rosary, but for 10 decades, this parish dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary has been a living rosary. The mysteries of the life of Christ, the joy and sorrow embraced by our faith, by the sacraments, our worship, by our charity, by our apostolic mission, incarnated in the mysteries that we recall most in the Rosary, and lived since they were planted along these magnificent streets and blocks.” 

Father Williams expressed his gratitude both to the cardinal and to the members of his parish, past and present. “What I want to say is that what you’re experiencing today is just a heightened, concentrated version of what takes place here every day. It is a parish of unusual engagement and service, sometimes to the most difficult people, those who are sick and elderly and who need care the most, and Holy Rosary, in ways both material and spiritual, is always there and is truly a home for all who wish to approach.” 

“Father Dennis Williams has been a great friend of mine for over 15 years, and he’s an amazing priest,” parishioner Nicholas DiOrio told The Good Newsroom after Mass. “I’ll always remember when he was named to be a pastor here and how excited he was to get a parish that was so vibrant. And over the last many years of him being here, he has really encouraged and enlivened the faithfulness of his community and promotion of the rosary and promotion of people coming back to the sacraments,”  

At the reception that followed the Mass, artist Yvette Armstrong invited Cardinal Dolan to paint the last shape on a mural she created with other members of the parish community for the occasion. “I wanted to have a collaboration of parishioners and students, and all of those who love Holy Rosary because this is our home,” the former attorney told The Good Newsroom. “I left [the law] behind to do art, and I love it. I love the crossroads, the union of art and faith, and community,” she said. 

Founded in 1925, Holy Rosary Church merged with nearby Nativity of Our Blessed Lady Church in 2015. Nativity celebrated its centennial in 2024.