In New York City, churches and religious institutions face the harsh reality of consolidating their resources with other churches, or worse, being shut down altogether. But in the midst of these shut downs, Saint Theresa’s Church in the Pelham Bay Section of the Bronx is staying afloat, as it has been for the past 85 years.

Saint Theresa’s Church began its longtime service to the community, beginning with former pastor Father Robert Grippo, who served as the head of the parish from 1991 to August of this year. Current pastor of the church, Father Thomas Derivan, credits Grippo with being the originator for many of the church programs and community service groups that Saint Theresa’s offers.

“A lot of these programs got started by him [Grippo] and he gave the impetus for them to continue. He was very interested that the church be involved in the community affairs,” said Derivan.

Under the guidance of Grippo in combination with an active church community, many programs and activities flourished within the church, even when other churches in the area and across the city were in danger of shutting down, or merging with other parishes. One of these churches in danger was Our Lady of the Assumption Church, a neighboring parish of Saint Theresa’s that was to undergo a possible merger with Saint Mary’s Star of the Sea Church in City Island. This merger was part of “the biggest reorganization [of churches] in the history of the archdiocese,” according to an article in The New York Times. Although both of these churches are within the same community, Derivan cites “financial issues” as the reason that OLA underwent a merger and Saint Theresa’s did not. “It’s a combination of an active community, masses that are well attended, and of course being able to pay your bills,” he says. The funding for the programs at the Saint Theresa’s Church comes from the Saint Theresa’s Elementary School that is connected to the church. As a “parish-based” or “parochial” school, some of the money that comes from student tuitions, alumni contributions, as well as financial contributions from parishioners goes directly to funding the programs.

Many of the people who are volunteers in this program are mothers, who are able to dedicate much of their time and effort to the community service efforts. “A good number of mothers in this area are stay-at-home mothers who have time to do things during the day,” says Derivan. “That is not true in other areas, where the emphasis is on working mothers.” These stay-at-home mothers help out with many of the successful programs in the church including the holiday food drive, the clothing drive, and a program that the parish calls the “Midnight Run” where every second Thursday of the month, parishioners bring food, clothes, toiletries and other supplies to people and institutions in need.

This month, Saint Theresa’s Church is working together with Saint Rose of Lima, a church in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan. The collections from the Midnight Run are going to Saint Rose of Lima in order to be distributed to the Washington Heights community. “The old word was ‘twinning’ which means attaching one parish who is better off with a parish that is less well off, and they can help one another out.”

The demographics of the neighborhood have shifted the popularity of some of the programs that the church offers. Traditionally, the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx was a predominantly White neighborhood, with most of the population consisting of Italian Americans. Currently, Derivan says that there has been an increase in the Hispanic, Black, and Albanian population in the neighborhood, a change that the church programs are trying to accommodate.

“Our main emphasis has to be outreach to the Hispanic people, and making them feel comfortable with coming to church here, and we’re going to do that,” Derivan said. One of the challenges that the church faces is better integrating the new wave of residents into the community. “The challenge is not to keep the neighborhood the same, it is to get people in the neighborhood to work together. To get the Hispanic people to work with the Italian people and the Albanian people, that’s the main challenge.”

Another challenge that Derivan cited was a need for more services for senior citizens and senior veterans who live in Pelham Bay. Many services and facilities are needed for these groups, and many in the neighborhood have suggested that the Pelham Grand, a former hospital in Pelham Bay, be used as facilities for these seniors and veterans. However, Derivan says that the city wishes to use the Pelham Grand building for facilities such as a homeless shelter or a drug clinic despite the neighborhood’s push for senior and veteran services, with elderly veterans especially being a very “underserved group” according to Derivan.