Saint Francis of Assisi

This church makes confession easier. I call it «confession central» as there are liberal hours to go and a regular schedule for priests (you can follow your confessor, should you like). The constant invitation this church gives to go to confession takes some of the fear away and makes it easy to practice monthly, if not more. I practice the Latin Mass at St. Agnes & Holy Innocents, but for confession I head back to St. Francis of Assisi. I saw one of the visiting priests at Holy Innocents come here to go to confession, which made me feel good about being a regular.
Downstairs they have the confessionals and the lower church, which usually has Eucharistic Adoration all day long (M-​F). Masses tend to be upstairs. They make it easy… which is why it gets 4 stars from me!
They post their bulletin online and have a good website; easy to google for hours.

Beautiful church. I personally would choose another nearby church — there are many. Unfortunate, that they choose parts of the Gospel that suit their needs while neglecting others. I pray for conversion. Truth with charity.

My favorite church in New York City. Friendly staff and church is open to all people from different walks of life. The welcoming atmosphere, the services and the choir and singers — fantastic.

Beautiful Church with tons of Mass times. I went to the 5:00 although there was another one at 6:15pm if you’re looking for a late «sinners Mass» hehe jk. The music group at the 5pm Mass was exceptional. You could skip your Broadway tickets after hearing the kind of singers and musicians they have there.
Franciscan priest gave a great homily and the pews were filled. Also, go next door to their gift shop for great books on Saint Francis, Saint Clare and other Catholic gifts.

I love this place and will miss it when I no longer work in Manhattan =/.

I’m a big fan of St. Francis of Assisi. Not only do they have a daily mass that is convenient for a work schedule, they have a rectory that is open during more hours in the day than any rectory I’ve known. It’s very easy to obtain a mass card, and the staff at the rectory is really helpful.
I like the service they offer in the basement, and the upstairs church is totally underrated with its high ceilings and wall designs. They’re one of the few churches that offer ashes on Ash Wednesday without having to attend a mass (whether that’s good or bad can be debated).
I consider St. Francis my ‘work’ church, as it’s walking distance from work. It’s convenient to a lot of midtown, and it seems I’m not the only one who considers it a church away from church.

This is an amazing Church. The friars are warm and welcoming and pretty good homilists. The music is incredible! There is a morning choir and an evening ensemble, and the church is packed, especially on Sunday evenings. And the community is incredibly diverse: there are tons of young adults, but older adults fill the pews also. There is a sizable gay and lesbian community, many new immigrants from asia, the caribbean and even new young professionals from europe. When I go to Mass here I come away feeling uplifted and inspired. It’s a weird way to put it, but it’s a fun church.

The best thing about this church is the location: it’s close to 32^nd street/​herald square. Or maybe it’s the fact that they offer mass or confession almost all day. It’s a pretty large church, with a chapel in the basement, where there are plenty of prayer candles to light. It’s staffed by Franciscan Friars, who in my experience have just been great homilists. They’re also pretty involved with helping the community; there’s a breadline, an outreach to the poor, and plenty of support groups for things like alcoholism. There’s even a gift shop, which is strange for a church, but I suppose it’s just another way to raise funds.

Beautiful place of worship. I pass by every day on my way to work and felt like I needed the spirit on this particular visit to NYC.
The cantor has a beautiful voice and I enjoyed the musical selection. I go to church rarely, though I’m Catholic, and love going back to see what’s changed in the practice.
It was a great way to start out my Sunday. Please be sure to contribute in any way to the offering plates!

Run by the Order of Friars, Minor, this location is a very well-​kept, orderly place when I arrived for a wedding. Unfortunately, as many of the other areas of the church are busy, non-​guests pass freely in the main hall as they go from room-​to-​room and passed to and fro during the ceremonies. That was my main concern.
The speaker placement is adequate — you can hear most of the Friars without any significant input, fortunately, though others not used to speaking can be drowned in echoes. A very lovely central sermon space, though smaller than many of the much larger places like St. Patrick’s, etc. Pews are well-​maintained, and there’s enough space for different people to move around.

This is a fantastic church, conveniently located just around the corner from Madison Square Garden. I’ve been to some seedy churches in the city and though this is a small church, they pack a lot of people and really know how to run a mass well.
The times are convenient and the choir is spectacular on Sundays. The upper level church and lower level church are equally comfortable and the ushers are very good without being too disruptive. A nice touch is that there are always plenty of seats and the priests are different almost each week.
This could easily be my favorite church in Manhattan.

went for celebrating ‘Christmas Eve’ with family.
It wasn’t that big or magnificent like St. Patrick, but enough to pray.
didn’t expect there would be a concert. YES! small size choir and chamber orchestra.
it was beautiful and warm night with my brothers and all the people there.
now, I join the choir, and every moment, I feel like I am at home.
Amen~