St Jean Baptiste Church

Beautiful Upper east side church.
They have a very nice family mass once a month where they include children and a small children’s choir as part of the mass with a small reception after… The music is wonderful — I’ve been to special celebratory masses — First Communion, Confirmation and others — where I get chills from the music and choirs, Saint Jean’s own and others visiting .
Around Christmas they have a children’s Christmas pageant where the Children dress in costumes while the Christmas story is read. Really a wonderful mass. First year participating my son was young and they were short a king who was sick so when they asked me to fill in I said ok not realizing I would be the only non child walking up the aisle. Ohh boy, alrighty, for the good of keeping the Christmas story accurate with 3 kings … I said yes as long as I can take my phone and discreetly snap a few photos of my son. So I was the king with an iPhone in my gift box rather than gold frankincense or Mir… A witty preteen joked I had speed dial to God. :p ha My son participated a couple times and even hesitantly dressed as the cow another year when where was a need («praise Jesus we have a cow!» The woman said jokingly as my son said sure when asked to fill the role … (He would have preferred to be Joseph or a king but those roles are reserved for older kids who’ve worked their way thru the nativity ranks … Which acting as cow he was able to achieve the next year … despite his discontent as a barnyard animal he looked adorable… looked back at me in the pew behind with an embarrassed amused grin as if to say «whyyyy» … I quietly said «moo» and laughed. Great memories. Older kids can do the readings and all the little girl Angels are adorable to watch. If you want your children to participate ask early to sign up so you have a choice in roles/​costumes your child may want.
Highly recommend checking out this church for its beauty and especially parents with young kids for its family masses and receptions after, as well as for the Christmas pageant which is fantastic !

THIS IS A REVIEW FOR THE THRIFT SHOP!
This was always one of my favorites because a. it’s near my doctor’s office, and 7. it’s usually got something ridiculous I want to buy for gifting/​hoarding purposes — silk scarf covered in horse heads for $ 3? Check. Art book discussing impressionism in German for $ 1? Totes.
They are going out of business, it seems, in September — I stopped by last week and found some amazing treasures at ridiculous markdowns. Like leather opera gloves for $ 5. What?
Since I’ve always liked going here and wandering around and will mourn the loss of this gem, why only 2 stars? Because one of the employees, an older white woman, who I gathered is some kind of manager, is a total jerk. As in, the store is in chaos because they’re trying to unload everything before they shut down, and I touched a pile of scarves, at which point this woman shrieked at me that they hadn’t been priced yet so DON’T TOUCH THOSE YOUNG LADY (hey thanks! since I’m in my 30s and all). Maybe dial back the crazy? Then I went to look through a bin of fancy leather gloves on the counter, which were covered in a pile of coats. She practically slapped my hand away when I reached for the box of gloves, shaking her head and sighing THESE COATS ARE NOT PRICED, MISS. So I’m like, ok dude, I’m just trying to look at these gloves, not your coats. SHE MOVED HER PRECIOUS COAT PILE ONE INCH. So I got to «look at» the box of gloves by blindly groping around and pulling out potential purchases. At which point she scolded me for not putting things back neatly — I’m sorry, crazy woman, perhaps if you moved the damn coats, say, another 4 inches onto the completely open counter instead of refusing to move them off the box I’m looking in while glaring at me like I was actively punching a kitten in the face, I wouldn’t have to pull out these gloves like Kleenexes fighting to stay in their Kleenex box. Oh that’s right, I’m a customer, so why not be a total ass to me.
Nutjob.
I bought the gloves anyway (oh and suddenly she managed to be moderately friendly! how lovely), but I have to say that meeting this absolute horror of a woman made me a solid 99% less sad that this place is closing. Maybe this woman is going to fly back to her home planet and never come back. What a jerk.

This is a review for the thrift shop only.
The thrift shop is not as well known as most of the thrift shops in the city because it is in the basement. Because of that they have a pretty big inventory and good prices. The employees are friendly as well. I gave them 4 stars for the prices and since not many know about it they always have more than in the store than other thrift shops in the city.
184 East 76^th Street (Lower Level of the Church)
Phone: 212.472−2853, ext. 4
SHOP HOURS
11:00−5:45 Monday through Saturday
FEATURING THESE ITEMS ONLY
* Clothing (new or gently used)
* Shoes
* Handbags
* Jewelry
* Cookbooks, art books,
and children’s illustrated books
* Collectibles
* Kitchenware

An absolutely breathtaking church on the UES. Amazing details, from the gilded stations of the cross mosaics to the painstakingly detailed (and flawlessly executed) color scheme.
I saw a performance by the Chamber Orchestra of New York here, and it’s the perfect venue for live chamber/​chorale music (except for the peskily uncomfortable pews). The CONY opened the Church’s «Music under the Dome» series, which will surely produce other ethereal sounds as the season progresses.
Gorgeous on the eyes, gorgeous for the ears. Give me more.