(contribution by Jack McCarrick)

Taken from "St. Frances de Chantal Church, Bronx, New York" dedication book, published 1971 by Custombook, Inc. Ecclesiastical Color Publishers, Hackensack, New Jersey.

"A Beacon For The Future"

The church is elliptical in shape, allowing a seating arrangement in which no one is more than fourteen rows from the sanctuary. The exterior of the structure is built of hand-made Williamsburg brick, the same type used in the restoration of that city.  The floor throughout the building is of terrazzo, except for the upstairs sanctuary, which is of Roman travertine, imported from the Pietrasanta quarries in italy.

Entrance to the church is through a large tower. A large plaza in front has been designed to encourage the priests and the congration to gather and communicate before and after Mass.  The seating capacity of the new church is eighteen hundred people, divided equally between the upper and lower levels of the church.