90 Euclid Avenue Middletown, NY 10940
Since 1912, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish has been an integral part of that history serving the needs of God’s people in Orange County, New York. Served by the Order of Carmelites, our parish with its Mission Churches at Holy Name in Otisville, Our Lady of the Scapular in Unionville and Holy Cross in South Centerville, St. Paul’s in Bullville and Our Lady of the Assumption in Bloomingburg, at one time covered a large portion of northwestern Orange and southern Sullivan counties.
Over the years, a great growth in the population of our area lead to the formation of separate parishes first at Holy Name in Otisville in 1969 and later at Holy Cross in South Centerville with the Mission Church at Our Lady of the Scapular in Unionville in 1999. We have also seen growth and change at Our Lady of Mount Carmel itself since our humble beginnings. Fr. Richard Colfer, O. Carm. was the first pastor when the parish was opened with the Priory on Monhagen Avenue with services in the former grist mill/barn behind the priory. A Church was later built on West Main Street in Middletown.
In 1956-1957 Our Lady of Mount Carmel School and Convent opened at the present site of the Parish on Wawayanda and Euclid Avenues under the leadership of Fr. Emmanuel Hourihan, O. Carm. The school which was originally staffed by the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2006. In the late 1980s the convent was remodeled and became the priory and residence for the Carmelites who serve in the parish. In 1992 the current Church was opened on Euclid Avenue. Most recently we completed our Parish Center in 2005.
Our parish community of about 993 families is a wonderful blend of families who have been in the parish for generations, some since its conception, and other families new to the area who arrive and register in the parish on almost a weekly basis. It also represents people from very diverse cultural, racial, and ethnic backgrounds who join together to form the strong community that is Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. We rejoice in what those who have gone before us have accomplished in the past and we stand committed to carry the good works of the Archdiocese of New York and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish into the future.