Monsignor Joseph A. McCaffrey:
Fr. Duffy's successor, Monsignor Joseph A McCaffrey was an Army Chaplain in the First World Was and was decorated with both a Silver Star and the Croix de Guerre. Also known as "The Bishop of Times Square", he was pastor for 36 years, and chaplain of the New York Police Department for 30 years. A well-known crusader against crime and pornography in Times Square, Fr. McCaffrey helped convince Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia to close down neighborhood burlesque houses. He also established the Perpetual Novena of Lady of the Miraculous Medal. Thousands came to make the novena each Monday spilling out of the Church onto the street, listening over loudspeakers. The radio audience was seemingly limitless. Fr. McCaffrey helped convince city officials that the space just off the corner of 43rd and Ninth was urgently needed for neighborhood children and students of the Holy Cross Schools, which is why McCaffrey Playground, currently located at the site, is named in his honor.
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