PARK SLOPE — In the 1950s, when Carlo Zaskorski was growing up in Park Slope, his parents took him to Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas Church every Sunday. They didn’t have to walk far to get there; they lived only two blocks away.

Decades later, Zaskorski is returning to have a hand in his old church’s future.

Zaskorski, an architect whose firm, Zaskorski & Associates Architects, has helped repair and renovate numerous churches in the Diocese of Brooklyn, was hired to draw up plans for an extensive project for St. Thomas Aquinas 138-year-old church building and its attached rectory.

“I am involved in a lot of projects in churches. But this one is special to me. I have a connection to this particular church,” Zaskorski said.

The building is badly in need of restoration due to deterioration that took place over the decades, according to St. Thomas Aquinas pastor, Father Rafael Perez.

Zaskorski has drawn up plans to address long-standing issues with the building. The project, which Father Perez said is expected to cost $4 million, is multifaceted. 

The roof, gutters, and brick facade all need to be repaired. The frames of the church’s stained-glass windows will need to be replaced. In addition, the wood frame of the church’s rose window, a large stained-glass window facing the front of the building, will have to be reconstructed.

The plans drawn up by Zaskorski’s firm followed a year of architectural and engineering studies, during which employees used drones to capture images of the roof and other hard-to-reach places. 

Father Perez said the work will begin over the summer and last at least a year, noting that the church will remain open during the work.

St. Thomas Aquinas, located on the corner of 9th Street and 4th Avenue, was established as a parish in 1884. Two years later, the newly constructed church building held its first Mass. 

In 2006, it merged with Holy Family, located on 13th Street, to create a single parish: Holy Family-St. Thomas Aquinas.

But when Zaskorski was a child, the merger was still decades away. He recalled that his family started attending St. Thomas Aquinas in 1952 after moving to Brooklyn from Italy. 

“We were immigrants. We found the church after we moved to Brooklyn,” he said. “Back then, Park Slope had a lot of Italian and Irish families.”

While his family came here from Italy, they were not Italian, he explained. Zaskorski’s dad was Polish, and his mother was Libyan. They settled in Italy for a while before making their way to America.

After arriving in Park Slope, the Zaskorskis found a railroad apartment on 9th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Young Carlo attended St. Thomas Aquinas School from first to fifth grade. 

“I remember how nice the nuns were. The school felt like a second home,” he recalled. “So did the church. I received my first Communion at St. Thomas Aquinas.”

Zaskorski, who moved out of the neighborhood many years ago, said he’s grateful for the opportunity to return and help repair his old church. 

“It’s like going back into the past and getting to relive it while at the same time helping set them up for the future,” he added.

Father Perez called Zaskorski’s involvement in the project serendipitous.

“I think the fact that he has a personal connection to the church is not a coincidence,” he said, adding that he sees the hand of God at work. “The church is the body of Christ, but it is built on a network of relationships.”

Father Perez views the repair project as “a new beginning” during a significant moment in the church’s history — 2024 marks its 140th anniversary.  

“This project is a way for us to tell the neighborhood that the church is still here and ready to welcome people,” he said.