A Deu$ ex Machina Descends for St. Brigids

After a long fight, after numerous press releases enumerating the reasons for closing the parish and demolishing the church, after an hour's worth of wrecking ball that destroyed much beloved stained glass, apparently all is forgotten by the archdiocese as an anonymous donor steps forward with a $20 million endowment for the parish and the school.

I read all about it in the New York Times article Donor Gives $20 Million to Revive a Historic Church by Sewell Chan. Salient quote:

"In July 2006, a day after demolition work began, a State Supreme Court justice issued a temporary restraining order halting the work. But in February 2007, the lawsuit was dismissed, a ruling that was affirmed on appeal. In January of this year, the plaintiffs, appealing yet again, got permission to bring the case to the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.

Marisa A. Marinelli, a partner at the law firm of Holland & Knight who has been representing the Committee to Save St. Brigid’s since 2006, described Wednesday’s announcement as a “very positive development,” but said that the committee members had to learn more details and have a discussion before deciding whether to drop their pending appeal."

Seven other news outlets have picked up this story. Students of spin, or those who are seeking pronouncements not uttered by Joseph Zwilling, might want to read them all:

Anonymous donor saves NYC's St Brigid's Church

St. Brigid's Church Saved by Anonymous Donor by Junia Mink at "eNews 2.0."

Donation Saves Church (Update) at "Gotham Gazette"

St. Brigid's saved from wrecking ball by anonymous $20M donation by "New York Daily News" writers Christina Boyle and Corky Siemaszko

St. Brigid's Church Saved by Anonymous Donor at Gothamist

Manhattan Parish, School Saved by Multi-Million Dollar Donation at NY1

St. Brigid's Church is saved at "The Irish Echo"

The blogosphere has begun to weigh in with a post on "Shrine of the Holy Whapping." The post, $20 Million Later, St. Brigid's (NYC) Saved mentions Our Lady of Vilnius, saying "Whether or not the organ, or anything else, is still in place is uncertain, since the archdiocese had already begun to disassemble the building, and the Archdiocese of New York did some pretty serious pre-demolition work to other parishes slatted for controversial closures, such as Our Lady of Vilnius."

The post also has links to the history of St. Brigid's and its contents.

dotCommonweal has picked up on this story with David Gibson's post, Saving St. Brigid. At this point the forum is focussed on Cardinal Egan's sudden transfer of many pastors throughout the archdiocese. I hope that some of the regulars can bring some observations back to the point at hand. I also wonder if this development will cause any whispering in the loggia.

Stay tuned.

Dalia: Celebrating a Life

Dalia's life was celebrated by her fellow parishioners on the steps of Our Lady of Vilnius yesterday. The picture, taken when Dale was about 20, displays all the beauty of her spirit.

In Remembrance of Dalia Bulgaris

Last night I received the sad news that Dalia Bulgaris had passed away earlier in the day. I knew that, within the past week, she had become gravely ill, but I always hope for the best, at least the best from my perspective. I always expected her to recover and once again be in our midst. After I got the phone call from Rita, I got an announcement and a call for prayers that Mindaugas had sent out to all of us.

Saulius Simoliunas left the following comment on a previous post to this blog:

"Dalia Bulgaris died before noon on May 3, 2008, leaving us and her numerous grateful students, who later became accomplished scientists. We will aiways honor and cherish her memory."

I was not able to attend the gatherings today at St. Patrick's Cathedral and on the steps of Our Lady of Vilnius and I am sorry that I missed the opportunity to stand among my fellow parishioners and pray that Dalia's soul be at rest in God.

Though her illness prevented her from being present with us over the last few months, she was always with us in spirit. She expressed her sorrow at the closure of Our Lady of Vilnius, saying that she felt like an oddball in the mainstream parishes but felt at home at Our Lady of Vilnius. She had expressed something that many of us felt. I was proud to be her fellow oddball. She was intelligent, sensitive, kind and genuinely good.

As we pray for her soul, let us also ask her to keep helping us and our parish as she did in life.

My kind of Pope!

"Benedict’s kindness toward the strays of Rome is already the stuff of Vatican legend. His house in Germany, its garden guarded by a cat statue, was filled with cats when Benedict lived there full time before he was posted to the Vatican in 1982. "

This is a quote from today's "New York Times" article titled Cat Lovers Appreciate Soul Mate in Vatican. Normally I will curl up on top of the Times for a nap or bat a paw at it while it's being read, but today I nearly shredded the paper in my enthusiasm for this article. Please read the rest of this inspiring story.

Papal Blessing

A miniature reproduction of the Our Lady of Vilnius altar icon attended Pope Benedict XVI's Mass at Yankee Stadium and received the papal blessing offered at the end of the Mass.

Our Lithuanian-American chorister held up the little icon as the Holy Father paused briefly before the choir in his popemobile.

The archdiocese closed our church but we are still present, still hopeful, still faithful and still part of the Mystical Body of Christ.

Danute: We mourn another passing

Grazina called yesterday and left a message that Danute Strout had passed away. We had visited her in the hospital last Sunday, realizing the gravity of her condition.

Danute had been living with cancer since I first met her three years ago. Sometimes she wore a wig, sometimes her own hair. Sometimes she had a rattly cough. She did not let these things diminish the pleasure she took in life. She joined in our protests and social gatherings and graciously offered us hospitality. She was very proud of her heritage and was eager to share its riches with initiates like me. I remember sitting across the table from her last spring in Kenny's Broome Street Bar as she spoke enthusiastically about her upcoming vacation in Lietuva.

Last November, after our committee to save the church had met, Danute invited us to her home for a snack. She proudly served us her zeppelinai and mushroom gravy, hardly a snack but more of a special occasion meal.

I will miss her smile, her fortitude, her kindness and her love of life. Whenever we gather she will always be with us and in our prayers.

Benedictus Qui Venit

On April 30, 2007 The New York Post carried a brief item by Dan Mangan: "POPE WANTS TO SAVE N.Y. CHURCH: LITHUANIA PREZ." The item begins:

"Pope Benedict XVI wants to see a lower Manhattan church shuttered by Edward Cardinal Egan reopened, according to a European head of state."

The inclusion of Our Lady of Vilnius Church on President Adamkus' agenda during his audience with the Pope was confirmed on the Lithuanian government's web site.

Today Pope Benedict XVI arrived in New York. During his 3 day visits he may pass very closely by our unassuming church nestled in its side street. The Holy Father might have glanced out of the helicopter carrying him to the UN and unwittingly seen the roof of Our Lady of Vilnius.

As I blog, my television is tuned to coverage of the Holy Father's visit. On EWTN Father Richard Neuhaus was explaining why the Pope addressed the UN in French saying that the Holy Father recognizes that "...Man is dependent on culture. Culture is dependent on tradition." EWTN then went dark, so I turned to CBS where Pablo Guzman was offering some historical information on St. Joseph's Church in Yorkville, where Pope Benedict will attend vespers this evening. Mr. Guzman stated that there is a German Mass on Sunday followed by a coffee hour.

A native New Yorker, I am more of a skeptic than a cynic. As irrational as it seems, I have really been waiting in joyful hope for this papal visit. As noted above, we have a Bavarian Pope who believes in the importance of culture. A church that holds Mass in the mother tongue and has a coffee social is hosting him.

I feel a certain electricity in the air. This will be a weekend that many Catholics will converge. Everyone who values the unique culture of Our Lady of Vilnius should pray early and often throughout the Papal visit that the Holy Spirit blows the dust off of this archdiocese, renews our faith and influences the powers of this archbishopric to honor the values expressed by Our Holy Father.

Pray for the survival of our parish and our church!

Valio! Valio! Valio! and "long years" to Pope Benedict from the steps of Our Lady of Vilnius

This Sunday, when we gathered, we celebrated the birthday of Deacon Vytas, whose presence is always so welcome and inspiring.

One of our parishioners also reminded us of the birthday of Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday. As we sang and toasted and wished Vytas "long years" in Lithuanian, we also wished the same for Pope Benedict and included him in our prayers.

Satyagraha and Our Lady of Vilnius

When I am not standing in a holy place singing "Marija, Marija," I sing in two choruses. The leader of one of them also works for The Metropolitan Opera, so we have been privileged to hear some technical detail of the chorus's preparation for Philip Glass's "Satyagraha." In today's New York Times, Anthony Thomasini reviews this production: "Fanciful Visions on the Mahatma’s Road to Truth and Simplicity". This opera is based on a period of Mahatma Gandhi's life when he set about helping Indians in South Africa achieve human and civil rights. The word sanskrit "satyagraha" has been translated to mean "reality force" or "truth force": another way of standing in a holy place, and perhaps the only way.

Let us all aspire to be "SATYAGRAHI," as described below:

A) A satyagrahi (one who practices satyagraha) must be willing to shoulder any sacrifice which is occasioned by the struggle which they have initiated, rather than pushing such sacrifice or suffering onto their opponent, lest the opponent become alienated and access to their portion of the truth become lost.

B) The satyagrahi must always provide a face-saving "way out" for the opponents. The goal is to discover a wider vista of truth and justice, not to achieve victory over the opponent.

I will strive for the above AND, I'm going to the opera. It's sung in Sanskrit. Maybe it will help me with my Lithuanian!