Inspiration: Pray the Devil Back to Hell

This evening I found myself on the couch watching TV out of sheer inertia. A few minutes into PBS' "Wide Angle", I began to get energized. The show featured Abigail Disney, producer of the documentary, "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" and her protagonist, Leymah Gbowee. It is a story of grass roots organization by Liberian women who wanted an end to war and the promise of a civilized life for their children.

This story illustrates the power of prayer, the working of the Holy Spirit and the true value of humanity. Ms. Gbowee is a radiant mixture of strength, humility, candor and intelligence.

Archbishop Dolan Comments on Our Lady of Vilnius

While covering the celebration of the 200 year anniversary of Old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mulberry Street, Lincoln Anderson of The Villager addressed Archbishop Dolan regarding Our Lady of Vilnius:

"Asked later about the fate of another Downtown Catholic church, Our Lady of Vilna on Broome St. in Soho, Dolan told The Villager he was sure his predecessor, Cardinal Edward Egan, made the right decisions. More than two years ago, the archdiocese closed Our Lady of Vilna, citing its damaged roof and a dwindling congregation. But the church’s former members and its supporters in the city’s Lithuanian community contend it is repairable and that it still had a healthy-sized congregation. They filed a lawsuit against the archdiocese last year to reopen the church.

“After eight weeks, I’m hardly versed in all the particulars,” Dolan replied when asked about Our Lady of Vilna. “At a cursory glance, I would say that the decisions that Cardinal Egan reached were very sane.”

Told that Our Lady of Vilna’s supporters want to meet with him, hoping he’ll be more sympathetic than Egan, Dolan responded, “I’m always happy to meet with everybody, but if it’s to change the decision Cardinal Egan made, it might not be that productive.”

Read Mr. Anderson's article Dolan celebrates 200 years of love’at Old St. Pat’s in its entirety and add your comments to the forum.

Coming Clean

"Cleanliness is next to godliness," so they say. There is a certain relief, perhaps even joy, in "coming clean," an item from the North Bronx lexicon of my childhood. The lie or deception between yourself and its recipient goes away. A wall falls. Intimacy is restored and there is a homecoming. The Roman Catholic Church ritualizes this process in its sacrament of Confession, more recently named "Reconciliation." Would that the Church would look us, its members, in the eye and come clean instead of being dragged to the bathtub by the courts and the press.

Paul Vitello's NY Times piece, Bishop Avidly Opposes Bill Extending Time to File Child-Abuse Suits addresses one prelate's approach to proposed legislation that might result in more suits against priests. The print edition subtitles the article "Questions About Church-State Boundaries."

In addition to presenting Bishop DiMarzio's public statements on the topic, the article examines the role of Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who recently wrote a competing bill that would not lift the statute of limitiations on abuse lawsuits, and the forced resignation of Father James O'Shea from his post as executive director of Churches United.

dotCommonweal is already on this scene with Paul Moses' post "The Bishop, the priest and the pol".

Strike the harp and join the forum.

A Matter of Death and Life

The closure of Our Lady of Vilnius has been a spiritual exercise of the highest order. All of this emotion and experience is crystallized in a concert that will take place at 7:00 PM on Saturday, June 5th at the New York Society for Ethical Culture at 64th Street and Central Park West.

We invite you to mourn and to rejoice.

...details

May 16, 2009: NY Times Addresses Fate of Closed Churches

Saturday's New York Times piece, Hopes and Habits Persevere at Churches Gone, but Not Destroyed by Paul Vitello and Christine Haughney, begins like a breath of fresh air stating a truth that we have observed, but which had not yet been uttered in a large public forum:

"During the peak of the real estate boom, one of New York’s largest landowners unloaded more than $100 million worth of property — and might have sold more if not for the parishioners who clung to their churches and blocked the bulldozers. "

The article provides a comprehensive view of church closures and real estate transactions in the interim between the much-vaunted "success" of the realignment and the present. The article is accompanied by an evocative slideshow which includes us, above, hanging tough in prayer as we always have.

The novelist Mary Gordon describes the loss of churches:

"...like pulling the heart out of these neighborhoods.” She said that “it destroys the conduit between the sacred and the ordinary.”

Our hearts are beating with this conduit that we pray and work to restore. May Our Lady give us strength.

Our Day in Court: The Video

Mindaugas' camera seems as much a part of him as a facial feature. Little did I know that when I gazed into his third eye and spoke my mind, I would end up on Lithuanian internet TV, Niujorkas-Lietuva TV. Follow this link for footage and interviews taken outside of the Apellate Division. See Mindaugas on the other side of the camera, for a change!

Thanks to Mindaugas for keeping all 3 eyes on the situation, for Niujorkas-Lietuva TV for keeping us in the public eye, to our attorney Harry Kresky for his adept presentation of our case, to the Save Our Lady of Vilnius Committee members and all of those who love Our Lady of Vilnius parish enough to offer themselves, their prayers and their financial support to help restore it.

"On this day, most beautiful Mother...

....on this day, we give you our love."