"As we assembled, we noticed a strong police presence that became stronger as a black SUV opened and several officers wearing black helments and carrying rifles filed out. I was amazed to see such a show of force. I asked about the rifles and a fellow parishioner said that they were M16's. Suddenly I felt very formidable and dangerous as I paced back and forth carrying a picture of the Virgin Mary. Eventually the armed presence decamped."
8 comments:
Good work keeping the OLV issue alive. You need to make a complaint to the Court for preservation of OLV as NY landmark. The judge will order negotiations between you and the cardinal to avoid trial and this will be the first real negotiation. Otherwise the judge will declare OLV to be NY landmark. Saulius Simoliunas
Anonymous, are you for real? I understand that OLV has emotional, even ethnic and perhaps historical value to the Lithuanian community of the New York area (though I do not remember seeing the same reaction when St. George in Williamsburg Brooklyn was closed, but perhaps being in the geographical center of the then Puerto Rican ghetto detracted considerably from whatever value it had), but to speak of it as a structure worthy of landmark status is beyond the most kind stretches of credibility. OLV is a hideous ecclesiastical structure that should have long ago been demolished and replaced with something more fitting the dignity of God, the Sacrifice of the Mass, and the people of Lithuania. In simple English the place is a dump, its location is ludicrous, and its importance is arguable. It was a dump before the renovations under Father Palubinskas, and it became even more so after Father Vito “UP DATED” the interior. I tell you what see if you can get some of the folks at voice of the faithless to take the building off the hands of the Arch-diocese and turn it into a museum; you can display those hideous windows that Fr. Palubinskas rescued from St. George, at a great cost to the parish I might add, and display them for all of Soho to see—the artistic glory of the Lithuanian community in exile.
Thank you, "old parishioner." Is someone channeling my father?
This month is the centenary of the eminent artist V. K. Jonynas' birth. His stained glass windows adorn other dumps like St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, The Catholic Cathedral in Washington, D. C. The old parishioner may want to raze those edifices, too, for the hideoius art displayed there. Saulius Simoliunas
I'm glad people are reading the blog and creating such a lively forum. Unlike Cardinal Egan, I do not suppress dissenting opinions. Saulius, thanks for your support and suggestions, which I have seen all over the internet. "Old Parishioner", I don't agree with you, but that was a fine diatribe.
Anonymous; eminent is obviously an over abused term, and what ever else V.K. Jonynas’ windows do, it isn’t to adorn. The only stained glass window that “adorns” Saint Peter’s is Bernini’s window of the Holy Spirit over the Altar of the Chair. If it is true that Jonynas’ work have been set up somehow in the Vatican, I assure you they are not adorning anything. Further more I do not want to raze any edifice, anywhere, but I do not think that OLV is worth the energy or attention it is being given. The place was unbearably hot during the summer (no thanks to—you guessed it, those celebrated hideous windows by the eminent V.K. Jonynas), and unsafe all year round (falling plaster). You know, I remember Saint Alphonsus on Canal street, unlike OLV, it was a nice church, but when it had to be taken down the faithful accepted it for the sake of the Church at large.
Thank you Nobody's Wife, I like to think that all my diatribe is "fine"
Keep up the good work. God bless
Only God can destroy (and rebuild) a temple. Oh yeah, God also never locks his doors. The Hill of Crosses in Lithuania never disappeared despite how many times it was razed by Communists. The fight goes on....
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