Thursday, May 29, 2008

Lost and "Lost": The Sacred and Profane

Is ABC's "Lost" Our Lady of Vilnius' parallel universe? Can I learn from watching it, or will it just make me unhinged?

As I was scanning the front page of today's New York Times Arts section, Gina Bellafantes's article, Philosophy, Mystery, Anarchy: All Is ‘Lost’ caught my eye. What with Our Lady of Vilnius and all, I watch very little TV. Despite the show's being ABC's blockbuster hit for 4 years, I never even heard of it, but "Philosphy, Mystery, Anarchy?". The shoe seems to fit.

"Lost,” ... denies us the satisfaction of ever feeling that we might confidently explain, to the person sitting next to us at dinner, that we have a true grasp of what is going on — of who among the characters is merely bad and who is verifiably satanic. To watch “Lost” is to feel like a high school grind, studying and analyzing and never making it to Yale. Good dramas confound our expectations, but “Lost,” about a factionalized group of plane crash survivors on a cartographically indeterminate island not anything like Aruba, pushes further, destabilizing the ground on which those expectations might be built. It is an opiate, and like all opiates, it produces its own masochistic delirium."

Replacing a some of the author's words can give us something like this:

"Lost on Broome Street” ... denies us the satisfaction of ever feeling that we might confidently explain, to the person sitting next to us at dinner, that we have a true grasp of what is going on — of who among the characters is merely bad and who is verifiably satanic. To watch the Save Our Lady of Vilnius Committee try to save the parish is to feel like a high school grind, studying and analyzing and never making it to Yale. Good dramas confound our expectations, but Lost on Broome Street about a factionalized group of parishioners in a culturally indeterminate archdiocese nothing like the archbishopric of Bing Crosby's "St. Mary's", pushes further, destabilizing the ground on which those expectations might be built. It is an opiate, and like all opiates, it produces its own masochistic delirium. "

Calling anyone in a masochistic delirium: Wake up, smell the Starbucks and please help us preserve our heritage as New Yorkers, Roman Catholics and lovers of humanity!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

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.

Monday, May 05, 2008

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.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

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.