Old St. Patrick's: Basilica with a future

Today's New York Times features an article about the Archdiocese of New York's first and only basilica, the old St. Patrick's Cathedral. Robert D. McFadden's article, "Cathedral With a Past; Basilica With a Future" recaps the history of the church and parish and reports on yesterday's inaugural vespers, led by Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

The article ends:

"In a homily, Archbishop Dolan spoke of the church’s historic past and future vitality

“The title basilica is awarded to a church because of its historical, spiritual, cultural and artistic value,”

he said. “This is still a living, breathing, loving, embracing, serving parish.”

It is a shame that the Archdiocese of New York failed to see the "spiritual, cultural and artistic value" of Our Lady of Vilnius. Though in our estimation, it qualifies as a basilica, we realistically understand that an archbishop's nomination was unlikely. We would have gladly settled for existence. Our Lady of Vilnius was "a living, breathing, loving, embracing, serving parish" at the time of its abrupt closure. It is our mission to educate the Archdioces of New York so that they may see the value of our parish through loving eyes, to acknowledge its value to the archdiocese and to the Church worldwide and to restore it. In this mission we ask for the intercession of Our Lady and the Holy Spirit.