I happened to be in the right place at the right time today, the top tier of a parking structure near the GW bridge. I was joined by 5 other excited spectators who braved the chill temperatures to watch the shuttle pass in review. It was so moving that I waited for it to turn and come back down river. It brought a tear to my eye, but I am not sure why. I was happy to see that I was not alone in that among my rooftop companions.
"An intelligent person fights for lost causes, realizing that others are merely effects."
e.e. cummings
Friday, April 27, 2012
Paying Respects to the Space Shuttle, Too
I happened to be in the right place at the right time today, the top tier of a parking structure near the GW bridge. I was joined by 5 other excited spectators who braved the chill temperatures to watch the shuttle pass in review. It was so moving that I waited for it to turn and come back down river. It brought a tear to my eye, but I am not sure why. I was happy to see that I was not alone in that among my rooftop companions.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
RIP Florence Perkosky D'Urso
Being of a certain age, I am a reader of obituaries and death notices. Sadly, a notice in today's New York Times announced the passing of Catholic philanthropist Florence D'Urso. In my world she was a constant presence at archdiocesan events where she was usually seated front and center aisle, well dressed and perfectly coiffed. On the few occasions that I had the opportunity to greet her she was gracious.
Gannett Westchester newspapers obituary, April 27, 2012, Church benefactor Florence D'Urso dies; Pelham Manor woman, 79, restored art for Vatican
New York Post, April 26, 2012, Loss of a Saint
Catholic New York obituary, Florence B. D'Urso
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Our Lady of Vilnius stained glass windows are located!
On December 13, in the wake of the NYS Court of Appeals ruling against Our Lady of Vilnius, the New York Times published Sharon Otterman's piece, "Archdiocese can demolish Soho Church, Court Rules." One of the points raised in the article was the whereabouts of the parish patrimony, especially the stained glass windows designed by Vytautas Jonynas:
"The parishioners of Our Lady of Vilnius are also concerned about what will become of the church’s stained-glass windows and other treasured objects that were removed by the archdiocese. Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the objects might be at a warehouse on Staten Island where such items were kept pending their placement in other churches."
Well, Mr. Zwilling's hypothesis regarding where they might be has been confirmed in a brief item in an Australian Lithuanian-language newspaper, TËVISKËS AIDAI. Yes, they are in a Staten Island warehouse, but they will be bound for Lithuania when the shipping issues are ironed out. CLICK HERE to download first 2 pages of the April 17th edition. The article is on page 2.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
History Repeating: St. Vincent de Paul
I am dipping into a treasure trove of recent news that went unblogged due to Holy Week and Easter. Today, I am bringing back David Dunlap's Aprit 5th piece about the future closing of the Francophone parish of St. Vincent de Paul, A French Church Nears Its End, but Not Without a Contretemps. The piece puts the closing in the context of its history and its value to the living stones that comprise the parish. It is hard for me not to substitute "Lithuanian" for "French" or "Francophone" and not relive the effort to save Our Lady of Vilnius, church and parish. I hope and pray that the archdiocese does right by this community.
Please follow the link to the online version of this article, which features a lovely slideshow of the interior and is followed by reader comments.
Meanwhile, for your viewing pleasure I am reprising Shirley Bassey's rendition of "History Repeating:"
St. Stanislaus Kostka: Ode to A Defunct Church That People Hardly Noticed
WORDS FOR THE PARISH OF ST. STANISLAUS KOSTKA
ON THE OCCASION OF ITS NINETIETH ANNIVERSARY
I awake to the sound of water rushing north,
Past my window, as the moon, tiding in the bay,
Pulls the Hudson and pushes barges carrying wheat.
I see a sea gull diving for a frightened fish.
Down below, in the garden, a scent of lilac
Draws me. Forsythias yellow the humid air.
I watch the skywriting of Monarch butterflies.
I hear the glad ringing of the church’s bells.
For it it is spring, at last, a time of the land’s Easter,
A resurrection, the egg breaking its shell.
The black Madonna, the mother of watchful God,
Broods no longer; she knows her son has risen.
Ninety years ago, on these verdant hills,
A group of earnest Polish immigrants
Erected a church and parish, honoring
A Polish saint, a man of solemn piety,
Who loved both God and his great creation, man—
St. Stanislaus. The congregation grew
Through generations of war and prosperity,
Births, weddings, holidays, and funerals,
Encompassing in dramatic communion
All the folk of Hastings, of America,
Under the shepherding of learned priests,
From Dworzak to Daszkiewicz
And Pinto to Wenceslaus.
The bells are ringing, the children are singing, life
Is basking in the splendor that is spring,
The promise of return that the millenniums bring.
-Stephen Stepanchev
Note: Stephen Stepanchev is Professor of English emeritus from Queens College. He is a former poet laureate of the Borough of Queens and a Hastings-on-Hudson resident.
Friday, April 06, 2012
Crux
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Cardinal Dolan's Chrism Mass Homily
How much I must criticize you, my church,
and yet how much I love you!
You have made me suffer more than anyone
and yet I owe more to you than to anyone.
I should like to see you destroyed
and yet I need your presence.
You have given me much scandal
and yet you alone have made me understand holiness.
Never in this world have I seen anything
more compromised, more false,
yet never have I touched anything
more pure, more generous or more beautiful.
Countless times
I have felt like slamming the door of my soul in your face
-- and yet, every night,
I have prayed that I might die in your sure arms!
No, I cannot be free of you, for I am one with you,
even if not completely.
Then too--where would I go? To build another church?
But I could not build one without the same defects,
for they are my defects.
And again, if I were to build another church,
it would be my church, not Christ's church.
No, I am old enough, I know better."
- Carlo Carretto