Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Mary Help of Christians slated for Demolition?


A post by EV Grieve on Curbed NY, Counting Down to the End of Mary Help of Christians confirms the terse message from a parishioner that I received and blogged on May 16th of this year, Mary Help of Christians sold to developers???.

The parish of Mary Help of Christians was suppressed as a result of the archdiocesan "realignment" in 2007. Our Lady of Vilnius was suppressed at the same time, though mysteriously outside the "realignment" process.    Parishioners of  Our Lady of Vilnius, Mary Help of Christians and Our Lady Queen of Angels shared the pain of losing their parish and many members of their community.  We also shared the effort to stand up and voice our point of view to the blank wall of our archdiocesan hierarchy.

My heart goes out to the parishioners of Mary Help and all of those in the network of humanity that will feel and grieve this loss.  Let us pray.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Feast of the Assumption: One Year Anniversary of Jurgis Aleliunas Leaving Us



On the Feast of the Assumption we honor our friend, fellow parishioner and fellow Knight of Lithuania for his warmth, his faith and the example of his life.

Thursday, August 02, 2012

A case for calling OLV country The Printing District

In today's New York Times opinion piece, Needles, Threads and New York History, Jean Appleton opposes the efforts of the local business improvement district to change the Garment District's name.  Ms. Appleton reviews the district's vital and colorful history concluding:

 "Doing so, however, would eviscerate the pulsating history of the place. It would pretend that the district was only ever about the final product, about the retail shops along Madison Avenue. Today “fashion” is the red carpet, Condé Nast, it is Schiaparelli and Prada at the Metropolitan Museum. The phrase “garment district,” by contrast, evolved from the blood and muscle of labor’s bodies.
Renaming the garment district would do more than offend our city’s history. It would dissociate this historic entity from its unique qualities and significance in the life of New York City. It would erase a vital part of New York’s past."

Likewise, I think that the nondescriptive and nondescript moniker "Hudson Square" eviscerates the pulsing history of OLV country, aka The Printing District.  The parish is closed, the church can be demolished and the footprints of the longshoremen and print shop workers who came to worship on Broome Street can be wiped away.  I am sorry that there are people who view this as improvement rather than loss.