St Mary's, Far from Saved, is Throwing a Hail Mary Pass

Against all odds, an application to restore landmark status to the interior of St. Mary's Church and the Parish Hall is being submitted.  It is on the agenda of the next meeting of the Yonkers Landmark Preservation Board on Wednesday, May 6th.  Yes!  Parishioners are again taking their case before the City of Yonkers Landmark Board, the very body that was sued by the Archdiocese of New York in an effort to remove landmark status in the first place.   It is a shocking and bold act of faith, faith in the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary, patron of the parish, and faith in the goodness and sincerity of the Yonkers city officials who professed their support for the parish during last year's "Easter Miracle."  That sobriquet refers to a decree from the Vatican issued on March 31, 2025 that overrode an earlier decree by Cardinal Dolan merging St. Mary's into the Parish of St. Peter & St. Denis.  Restoring St. Mary's as an independent parish brought it a little farther from the edge of extinction.

The odds are so badly stacked against the parish's future that this landmark application is literally a 'Hail Mary' pass.  

• Though the Vatican revoked Cardinal Dolan's decree merging St. Mary's into St. Peter-St. Denis parish in March, 2025 (St. Mary's Church, Yonkers, Gets an Easter Miracle) the archdiocese did not appoint a pastor or take any other action to recognize St. Mary's as an independent parish.
• Cardinal Dolan, on his last day as Archbishop (December 17, 2025) doubled down and issued a repeat decree of merger.
• On March The City of Yonkers agreed to a settlement ending a suit brought by the Archdiocese in November, 2024 to remove landmark status given to St. Mary's on July 16, 2024.  Under this settlement only the outside walls, currently surrounded by scaffolding installed by the archdiocese, remain landmarked.  The landmarked outer walls might, ironically, enhance the Archdiocese's chances of closing the church.
• According to a New York Post article published on April 25th,  (Archdiocese of NY warns priests of bankruptcy — unless hundreds of millions are raised to pay sex abuse victims)  by Rich Calder), the archdiocese is in dire financial straits and is seeking funds from the parishes to fulfill obligations toward sex abuse victims.  This bodes ill for St. Mary's along with other parishes in the archdiocese

A little encouragement arrived on March 25th in the form of a letter from the Nuncio, the Pope's representative in Washington, D.C.  The parishioners' second appeal has been forwarded to the Vatican for consideration.  

The real 'Easter Miracle' of St. Mary's is the faith and hope of the parishioners.  This has not been dimmed by the threat of extinction. Though they have been strongly discouraged from pursuing another attempt at landmark status, they are going there and hoping that many others will join them and, literally, stand up and be counted.