St. Mary's Faithful Shut Down At May 6th Yonkers Landmarks Preservation Board Meeting

If the faithful of St. Mary's were shocked when the City of Yonkers signed off on a legal settlement removing landmark protection from the Parish Hall and the interior of the church in March, they were dumbfounded when proceedings of the Yonkers Landmark Preservation Committee began on the evening of Wednesday, May 6th.

A dozen parishioners came directly from St. Mary's where they had gathered in prayer.   They arrived to support presentation of an application to restore landmark status to the interior of the church.  

Instead of allowing its author to present the application, Board Chairperson Charles Hensley read a resolution that had been prepared by the Yonkers Corporation Counsel's Office and given to him shortly in advance of the meeting.   Due to the legal settlement signed by Judge Melissa Loehr to the Westchester County Clerk on March 23, 2026, the application could not be entertained by the board.

Parishioners filed out, dazed and silent.  While they knew that restoring landmark status was a long shot, they thought they would be allowed to make the effort.  Instead, they were silenced. 

They trooped out of City Hall and returned over the pedestrian bridge and across the parking lot to St. Mary's, some to resume prayer in the garden, some to return home.

They knew in advance that, after the lawsuit was settled, another attempt to landmark might fail, but they are people of faith who pray rosaries and believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to inspire hearts and minds.  They didn't anticipate that they would be barred from trying.

The lawsuit was filed and settled in silence.  While there was public celebration of landmark status on July 16, 2024, there was no public mourning of the March 23rd settlement that gave advantage to the Archdiocese of New York. 

The faithful of St. Mary's left silently with many questions:  Why did the City of Yonkers settle?  Why were the filing and the settlement kept under wraps, left for parishioners to discover via Google alerts?  Technically the only the parish corporation, Church of the Immaculate Conception, had standing to sue Yonkers because it, not the archdiocese, owns the church.  Might lawyers have been paid using parish funds?

These are not rhetorical questions.  Answers may not be forthcoming, but parishioners want them.  While the faithful accept that they may not be able to save the church in the face of overwhelming power, they continue to pray for a miracle.  One may come from the Vatican, where an appeal to save St. Mary's parish has been forwarded by the Papal Nuncio in Washington, D.C.

City of Yonkers Landmark Preservation Board to Review Application to Landmark Interior of St. Mary's Tomorrow @ 7:00 PM

 

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE YONKERS LANDMARK PRESERVATION BOARD

To the membership of the City of Yonkers Landmark Preservation Board:

I am writing in support of the application to restore landmark status to the interior of St. Mary's Church.

I attend Mass there every Sunday.  I assure you that nothing has changed since July 16, 2024, the day that the Yonkers City Council voted unanimously to approve the original application in its entirety.

If nothing changed at St. Mary's, what changed at the City of Yonkers, whose government stood so strongly and so publicly in favor of the church?  What bundle of carrots and sticks was put before the Mayor, City Council and Corporate Counsel to induce agreement to a settlement so favorable to the agenda of the archdiocese?

When the Archdiocese first stated intent to close the church in January, 2024, they cited $10 million as the burdensome cost to repair cracks in the foundation and facade.  Now that ONLY those problematic elements are landmarked, the Archdiocese can increase the cost by bringing in a restorer like Building Conservation Associates, the firm engaged to restore St. Patrick's Cathedral.  This would provide a stronger argument to remove landmark status from the walls due to financial hardship. Now that the archdiocese is trying to raise $800 million to cover sexual abuse settlements or go bankrupt, the financial hardship argument may be more compelling.

I have always regarded St. Mary's as a landmark and I am sure at least thousands of people agree.  All of us assumed that St Mary's would stand for millennia, if not forever.  To restore landmark status to the interior of St. Mary's would not be an irrational, arbitrary or capricious act.  It would publicly articulate a historical reality and provide necessary legal protection to a municipal treasure.

Sincerely,

N. Zmona

Former St. Brigid's School is On the Market as a Development Site - What is $20 Million Anonymous Donor Thinking?

 

Photo by Stacy Joy, courtesy of EV Grieve

I was alerted to this development (no pun intended) by the ever-vigilant folks at EV Grieve.  The site is being pitched as a prime site for residential development.

Back in the day, 2008 to be exact, St. Brigid's Church and Parish were brought back to life with a $20,000,000 gift from an anonymous donor.  The parish was saved at the 11th hour shortly after a legal case regarding the rights of parishioners as members of a religious corporation had reached the docket at the New York State Court of Appeals.

At that time the donor pledged $10 million to restore the church building, $8 million to support St. Brigid's School and $2 million for the support of the parish.

Per the EV Grieve post, St. Brigid's school was abruptly closed in 2019.

Read all about the anonymous donation in this 2008 press release from the NY City Council: Anonymous Donation Saves Historic St. Brigid's Church

Archdiocese of New York Throwing a Hail Mary Pass to Avoid Bankruptcy?

"The news about the latest round of forced fundraising about to hit the parishes will not be widely discussed and pastors will not take the case to their parish communities. “It is not going to be totally democratic,” acknowledged a pastor."

- Keith Kelly, The Spirit

Two articles appeared recently stating that the Bishop Edmund Whelan, Vicar General of the archdiocese, held an emergency meeting with pastors last week.  Per these articles the archdiocese is on the verge of a catastrophic financial shortfall related to paying reparations to victims of abuse.  To avoid bankruptcy the archdiocese has proposed to examine the finances of the parishes and assess them for an amount to surrender to the archdiocese to in an effort to reduce a shortfall that would otherwise drive the archdiocese into bankruptcy.

Each parish's monies and real estate are held by separate civil corporations under New York State Religious Corporation Law.  The corporate Board of Directors consists of the Archbishop, now Ronald Hicks, the Vicar General, now Bishop Whelan, the parish's Pastor and 2 lay trustees appointed by the Pastor.  The composition of the board allows the Archdiocese to control assets without legally owning them.  Very handy in times of trouble.

It is my understanding that releasing the requested funds to the Archdiocese would therefore involve a vote by the parish's corporate board of directors. Mr. Kelly's article goes on to say:

"Instead, the archdiocese will be sending representatives to meet individually in the next few weeks to meet with pastors, the two lay trustees of each parish and the financial committee to determine how much each parish will be asked to contribute."

It sounds like these get togethers are going to be more like a vote than a consultation, given the presence of the lay trustees.  I hope the trustee know that they are voting.  It may not be formal.

Please read all about it at The Spirit.  Mr. Kelly does a good job of placing this development in the context of archdiocesan finances and real estate transactions: Archdiocese to Pastors: Raise Millions for Sexual Abuse Victims or go Bankrupt

 

Offertorio: Am I Bankrolling the Demise of My Parish?

Every Sunday at St. Mary's I put some cash in the basket.  Since Cardinal Dolan issued another decree on December 17th, St. Mary's is not a parish.  I am not sure that my gift is being used to promote St. Mary's survival.  My crumpled bills accompany the envelopes to St. Peter's Church, the parish church of St. Peter-St. Denis-St. Mary's Parish.  I don't know what happens after that or where the money goes.  Like the people sitting around me at Mass, the money I put in this basket is a prayer for the future of St. Mary's.

I do know that, despite St. Mary's shifting canonical status, the civil corporation called "Church of the Immaculate Conception" exists.  I know this because, on November 14, 2024, the "Church of the Immaculate Conception" joined the Archdiocese of New York in suing the City of Yonkers to remove landmark status from St. Mary's.

The "Church of the Immaculate Conception" is the civil corporation that owns and manages the real assets of St. Mary's Parish.  It sued the City of Yonkers to remove the landmark designation that parishioners sought, obtained and celebrated.  There was never a ruling in the case.  Attorneys representing the "Church of the Immaculate Conception" proposed a settlement that may make it easier to close the church. The City of Yonkers agreed to it.  

Did our coins, bills and envelopes pay for a lawsuit that paves the way for the demolition of our church?  Maybe.  There is no transparency.  

Today I was alerted to two articles stating that the Archdiocese of New York is asking parishes to fund reparations to abuse victims to prevent the Archdiocese from declaring bankruptcy:

Archdiocese of NY warns priests of bankruptcy — unless hundreds of millions are raised to pay sex abuse victims  by Rich Calder of The New York Post

Archdiocese to Pastors: Raise Millions for Sexual Abuse Victims or Go Bankrupt by Keith Kelly of Westside Spirit

Each parish corporation has a 5 member board comprised of the Archbishop, the Vicar General, the Pastor and 2 lay trustees.  They must vote on the use of corporate assets.  Will our parishes become insolvent and close?  Will parish corporations declare bankruptcy?  Will a Pastor and 2 lay trustees who will vote against the wishes of the Archdiocese?

The Analects of Joseph Zwilling: On the Extinction of National Parishes (Annotated)

“As is happening elsewhere, so-called national parishes, at one time established to serve the needs of a particular national or ethnic community, are being discontinued ..."

OK, first off, I object to "discontinued."  It is a corporate, not a canonical term.  Is the corporate mentality so entrenched in the Archdiocese that its spokesman spouts it like national parishes are a product line that is not putting enough value into the bottom line?

Second, I think identifying a class of parishes and blanket extinguishing them all for the same reason violates canon law.  To the only surviving national parishes in the Archdiocese I can only say, "YO!  Heads up!  Maybe you're next."

Many national parishes are being "discontinued" a hundred years or more after they were established.  They have a potent and unique charism grown from the foundation laid down by the founding parishioners and enriched by those who were later drawn to worship there.  In the intervening years they retain  their cultural characteristics but evolve to include diverse parishioners who are attracted to community values, the residual customs and the living examples of faith given by the old timers.  When it closed 100 after years, St. Stanislaus Kostka's Mass was in English.  Some Polish hymns were played on special occasions and potluck dinners had servings of kielbasi and pierogi which were enjoyed by all.  All were welcomed into the community and people of all ethnicity were drawn to the simplicity and warmth of the parish.  At one time we had 2 young choristers of African American/Filipino heritage singing heartily in phonetic Polish.  

"...and the members of those parishes are being integrated into the local parishes,” said spokesperson Joseph Zwilling.

OK, now I object to the term "integrated."  I have experienced 2 parish closings and in neither case was I included in a planned "integration."  My churches were abruptly locked.  That was it.

When a parish is extinguished, the material assets are supposed to follow the former parishioners to the parish into which the extinct parish was merged.  Mr. Zwilling's statement is grammatically ambiguous.  I hope the sheep aren't being dispersed to multiple folds while the monies go...where?

“...There are a number of reasons for this, the two most important being the desire to create vibrant, thriving communities of faith, and, with a declining number of priests, to utilize our clergy as effectively as possible to meet the needs of the people,” the statement continued."

I would like Mr. Zwilling to explain how closing churches and extinguishing parishes against the wishes of parishioners, beginning with Cardinal Egan's "Realignment" in 2005, has created vibrant and thriving communities of faith.  If the communities of faith were so vibrant and thriving, would we be suffering an increasing paucity of vocations to the priesthood?

The "declining number of priests" is a compelling problem, but is it a valid reason for targeting national parishes and closing them?  No.

In my personal experience the reasons for closing parishes advanced by the Archdiocese can be plausible, may even be true.  But are they causal?  We can have our suspicions but we can't know because so far, the Archdiocese has remained opaque, offering the public sporadic and advantageous tokens of transparency. To learn more about the situation at the former St. John Baptist de la Salle R.C. Church, read Uncertainty looms over Staten Island church as Archdiocese declines to renew lease.

Bishop Whelan Now Sits on Corporate Board of All Parish Corporations in the Archdiocese of New York

I am saying it again because not everyone knows that underlying your parish, there is a civil corporation.  The corporate board consists of the  Archbishop, the Vicar General, the Pastor and two lay trustees. When a church is closed and relegated to profane, but not sordid, use, this board votes on the disposition of the real property.  

It was announced today that Bishop Edmund Whelan will succeed Joseph P. Lamorte as Vicar General, making him Archbishop Ronald Hicks' right hand man and giving him a seat on every parish corporate board in the archdiocese.

Read all about it on the Arch's Good Newsroom: Vicar General Monsignor LaMorte Retires, Bishop Whalen Appointed New Vicar General, Bishop Colacicco Vicar for Clergy

New York City Council Confers Individual Landmark Status on the Lithuanian Alliance/SLA

The beloved SLA on 30th off of 8th has served the Lithuanian community of New York since 1910.  The loss of Our Lady of Vilnius in 2011 left it the only Lithuanian outpost in New York City other than the consulate.

It began as an insurance concern/fraternal association for immigrants and evolved into a vibrant cultural center and gathering place.  It has seen good and bad times but has survived and, in recent years, thrived.

Laima Mihailovich, Dainius Glinskis and a host of supporters crafted an application that won the SLA a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.  Today these prime movers can celebrate the designation of the SLA as an individual landmark by the New York City Council.

Read all about it:  LPC Designates Three Buildings in Manhattan and Brooklyn Linked to New York City's Rich Immigration History