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.
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