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That's the headline in both the Post and the News today. In a long-expected announcement yesterday the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York issued their final list of parishes that they are closing. A total of twenty-one parishes in the Archdiocese, which covers the Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island and several upstate counties, will be closed. Ten parishes will be shut down completely while eleven others will be merged with neighboring parishes.
The Times reports the changes are being driven by changing demographics and immigration patterns. Urban churches have lost many parishioners while churches in the suburbs have overflowed. While the may have the need to adjust their parishes to better serve their worshipers, Cardinal Edward Egan was upbeat about the announcement, many attendees at those churches are saddened by the loss of their home church. Nilda Ortiz, who attends the to-be-closed St. Francis of Assisi in the Bronx told the News "I've been going there for 20 years. I don't know what I'm going to do."
Church officials declined to give a timeline for the closures, saying they will work with the individual parishes. Officials also said there are currently no plans to sell church property.
Photo of St. Brigid, which is to be merged into St. Emeric parish by bluejake
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Egan's nothing but a common criminal. I won't cry over the collapse of his empire.
While I understand the importance of parishes to the life of a community, I hope this is evidence of increasing secularization of America's urban centers.
The above church would make a great nightclub! :)
Regardless of how one feels about the Church as an organization, the demolition of buildings like St. Vincent de Paul on 23rd St. would be a real blow to New York's urban landscape.
This is less of a deal than you think. Right now, most people get two days off, and two times a week to sleep in. Church services are remarkably unchanged from the Middle Ages and Ancient times, during which, though both periods had their drawbacks, people lived less by the clock. In fact, often the service was their only entertainment that week. Churches are gradually shifting away from the Sunday morning service model. In Europe, they get money from the taxpayer in return for keeping out their buildivns, certain services, though no one actually goes to church, and I suspect that my be better model.
I've attended Mary Help of Christians for the last 2 years, and I can tell you that the parish is pretty devastated. Though there are many good reasons for closing churches in the archdiocese, it's a real loss for the community any way you slice it. The sense of loss and grieving this Sunday was palpable.