Report: Wife Scratched Tiger Woods' Face, Chased His SUV; Update: Police Unable To Interview Couple Today
Senate Report: Bush Missed Chance To Catch Bin Laden
Bloomberg Spent $102 Million On Campaign
Two Doors Fall Off AirTrain At JFK
Dogs Rescued From Puppy Mills And Shelters Arrive In L.I.
We knew the Catholic Church was sneaky, but we never thought that a cardinal would stoop this low! Cardinal Egan had a meeting with the priest at Our Lady of Vilnius Church yesterday, only to take the opportunity to lock the church while the priest was gone! The Post reports that security guards were dispatched to lock the doors, leaving parishioners to cry when they found a closed church and no mass.
Parishioners held a vigil last night to protest the closing, and Save Our Lady of Vilnius posted video. The impending close of the church, located at Dominick Street near the Holland Tunnel, was announced last month, but no date had been set. Archdiocese of New York's statement, though, explains:
Sunday and Holy Day Masses were regularly attended by six to thirty persons. They were in English, inasmuch as the priest serving the parish for many years does not understand, read, or speak Lithuanian. There have been virtually no weddings or funerals in the church for years. Moreover, persons wishing to participate in Mass and parish activities in Lithuanian are informed of Lithuanian parishes in the neighboring Diocese of Brooklyn and Archdiocese of Newark.It's a difficult situation - parishes are dwindling, but there are still faithful followers who don't want to commute even longer to a service. This follows the passionate outcry over the closing of an East Harlem church a few weeks ago.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
But Jen, you fail to comment on the fact that parishes are dwindling so that the land could be sold to settle lawsuits against the church.
the actual size of the parish in numbers would have been irrelevent. people come and go in waves to church especially in the last 50 years (though it is more on the leaving side).
the developer interested in this piece of land by the way, is Trump...along with two other church properties.
parishes don't have less attendance because of developer interest, that makes no sense. While that does make it more attractive for the diocese to sell the property, it doesn't change the fact that only a few dozen people were attending church here.
The Church is a business. A very BIG business. The Pope is the Chairman and CEO. Egan is a branch manager.
where's the Catholic League outrage?! oh right, they're too busy spreading hate against feminist bloggers.
The church attendance has gone down in the past decades. Cardinal Egan will not increase the attendance by closing churches. In fact he will chase away the believers. However, Our Lady of Vilnius Church is a New York jewel and should be preserved as a landmark in honor of Lithuanian immigrants.
The Archdiocese helped Our Lady of Vilnius fail their criteria by not approving needed repairs to roof beams and not releasing insurance funds for same for 3 years. Mass has been held in the basement dancehall because the sanctuary has been obstructed by scaffolding. Most people don't want to hold their baptism or wedding in a barroom under a disco ball. Likewise, it is not physically possible to get a coffin into the dancehall horizontally, hence no funerals for people who have some sense of decorum. The Archdiocese cultivated the physical decline and low "sacramental viabilty" that they now site as reasons for closure. That is how dwindling attendance and development are related. The property is viewed for development, then the reasons for its closure cultivated. There is no causality between the stated reasons and the closure.