Photograph by wallyg on Flickr It's a $20 million miracle for an East Village church slated for demolition! An anonymous donor has given a multi-million donation to the struggling parish and its school: There's $10 million for the restoration of the the church, $2 million for a parish endowment and $8 million to support St. Brigid's school and other Catholic schools. With a cornerstone laid in 1848, St. Brigid's is one of the oldest......

When Pope Benedict XVI gave a papal mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, onlookers were surprised that former mayor Rudy Giuliani took Communion, given his three marriages and pro-choice abortion stance. Now Edward Cardinal Egan has issued a statement slamming Giuliani, saying Rudy was never supposed to have had the holy wafer! Apparently Egan and Giuliani had an "understanding" from back when Egan became Archbishop and Giuliani was mayor, where Giuliani "was not to receive the......

Now that Pope Benedict XVI has left NYC, it's time to pay the NYPD overtime bills. According to the NYPD, the State Department will reimburse the city for 50-60% of the costs associated with making sure the pope was safe throughout his 3 days in the city. While the exact total will be released soon (Pope John Paul II's 1995 visit cost $4 million in overtime), Mayor Bloomberg emphasized, "This is one of those things......

Photograph of the Popemobile heading up Fifth Avenue by Louis Lanzano/AP Yesterday, thousands of people lined Fifth Avenue for a glimpse of Pope Benedict XVI. After giving the first ever papal mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral--and having a private lunch with Cardinal Egan--Pope Benedict emerged in his Popemobile to cheering crowds. Before his only Popemobile trip, the pontiff asked the audience at St. Patrick's for greater unity in the Catholic church. One of many......

Photograph of Pope Benedict at Nationals Parks in Washington, DC by Gerald Herbert/AP Pope Benedict's trip the United States is already historic, but yesterday he did something that heightened the dramatic quotient of his journey: He privately met with five or six people who had been sexually abused by priests in the Boston area. Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley also gave Pope Benedict a notebook with the names of almost 1,500 men and women, who......

Pope Benedict XVI arrives at JFK Airport tomorrow, and the city is ready. Police will be checking subway train cars through his three-day stay, as well as using mobile radiation detection units and hand-held sensors to examine cars. The Daily Intel asked Pastor Richard Baker, who directs the Cathedral of St. Patrick's Young Singers, for the advice he gave the children. For instance, one should address Pope Benedict "as 'Your Holiness.' Not 'Hey Pope' or......

This afternoon, Pope Benedict's Shepherd One will touch down at Andrews Air Force Base, where the Pontiff will be greeted by President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. He won't be giving any public statements, but will have various meetings on his 81st birthday eve. The Pope, who will spend a few days in D.C. before coming to NYC, told reporters on the flight today that he was "deeply ashamed" of Catholic priests who abused......

Bruni ponders the differences between the outdoor dining cultures of New York and Europe: "they eat outdoors because it’s pretty. We eat outdoors even though it’s not." He revisits the issue in the Diner's Journal as he was innundated with email in response. Although many agree with his take on the issue, some did not: "I’ve lived both in New York and in Europe, and I admit, the distinctions you’ve made in your article are......

Edward Cardinal Egan, the archbishop of the New York Archdiocese, had no patience of protesters or reporters covering the protests outside a Midtown church yesterday. Some people have been upset their local churches have been closed by the Catholic Church, most notably parishioners Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem, who have been protesting the February closing every weekend since February. And yesterday, outside of St. John the Baptist on West 31st Street, Our......

Thousands,of people paid their respects at the funeral of Firefighter Daniel Pujdak. The 23-year-old firefighter fell while responding to a Brooklyn fire last week. Mayor Bloomberg said during the funeral service, "Your terrible loss is felt by all 8.3 million people of the city that Daniel gave his life for," while Pujdak's father Leo said, "If you know Daniel, you know that he's going crazy right now. He's not the focus-of-attention kind of guy."......

Comedian John Roy has been all over TV and the country. He's won Star Search 2003, was featured in season 4 of Last Comic Standing, has been on Comics Unleashed and Premium Blend, and now he's coming to the Comic Strip on March 20th and 21st. What's it like to grow up with a psychotherapist and former Jesuit as parents? It's kind of strange because when you're a kid, you don't know that there are......

A midtown hotel got an earful from the Catholic Church this week when the contents of a planned art exhibit became public. Artist Cosimo Cavallaro was scheduled to display his piece "My Sweet Lord" at the Roger Smith Hotel on 47th St. and Lexington Avenue before New York's archbishop objected. The sculpture was a six-foot-tall representation of a naked Jesus, made out of chocolate. The Catholic League's President, Bill Donohue, is not a fan of......

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......

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese's decision to close a number of city churches may have been inevitable, but it doesn't make for very good PR for the Catholic Church, especially when you see distraught parishioners being led from a church, handcuffed for trespassing. Last night, six female parishioners at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in East Harlem were arrested after holding a vigil to protest the church's closure. One of the parishioners, Carmen Villegas,......

At Our Lady of Refuge Roman Catholic Church in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx, where for decades parishioners have rallied to denounce neighborhood drug dealers, people gathered last summer to demonstrate against an enemy that deals in digital cameras, toasters, shower curtains and thousands of other products. Where's Reverend Billy? That quote is from today's NY Times article about people trying to stop a Wal-Mart from coming to the Bronx. Nevermind that......

-- According to Bruce Ratner, all the city papers are hugely in favor of the Atlantic Yards project. And why would he lie? -- The Times has some very moving coverage of the funeral of one of the shooting victims in the Queens Rampage case. -- The Roosevelt Island Tramway (now equiped with advanced bucket pee-system) goes back into action on Friday. -- This shot of squirrels snuggling is redonkulicious. -- PLG is claiming......

As if we need any more reason to wonder how the MTA does its accounting, there's this article from the NY Times titled, "Cash for Forgotten Airport Link May Help Build Stadium Station." Really. See, Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg want to build a new Metro-North station for the new Yankee Stadium, but where would this money come from? No, not some loan or bond the state takes out, but pretty much from under the......

Dude-- we were in LA for five days and when we returned everything was different! The temperature dropped like 50 degrees, and according to this poster we saw outside the Prince Street N/R station, the Catholic church is now cool with BOTH gay sex and condoms. Way to go guys-- keep reaching for that rainbow! UPDATE: apparently the campaign isn't being sponsored by the Catholic Church! How could we be so stupid? It's being......

Some intriguing legal news: A panel is suggesting that NY State overhaul divorce laws to allow no-fault divorces. Which means that two parties that want to divorce can do so more easily, as the current law states, as the NY Times puts it, "one party in the divorce must allege cruel and inhumane treatment, adultery, or abandonment — literal or sexual — for a year." This would be good for people who want to break......

- Okay, to recap: No more talks between the MTA & TWU are scheduled as of yet and the TWU won't full-out strike until Tuesday at the earliest - David Lee Roth is really excited about his talk radio future - The Village Voice notices how Madonna seems "removed" from New York with lyrics like "I don't like cities but I like New York/Other places make me feel like a dork" - but they like......

The NYCLU is getting involved with the case of Michelle McCusker, who was fired from her Catholic school teaching job for being pregnant while unmarried. St. Rose of Lima School in Rockaway says that McCusker violated the "tenets of Catholic morality" (the principal wrote, "When a situation becomes evident that a teacher's life can not [sic] witness what the Catholic Church teaches, then termination of contract must occur"); the NYCLU is claiming gender discrimination, asking......

And like the Borg, NYU continues to assimilate lower Manhattan. "More students have indicated they want to live closer to the Unions Square area," NYU vice president for residential education Tom Ellett told the Washington Square News, so "it will become a hub of of the University." Resistance is futile. As if to prove the point, NYU now plans to build a dorm at the site of St. Ann's Church (110 E. 12th Street between......

Police have arrested a man in the rape and attack of a 13 year old Queens school girl behind a Catholic Church. Jofre (or Tofre) Batista, a 34 year old father of two, was picked out of lineup by the victim; sources say that a relative of his gave police information about the van used in the attack. Residents in Woodside, Queens claim that the closing of St. Mary's school has caused the area to......

Newsday tries to figure out if NYU is a "Dream school or 'evil empire'?". There really isn't a consensus as kids who want to head to the big city think NYU is keen while Washington Square area residents, on the other hand, hate the school, but the Newsday has some interesting factoids and insights from NYU's president John Sexton:- It's the city's seventh largest employer, with more than 13,000 employees (Gothamist isn't sure if hopsital......

Finally, after months of waiting, the Jacko-inspired Anna Wintour & the Chocolate Factory finally hits theatres and we strongly suggest seeing it at the IMAX, on Broadway at 68th St. For those of you embracing procrasination and wasting more time at work, have fun with the Trailer Crashers - The Wedding Crashers' promotional tool in which you can easily insert you and a friend in the trailer (last week we substituted Krucoff and Lockhart......

News that Columbia has been in talks with Harlem local officials and other city politcos about acquiring 17 acres of land, from 125th Street to 133rd Street, between Broadway and 12th Avenue, to expand its campus interested Gothamist for many reasons. Not only is Columbia our alma mater, it is also one of the largest landowners in the city (the others are the Catholic Church and NYU), and therefore has a huge say in the......