NY1
May 21, 2008
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=81865
An unexpected multi-million dollar donation to the Catholic Church means resurrection for a Manhattan parish and school, Edward Cardinal Egan announced Wednesday.
Saint Brigid's Church in Alphabet City will be repaired, restored, and reopened after an anonymous benefactor donated $20 million.
Egan, the head of the archdiocese, said that $10 million will be used to restore the Avenue B house of worship, $8 million will go to support Saint Brigid's School and others in need, and $2 million will go to establish an endowment for the parish.
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"It's very exciting," said archiocesan spokesperson Joseph Zwilling. "Why the donor did it I'm not sure, but the donor coming forward in this way and saying that the church should be restored and function as a parish church was a tremendous gift."
The community has been fighting for two years to save the 159-year-old building, which was officially closed in 2004, from being razed by the archdiocese.
The church was built in the 1840s by Irish Potato Famine survivors but has been out of use since 2001 because of structural problems.
"There have been times when we almost just lost it, we thought we'd never get it. But we kept the faith and we always knew somehow our father the Lord would save us and you know we've always kept up with the prayers," said Committee to Save St. Brigid's chairperson Ed Torres.
"We kept hope alive and it paid off and finally somebody came forward and the diocese said yes, so that means that we can go back to the church and pray and we are going to pray harder this time to keep it for a long long time," said former St. Brigid's parishoner Miguel Maldanado.
Demolition of the church started about a year ago. Much of the original interior has been dismantled, but the church says it will rebuild.
To some parishioners, however, the damage has already been done. Stained glass windows were smashed and the altar and pews were removed.
"I'm saddened that we lost that but nevertheless we saved the church and they can be replaced," said a congregation member.
The archdiocese said it will take several years before St. Brigid's can reopen, but those who fought the battle said it will be worth the wait.
Meanwhile, a large-scale shift of priests within the New York Archdiocese raised a few eyebrows Wednesday.
Egan recently reassigned 40 priests without consulting an advisory board that usually advises him on personnel issues.
Egan is not required to consult the board, but the scale of the shift -- nearly ten percent of all the priests in the archdiocese -- led the board to ask for a meeting on the process.
The archdiocese's director of communications said 75 percent of the appointments were made based on the recommendation of the board and the other 25 percent were made directly by the cardinal. But the New York Times reported that the moves caught some priests by surprise.
The paper also quoted a source as saying the decision shows a lack of communication that critics feel is a problem with Egan's leadership.
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