Appeals Court Rejects Bid To Block Demolition Of City's "Famine Church"

From TheWildGeese.com

NEW YORK -- A New York State appellate court unanimously ruled Thursday that the Archdiocese of New York has the right to demolish a Famine-era church in Manhattan that has become a rallying cry for the metropolitan area's Irish community.

Earlier in the year, a state Supreme Court justice dismissed the lawsuit, titled "Committee to Save St. Brigid v. Edward Cardinal Egan," bidding to stop the demolition of the church, which was built in 1848 by Irish shipwrights. The suit was brought by the committee, along with former parishioners of St. Brigid's Church. The archdiocese has a city-issued permit to raze the building, which it maintains is structurally unsound.

The plaintiffs asserted that the archdiocese failed to constitute a board of trustees, consisting of two archdiocesan officials, the church's rector, and two lay people, to make such decisions, a provision they noted was required by state law.

A lawyer for the archdiocese countered that archdiocesan officials would assemble the board before taking further action and that archdiocesan officials were making decisions well within their authority. The case went before the Appellate Division of the state's Supreme Court on June 13.

In its uncorrected opinion, the court stated, in part:

"The court properly found that the disposition of the church property and funds at issue were matters within defendant's ecclesiastical authority, and, accordingly, that the relief sought by plaintiffs, i.e., an order mandating that the funds in question be used to restore the subject property for use as a church, would impermissibly involve the court in the governance and administration of a hierarchical church.

"Plaintiffs' promissory estopel claim would, in any event, be unavailing for lack of a specific promise to keep the subject church building in operation as a church if funds were collected for that purpose."

The church was built more than 150 years ago as a spiritual home for Roman Catholic immigrants fleeing The Great Hunger. Cardinal Edward M. Egan shut the church in 2001 because of structural problems.

Members of the committee announced earlier in the month that someone who insisted on anonymity recently made a new offer to purchase the church, at Avenue B and Eighth Street, from the archdiocese at "fair market value."

But Joseph Zwilling, the spokesman for the archdiocese, responded that the offer was not new. About a year ago, he said, someone offered to buy the church, but archdiocesan officials rejected the offer because they wanted to use the land for other purposes.

A permit that the archdiocese obtained several years ago to convert the church building into apartments was replaced last year with a demolition permit. The demolition permit was on hold pending the decision by the Appellate Division.

On June 14, the committee produced a benefit titled "Bards for St. Brigid" that headlined more than a dozen New York Irish-American literati, musicians and scholars. The Manhattan event drew more than 500 supporters and garnered $21,000 in donations for the preservation effort, according to the organizers. The money, they announced, was largely earmarked for legal fees incurred by the suit and subsequent appeal.

Representatives of two prominent Irish groups, the Grand Council of United Emerald Societies and the Ancient Order of Hibernians, also announced June 13 that their organizations were joining the effort to save the church.

The committee doesn't seem ready to surrender the church to its likely fate, though. Friday morning (June 30), Mary Ann Pierce, a member of the committee and producer of the June 14 benefit, e-mailed supporters, urging them to fight on. Providing contact information for Mayor Michael Bloomburg, Egan, and local legislators, she wrote "We need your help now: Spread the word that St. Brigid's, the Famine Church of the Lower East Side -- a unique jewel of Irish history in America -- is in grave peril and must be preserved.

"Contact fraternal and cultural organizations, media, politicians, the Archdiocese of New York, your family and friends -- anyone who cares about our history. It's time for all to step up and get involved to save St. Brigid's." WGT

Festivals Spread in Summer Heat; Bards for St. Brigid's Bring Focus to Loss of Heritage

Just to recap Bards for St. Brigid's on June 15th, the total amount of money at Connolly's raised was over $21,000; the gate was over 500, with people flowing in and out as the evening progressed. More importantly, though, was the raising of consciousness in the Irish-American community about the importance of preserving the architectural heritage of the many thousands who fled An Gorta Mor in search of survival.

From those years, we don't have many photographs or recordings, no movies, yet the heritage stands far from mute as we view these beautiful 19th century churches with their glorious details. And the words of the Irish writers who paid tribute to that era, in written material and song, or in speech, were eloquent and moving. Larry Kirwan, Peter Quinn, Pete Hamill, Peter McNamara, Thomas Fleming, Ann Maguire, Kathleen Hill, Malachy McCourt -- we salute you as bards. Just to remind everyone, telephone calls to Cardinal Egan should be directed to 1-212-371-1011, ext. 2990 - ask for Communications.

Related Resources:

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00C14FD3A550C7B8DDDAF0894DE404482
http://www.savestbrigid.com/

Upcoming festivals: The Irish Summerfest of Euclid - Euclid, OH, Thursday Through Sunday; 26th Annual Taste of Chicago - Friday Through July 9 and Irish American Heritage Festival , also Chicago, July 7-9; Colorado Irish Festival, Littleton, CO, July 8-9;Sláinte Irish Festival , Patchogue, NY, July 14-16; Canada's Irish Festival, Miramichi, CA, also July 14-16; Saline Celtic Festival , Saline, MI, July 15; and, if you happen to be in New York State's Catskill region, East Durham's Irish Arts Week - July 9-16, with the Traditional Music Festival as the culmination of the Week. More can be found at http://www.aviso.net/dir/usa/irish/events/index.htm.

-- Patricia Jameson-Sammartano, WGT Culture Editor

Punditry, Politics, Passion Blend for St. Brigid's

New York -- There were many themes running through June 15th ’s fundraiser for St. Brigid’s at Connolly’s 45. The Lower East Side church, parish to many Irish immigrants in the mid-19th Century, and now to a largely Hispanic population, is in danger of being closed and demolished in a cost-cutting measure by the New York Archdiocese. Power was one theme, politics another; heritage and history mingled with them, and money and consciousness were raised. One reader summed up the fear of gentrification –- dare we say NIMBY? -- with the comment, “Dear God, not another NYU dorm in the neighborhood!”

Above right, Tom Murphy, from The United Federation of Teachers, was among the more than 300 who turned out to support St. Brigid's, and the bards who rallied to the endangered Famine-era church. The effort raised about $20,000 for the effort to spare the church. Photos by Patricia Jameson-Sammartano

The Bards for St. Brigid’s included many of New York’s literati: authors Pete Hamill, Malachy McCourt, Colum McCann, Peter Quinn, Thomas Fleming, Joseph O'Connor, T.J. English, Anne Maguire, Kathleen Hill, Thomas Kelly, Dennis Smith, Tom Phelan, the musicians of Sorcha Dorcha, and historian Marion R. Casey all contributed their words, and in some cases songs to the evening. Colum McCann sang, “Dublin/New York in the Rare Oul Times” and Green Party candidate for governor of New York, Malachy McCourt, led the gathering in “The Wild Mountain Thyme.” T.J. English reminded the crowd that, “It all began with the family,” imploring the listeners, who numbered about 300 at any given time, to save St. Brigid’s Church.

Novelist Tom Fleming, pictured left in a light moment, read about Irish-American life at the turn of the century, while Professor Kathleen Hill, from Sarah Lawrence College, read from "Still Waters in Niger," her novel about African famine and Irish connections; Peter Quinn asked, “Where are the Protestants?” and echoed ... yes, that's right ... Ian Paisley, urging “No surrender!” We’ll wager that the two men are not normally in agreement.

Host of the evening Larry Kirwan, who lived across the street from St. Brigid’s, read from "Green Suede Shoes," narrating the story of Bobby Sands and the hunger strikes of 1981, and the impact those deaths had on hundreds of New York Irish, transforming regular folks into protesters. He spoke of activism as an act of memory, and that became another thread running through the evening. St. Brigid’s, the famine, the oppression of Catholic Irishmen in Ireland and here in the United States were echoed by Bobby Sands’ hunger strike and eventual death in Long Kesh. Meanwhile, said Kirwan, multitudes of Irish-Americans demonstrated outside of the British consulate, and, “the tribe never faltered, never lost faith.”

Ironically, on Sunday, April 2, another Committee to Save St. Brigid’s Church was profiled in The New York Times. That St. Brigid’s, in San Francisco, closed in 1994 and is being sold to the Academy of Art University by the San Francisco Archdiocese. They blamed dwindling attendance and the necessity to earthquake-proof the church, but plan to use much of the $3.7 million raised by the sale to help offset legal settlements awarded to California sexual abuse victims.

Back to the Lower East Side and St. Brigid’s, though. Larry Kirwan ended the evening by saying, “One man has the power to save this church. His name is Cardinal Egan and when you phone him, make sure you ask for Communications.” By the way, that number is 1-212-371-1011, ext. 2990. -- Patricia Jameson-Sammartano, WGT Culture Editor

More Resources:

* Coming Back to Fight for the Church of Their Ancestors
New York Times, June 18, 2006.

* Court Hears Arguments on Suit to Stop a Church's Demolition, New York Times, June 14, 2006

* Their Church Shut and Now Sold, Parishioners Fight On, New York Times, April 2, 2006
http://www.st-brigid.org/pdf/20060402nytpaper.pdf

'Bards for St. Brigid's' To Rally the Faithful

The Committee to Save St. Brigid's from the wrecking ball went back to court Tuesday. The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court heard arguments between the New York Archdiocese, which wants to demolish the structurally damaged church, and former parishoners, members of the Lower East Side Community, and the Irish-American community, who want to save the Famine Church.

Detail of Stained Glass Window
Picture by Patti Kelly, Committee to Save St. Brigid's.

St. Brigid's was erected in 1848 to minister to Irish who fled Ireland's Great Hunger. It was closed by Cardinal Edward M. Egan in 2001.

Tonight at 7 pm, there will be a fundraiser at Connolly's 45 at West 45 Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues for the effort. Reading to benefit the church will be authors Pete Hamill, Malachy McCourt, Colum McCann, Peter Quinn, Thomas Fleming, Joseph O'Connor, T.J. English, Anne Maguire, Kathleen Hill, Sorcha Dorcha, Thomas Kelly, Dennis Smith, Tom Phelan, and Marion R. Casey. Larry Kirwan of Black 47 will host; tickets are $20; or more information call 212 691-4039 or order tickets online via www.savestbrigid.org.

Meanwhile, there are published reports that an anonymous donor has offered to purchase the building at fair market value and use it to house a nonprofit organization. The church was designed by Tipperary native Patrick Keely, who began as a carpenter working with his father. By the time of his death at the turn of the 20th century, it's estimated that he built some 600 churches in Canada and the United States.

A museum to the Irish, perhaps, or to their participation in the Roman Catholic Church? We await both the fundraiser and the court's decision.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano, WGT Culture Editor
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/nyregion/14church.html?_r=1&oref=login
http://www.savestbrigid.com/

New York Prepares Bloomsday Rites; Festival Season Now in High Gear

NEW YORK -- Bloomsday, the 102nd anniversary of Leopold Bloom’s walk around downtown Dublin city center, is being celebrated worldwide Friday; here in New York, the annual reading is at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre of Symphony Space, 95th Street and Broadway, with tickets at $20 for nonmembers. More details are available at Symphony Space's site and JamesJoyce.ie.

But there’s more to Joyce than just "Ulysses." Indeed, there is a group of Joyce enthusiasts in Somerville, Mass., who are committed to reading "Finnegan’s Wake" -- they’ve been at it for 10 years, a page or two at a time, and the group’s founder, Eric Jespersen estimates that they are halfway through. They try to read a page a week, accompanied by a pint of Guinness, and Jespersen estimates they should be finished in 2021. More details are available at National Public Radio's site.

Our estimation is that with this group consuming so much Guinness, it might not be a bad idea to invest now. Today’s stock price on the New York Stock Exchange was 67.25 for DEO, the parent company, down 1.08 from June 7. Check your portfolio at the New York Stock Exchange's site.

This weekend here in the Big Apple is the 8th Annual Staten Island Irish Fair, benefiting the St. Columcille Irish Cultural Center of Staten Island. For details, go to Staten Island Irish's site. Directions to the fairgrounds, at 599 Father Capodanno Blvd., are available on the website. More on this later.

Other Irish festivals this weekend: the Irish Connections Festival, Canton, Mass., details at http://www.irishculture.org/festival/; the Riverfront Irish Festival presented by the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, details at http://www.riverfrontirishfest.com/indexriverfront.htm; and, Wednesday through the 18th, the Dublin Writers Festival, details at http://www.dublinwritersfestival.com/. To see more on festivals upcoming and past, go to http://www.aviso.net/dir/usa/irish/events/index.htm. The list there is comprehensive.

And finally, with all the attention given to Joyce and Bloomsday in June, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that William Butler Yeats, a founder of the 19th century Celtic Revival, and of Dublin's Abbey Theatre, has a birthday Tuesday. He would have been blowing out 141 candles on his cake this year. Usually, the Yeats Society of New York has a reading of his poetry to celebrate; this year, Poet Pass By! was scheduled for January, to commemorate his death, but was cancelled. -- Patricia Jameson-Sammartano, WGT Culture Editor

Antietam: Long Journey for Four Irishmen

In the quiet western Maryland town of Sharpsburg, Maryland on September 17, 1862, at the Battle of Antietam, more Americans died in battle than on any other single day in U.S. history. Over thirty-six hundred were killed during that Civil War battle, including 113 members of the famous Irish Brigade.

Left: A burial party on the Miller Farm in Sharpsburg. Library of Congress

Some bodies got back to the home towns of the soldiers later, and some were interred in the cemetery on the hill overlooking the town of Sharpsburg, which would later become a National Cemetery. Not all the bodies, most of which had been placed in shallow temporary grave just after the battle, were found later and moved.

Four men who probably served in the Irish brigade would have to wait over a hundred and twenty years to reach the National Cemetery in Sharpsburg. Back in 1988 their remains were discovered on the William Roulette farm, near “The Sunken Road,” which had been assaulted by the Irish Brigade. Relic hunters searching the farm land, which was off the National Park at the time – it has bought by the Park since then - found the forgotten remains. Because of the location of the bodies, along with clues consisting of rosary beads, New York state buttons and “buck and ball” ammunition of the type carried by them, it was determined that the four soldiers were probably members of the Irish Brigade. One of them was between 40 and 50 years old. That allowed the researchers to speculate that he was probably been Private James Gallagher, Company C, 63rd New York Infantry.

On September 17, 1989, one hundred and twenty seven years after they died, these four probable members of the Irish Brigade were re-interred in the National Cemetery in Sharpsburg along side the comrades with whom they had fought and died.

Now, thanks to George Rees of Medina, Ohio, visitors to the Sharpsburg area will be reminded sacrifice of the four soldiers who spent those lonely hundred and twenty seven years far from their other fallen comrades. Mr. Rees has donated many of the artifacts that were found with Pvt. Gallagher and his comrades to two exhibits in western Maryland. One case of these relics is at the Patrick Street location of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in the Frederick, and the other is at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum is in Sharpsburg. If you are going be in the area, be sure to check them out.

• The Deadliest Day: The Irish Brigade at Bloody Lane, September 17, 1862
• WGT: Special Report: The Irish Battle at Antietam
• National Museum of Civil War Medicene
• Commemorate the Irish Brigade