New York's 'Famine Church' Gets Reprieve

NEW YORK -- A Manhattan church, facing demolition, known colloquially by its supporters as "The Famine Church," won a last-minute reprieve.

On Saturday, a judge, with demolition underway, ordered that it be halted. The move ensures that St. Brigid's will survive for a few more weeks.

St. Brigid, a Roman Catholic church, is on Avenue B and Eighth Street. It was built by Irish immigrants fleeing An Gorta Mor, "The Great Hunger." The Committee To Save St. Brigid's Church has led the opposition to the Archdiocese of New York's move to raze the church. The committee represents a coalition of residents, former parishioners, preservationists, and Irish-Americans bridling at both the loss of the historic church and the archdiocese's seeming indifference to the church's growing tide of support.

The archdiocese closed the building in 2001, citing structural weaknesses, and began to demolish it Friday.

On Thursday, workers punched an eight-foot-high hole in the back wall of the church, smashed a stained-glass window, and erected scaffolding around the base of the church.

But an injunction issued by Justice Barbara R. Kapnick of State Supreme Court on Saturday halted demolition, giving the church and its supporters until Aug. 24, when both sides are scheduled to appear in court.

The Committee to Save St. Brigid’s had gone to court Thursday to obtain a stay on demolition, asserting that the archdiocese had not properly convened a meeting of the church’s board of trustees, required by state law, according to court papers. The committee is also challenging the archdiocese’s demolition permit filed with the City Department of Buildings.

The buildings department last week rejected the bid to have the city rescind the archdiocese’s demolition permit. But the supporters filed an appeal with the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals. According to Harry Kresky, the committee's lawyer, the committee went back to court Thursday to push for a stay until the board could rule.

According to archiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling, the archdiocese convened a meeting of the church’s five-person board of trustees on July 18. The board comprises Cardinal Edward M. Egan, the archbishop of New York; the archdiocese’s vicar general; two former parishioners; and the pastor or administrator of the church.

Archdiocesan officials recruited the former parishioners through a neighboring church, Zwilling said. Because the parish was dissolved in 2004, archdiocesan officials appointed Bishop Robert A. Brucato, the archdiocese’s chancellor, to be the administrator.

The trustees voted unanimously to demolish the church, Zwilling said. WGT

For additional reading:

* "Old Church Gets Reprieve as Judge Halts Demolition," The New York Times, Saturday, July 29, 2006

* "Demolition Starts at Historic Catholic Church in East Village," The New York Times, Friday, July 28, 2006

In Memoriam, Actor Barnard Hughes

Within the past week, we have seen a loss to our cultural community. On July 11, actor Barnard Hughes, five days shy of his 91st birthday, died in New York after a short illess. He was acclaimed for his role as a ghostly Irish father haunting his playwright son in Hugh Leonard's Da, won a Tony Award for his portrayal on Broadway in 1978, and reprised his role in the 1988 movie, which was filmed partly in County Wicklow( Dubliner Leonard went on to win a Best Screenplay Award at the Catalonian Film Festival in Sitges).Hughes later reprised the role in Dublin and at the Irish Arts Center in 1996, and again five yeats later at Seton Hall University.

Born in Bedford Hills, N.Y., to Irish immigrant parents Owen and Madge Hughes, he attended Manhattan College before going into the theatre. Debuting in Herself Mrs. Patrick Crowley in 1935, he appeared in some 400 theatrical roles, including A Majority of One(1959), Advise and Consent(1960), Nobody Loves an Albatross(1963), the Richard Burton revival of Hamlet (1964), Abelard and Heloise (1971), The Good Doctor (1973), All Over Town(1974), Angels Fall (1983) , The Iceman Cometh(1985) and Prelude to a Kiss (1990). Hughes was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Dogberry in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing in 1973. His last Broadway appearance was in Noel Coward's Waiting in the Wings, in 1999-2000; he shared the billing with, among others, his wife of 56 years, Helen Stenborg. His last appearance was as a host of this year's Tony Awards in March.

Truly a star of stage, screen and television, Hughes' filmography included: Playgirl(1954), Midnight Cowboy(1969), Cold Turkey(1971), Look Homeward Angel(1972), Oh, God!(1977), Tron(1982), The Lost Boys(1987), Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit(1993), and The Fantastiks(2000), in which he sang. He also put his vocal talents to use singing "Danny Boy" in the TV series The Cavanaughs; other notable television work included roles in Playhouse 90, the soap operas Guiding Light and As the World Turns; All In the Family, Mr. Merlin, Doc and Blossom. In 1977 he was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series for his appearance as a judge on Lou Grant.

In 1991, Hughes participated in readings of Immigrant Voices in the Grand Registry Hall of the newly-restored Grand Registry Hall of Ellis Island. He received an honorary doctorate from Manhattan College in 1992.

He leaves behind his wife Helen, his son, the director Doug Hughes(Doubt), his daughter Laura and grandson Samuel Hughes Rubin.

Funeral services were private but Broadway dimmed its lights on the 12th and a memorail service is said to be planned for September. -- Patricia Jameson-Sammartano, WGT Culture Editor

Wikipedia on Barnard Hughes

"Theater and TV Actor Barnard Hughes Dies," Forbes.com

Sicilian Soccer Madness -- Il Coppa Mundial

If there is one comparison which can be drawn between the lovely islands of Sicily and Ireland, it is that both peoples love their soccer "con passione" -- with passion. That's reflected in the newspapers of the world today, from Sicily to Madrid to Washington.

We are on holiday here in the lovely fishing village of Sciacca, on Sicily's west coast, which also boasts of medieval churches and artisans galore, but last night the village was shuttered -- with the exception of those people seated in sports bars by the piazza. Occasionally a cheer would break out, because the game was low-scoring; after 120 minutes, the score was 1-1. Penalty kicks decided the winner; Italy won 5-3.

And Italy's partisans around the world let out more than just a cheer; Italians waving flags and cheering, car horns blaring, noisemakers, yelling, and fireworks all became the tenor of the night. Vespas sped on the piazza's sidewalks, and both ways on the one-way street. We could see fireworks over the mountain as we wound our way up the hill. The celebration probably lasted for hours; two hours was the duration for the semifinals.

For one night, it was Vittorria! Forzo Italiano!

-- Patricia Jameson-Sammartano, WGT Culture Editor

"Italy Is On Top of the World," WashingtonPost.com, July 10, 2006

"La Francia non fa piu' paura. Siamo Campioni del Mondo!" SportNews.it, July 10, 2006

One of the “Boys of Wexford” returns: Kennedy in Ireland

Forty-six years ago this week the people of Ireland fell in love with a member of “The Wild Geese” who had less than five months to live. If ever an American politician had a style and ease that allowed the people of Ireland to see the “Irish” in him, it was John Fitzgerald Kennedy. By the summer of 1963 he had become the embodiment of the pride many Irish felt in the success of the descendents of their countrymen around the world. Here was a man who had succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of his poor immigrant ancestors, and he had done it with style and panache.

Patrick Kennedy, above left - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

John Kennedy’s great-grandfather, Patrick Kennedy, left Dunganstown, County Wexford during the Great Hunger and became a cooper in Boston. The Kennedy home in Dunganstown was turned into a museum in 1999. Another branch of JFK’s family, the Fitzgeralds, came from County Limerick village of Bruff and carried with them a family bible. Over a century later John Kennedy would lay his hand on that same bible as he took the oath of office of the nation that took in his poor immigrant ancestors. One can only imagine the reaction of the Fitzgerald’s on the way to “the land of the free” had someone predicted the future purpose to which that bible would be applied.

Surely no conquering hero of ancient times ever received a more joyous welcome “home” than the one JFK was given by the Irish. Throngs of people choked the streets everywhere he went. From that day forward many homes in Ireland would hang his photo on the wall next to that of the Pope.

On the dock where his great-grandfather had set sail for America JFK told the Irish people, "When my great-grandfather left here to become a cooper in East Boston he carried nothing with him except two things - a strong religious faith and a strong desire for liberty. I am glad to say that all of his grandchildren have valued that inheritance." In Wexford he joined in with a boys choir in the singing of "The Boys of Wexford.”

Above right- JFK's motorcade in Dublin - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

In dying a martyr’s death only a few months later, like so many Irish heroes, real and mythical, his place in the hearts of the Irish was perhaps burned even more deeply.