On July 28, a ruthless demolition crew broke all the stain glass windows of the Church of St Brigid at Avenue B and 9th Street, just across from Tompkins Square Park. Those particular stain glass windows were crafted in Bavaria in the 1880s. The neo-Gothic Catholic church was designed by architect Patrick Keely and built in 1848 by Irish immigrants. Last Saturday, Channel 7 news aired a segment showing a crowd of protestors in front of the church trying to stop the demolition. The New York Times published an informative article on the subject on Friday, July 28, Metro section, page B2, by Michael Luo.
The protestors include not only Catholic parishioners who are witnessing the disappearance of their local churches, one by one, lost to real estate development (Mary Help of Christians on 12th St and the Church of the Nativity on Second Avenue & Third Street are now closed); but also many East Village artists who oppose the destruction of a landmark work of architecture and what once was a classical music venue, and beyond that, an example of the unjust gentrification process that makes a neighborhood unaffordable to the very same artists who pioneered it and increased its value.
But it gets even worse: while the Catholic authorities claim that the church is ‘unsafe’, the parishioners have already donated $103,000.00 towards the necessary repairs, and the state program Sacred Sites Fund for Historic Preservation is available to cover 50% of the repair costs. Instead, the archdiocese is banking on the construction of a rental facility in place of the church, and has made no attempt to acknowledge the parishioners’ investment in the church. Furthermore, the supporters of the church have to raise more funds for a difficult legal battle. The demolition is now being temporarily held by order of Justice Kapnick. The freedom to practice one’s religion was once a pillar of the American democracy – but it no longer holds against the insatiable greed of those who hold the keys to the kingdom.
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