50. Church of Our Saviour (Now the Parish of Our Saviour, Saint Stephen and Our Lady of the Scapular, and the Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary)

NOTE: In 2015 this church merged with two churches: Our Lady of the Scapular & St. Stephen Church and the Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary of St. Stephen as part of the Archdiocese of New York's great closings & mergers of 2015. Only this church and the Sacred Hearts Chapel will remain open for regular Masses and other events. This combined parish is now called the Parish of Our Saviour, Saint Stephen and Our Lady of the Scapular, and the Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. 

(mass times & church info last updated 03/31/2016)
Address: 59 Park Avenue (at 38th St.)
Phone: 212.679.8166
Weekend Mass Times: 
Sat: 5pm (English)
Sun: 9am, 11am (Choral), 5pm (all English)
Weekday Mass Times: 
Mon-Fri: 7:45am, 12:05pm (both English)
Sat: 12:05pm (English)
Confession: 
Sat: 4:30pm-4:55pm
Sun: 10:30am-10:50am
Mon-Fri: 7:10am-7:40am
Adoration: 
Fridays after the 7:45am Mass: 8:15am-11:55am
Links:
Official Website
About the Organ
Yelp review
Panoramic Photo Viewer (pretty sweet)

4TH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

For the past three Sundays of Advent, I revisited two of my very favorite churches in the city: St. Paul the Apostle and Ascension.

Finally, having some time after finishing moving and my work slowing down right before the holiday, I was able to go explore a new church. Per Bill's advice in my first entry, I decided to see what the midtown east Church of Our Saviour offered.

It is precisely as he mentioned - small, elegant and beautiful. The Christmas decorations accented the aesthetics wonderfully - and it was nice to gather in here, away from the cold snowy weekend, on this Saturday night before Christmas.

It was kind of a cozy feeling in this church on this cold night - partly because of the warm colors inside the building, but also it's smaller size than a lot of the other midtown churches.

The priest, I assume it was Fr. Rutler who I keep reading about on the web, had an intense and dramatic tone with which he delivered the sermon. I can say his words were very good and very thorough. Sadly, this Saturday night mass did not offer any music, I wonder if the Sunday services are accompanied with any.

I attended this church tonight with my girlfriend. Things have been good with us lately and though all these thoughts race through my head - fears, anxieties, pressures, and of course, a young man's angsty madness - most all of our steps together are steps forward and as time goes on I feel better and better about us.

We recently saw the theatre company Dzieci's performance of Fool's Mass. Has anyone ever seen this? It was an incredible experience. It's a play about how a group of "fools" (village idiot types, idiot savantes, etc.) in the 16th century attempt to carry on with a Mass after they discover the priest has died right before it's about to begin. We kind of wandered into this, not knowing what to expect, worried it would be either offensive to the mentally handicapped or sacrilegious. In my opinion, it was neither. In my opinion, it was a near perfectly done spiritual slapstick exercise - and it had a good point about religion and God and we lowly ones down here on earth in all that we do to honor God. Most of all, however, it was funny. I laughed my ass off and often couldn't stop. I have not laughed this long or this hard in quite some time. I'm not sure if it was my own 30 years of pent-up Catholicity finding some (ir)reverent release, or the sheer cleverness of the actors' buffoonery - but there was some magical mix in their performance and I loved it. When I wasn't laughing out loud or struggling to hold back my laughter during the more solemn moments, there were tears streaming down my face - mostly from the laughter and of joy, but some from the pure sweetness of the message of this very real and brilliant comedy of errors. It was like an enjoyable and poignant comic sermon.

Next Christmastime, if you have the chance to see Fool's Mass - go see it. After enjoying it so much in the company of my girlfriend whose tastes run a bit more conservative than mine, and my married friend who claims he is an atheist, and witnessing them enjoy it as well, I think whatever your tastes and whoever you are, you will most likely enjoy it and get something out of it as well.