(church info last updated 03/31/2016) Address:568-570 Broome St. (@ Varick) Church Constructed:1905 Church Closed: February 26, 2007 Link: Wikipedia: Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn
Alone in a seemingly abandoned city this morning, I trekked out early in the cold, snow still sticking to various areas of streets and sidewalks. I was headed towards two churches I wasn't sure existed any longer, and Our Lady Of Vilnius was one of them. Arriving at 32 Dominick street (the former site of the OLV rectory) I found the doors shut, the area lifeless, the building abandoned.
I needed further proof. Heading around the corner (and over the Holland Tunnel) to locate more of a church, I saw the steeples and was relieved to have found something.
There it was. A lonely church building. Desolate in the cold. A police officer stood watch by his patrol car near the entrance of the Tunnel as I walked up to the dead doors of Our Lady of Vilnius, and I felt watched, suspicious.
I tried the old wooden doors. No go. The old cracked red paint should have been enough of a giveaway, but I continued. All three double doors were locked, shutting out the city and any parishioners from entrance.
As far as I could tell, this was a closed church. Closed by the diocese because of money - its sanctuary and mystery lost to us forever. I feel the need to post about it here, because it was one of the original churches on my list of 96. Had I visited it sooner, perhaps back at the latter part of 2007, I would have found it still open, fighting against its own closure. Now, it is dead to us, its light shut off, a beacon no more. Gone.
(mass times & church info last updated 10/25/2009) (as of 04/29/2016 I can't find a website or current phone number - if you have any info on this church's Mass times and other info, please leave in the comments section below. Thanks!) Address:149 Christopher St. (between Washington and Greenwich) Phone:212.924.5628 (seems disconnected though - sorry!) Weekend Mass Times: Sat: 5pm (English) Sun: 10am (English), 11:10am (Spanish) Weekday Mass Times:
Tue, Wed: 12:15pm (English) Confession: Sat: 4:30pm-5:30pm Links: About the Organ About St.Veronica
Creeping downtown in the number one train this morning on my way to St. Veronica in the West Village and, due to construction, "all trains running express between 96th and 42nd street!," the conductor screaming, we crawl along slower than if we had run local from the beginning. (What is this, the local?) I am back in New York again, where public transport (when it works) is the best, and one's own feet can carry them across entire worlds. As great and terrible a city as it is, it's my city, for the time being, and I am glad to be back in it.
This is a comfortable church to visit. The West Village is always a nice neighborhood in my opinion, and St. Veronica's fits that vibe. The priest at the 10am Mass (sorry, didn't catch his name) gave a beautiful sermon, and somewhere between constant distraction and worry, I was able to very clearly hear him, and take away some of his words with me. He was talking about those bad times in life, when we all go off to dark places.
He was saying that through these bad dark times, which are times of bad thoughts and bad spirits invading our lives, Divine assistance always remains and that God's help is always there for us. And much as when one is hungry they had better not go grocery shopping as they are more than likely to buy up a bunch of impulse food items they do not really want, so should we not make great changes in our lives when we've reached these low bad points. Wait, and be patient. The good spirit will return.
Divine assistance remains. God's help is constant.
I've got these two sides to me. Sometimes the one side takes over, the one that spends money recklessly and wants only to be reckless, drink into oblivion, sin, again and again, and make not just bad decisions, but really terrible ones. This other side I got wants simply to pray. Wants just to hide away in the dark on days and find some solace and pray.
I sat near this stained glass window through which none of the bright sunlight from outside shone through. A building put up right beside the church after it was constructed, most likely, has hidden the light from this window, and robbed it of all its colorful, bright and inspiring potential. Still, the outline remains, and kind of story, but not the full one the stained glass artist had intended.
(mass times & church info last updated 03/25/2016) Address:25 Carmine St. (In the West village at Bleecker) Phone:212.989.6805 Weekend Mass Times: Sat: 5pm (English) Sun: 9am (English), 11am (Italian), 12:15pm (English), 1:30pm (Brazilian), 3pm (Filipino), 6pm (English) Weekday Mass Times: Mon-Fri: 7am, 12:05pm (both English) Wed: 6:30pm Mass & Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Sat: 8am (English) Our Lady of Perpetual Help Novena:
Wed: 6:30pm Mass & Novena Confession: 30 minutes before weekend Masses
This church is awesome. If you even just glance at any of the links above, you will see A) much nicer photos than the ones I have posted here, and B) a little bit of the history of the place.
This church overlooks Father Demo Square - a great nice open space that I had never been to before, even though I've ventured into the West Village quite often. The square is quite a beautiful place to sit, eat ice cream, people-watch - there's a relaxed comfortable feeling there and it's nice to be able to look up at the church tower and know the church's own calming presence is right there as well.
Looking back on some of my entries I wonder, am I just purporting a bad image or a further stereotype of what Catholics are seen as: guilt-ridden, distraught and generally messed-up individuals? I certainly hope I am not. If any out there (without a better prior understanding of Catholicism, or knowing someone who is Catholic) is reading me as such I must warn - don't take me or this blog as any kind of foundation for your knowledge of Catholicism or Catholics. The Church, as a whole, is so much more than one person's experiences (be they good or bad;) so much more than some of it's terrible history (be it, a lot of it, bad;) so much more than these rituals and traditions.
It's organic. It's all these buildings and these parishes. It's God above us, God within us, God around us. It's each member doing his or her part to reach toward God, always seek God, always remember God and to never forget God.
And somehow it's me, doing what I do, and somehow God reaching towards me, always.
(mass times & church info last updated 04/24/2016) Address: Corner of Columbus Ave. & W. 60th (Office: 405 W. 59th. St.) Phone: 212.265.3495 Weekend Mass Times:
Sat: 5:15pm (English, cantor)
Sun: 8am (English, cantor), 10am (English, choir), 12:30pm (Spanish, Coro Hispano),
5:15pm (English, Young Adult MassYA Choir) Weekday Mass Times:
Mon-Fri: 7:30am, 12:10pm (both English)
Sat: 8:30am (English) Confession:
Sat: 4pm-4:45pm
Tue, Thu: after the 12:10pm Mass Exposition:
Fri: after 7:30am Mass w/ Benediction at 12pm Servicio de Oracion Para los Enfermos:
Ultimo viernes de mes 7:30 p.m. (Septiembre a Junio) Links: Official Website Beautiful Architectural Images of St. Paul's About the Organ Wikipedia Entry About St. Paul's Paulist Fathers Website Wikipedia Article On Isaac Hecker, Founder of Paulist Fathers Wikipedia Article About St. Paul Daily Catholic Bible Readings Busted Halo
During the academic year, this church offers a great 8pm Sunday Mass for Fordham University (Lincoln Center Campus) and the congegration during this Mass is typically a mix of students and non-students alike. I'm not a student and I enjoy it very much and I always see young couples with children and older people attending as well - so I assume those that go enjoy it for the same reasons I do - it's a peaceful way to wrap up a weekend/start up the week. As I mentioned in my last entry, those Sunday night masses always make me prone to an emotional experience. The three priests that I've seen when I've attended this church before have all been great (though one reminds me a great deal of James Lipton from Inside the Actor's Studio.) The church is beautifully decorated and the architecture is thrilling (consult above links to find out more.) So once again, the Mass provided some stability in my (lately) crazy and precarious life and by the time I entered into it's soothing atmoshphere right before the priest walked down the aisle, I was practically yearning to be there, sitting kneeling praying, waiting to take Communion and feel more at peace than I had been. Again, as always, it's girls, booze and Mass that are twirling around in my head.
On Saturday I attended a daily Mass and Benediction again (that same girl was there from last week - and yes she offered me as much distraction as she had before.) The first reading came from Romans, Chapter 8: "For those who live according to the flesh are concerned with the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit with the things of the spirit." As soon as I heard it, that word "flesh", my mind dwelt on those things I have concerned myself with of late - worldy, fleshy things. My desire for the spirit is strong still, but with each action I take towards the worldy, I am killing that other more beautiful part within myself. "The concern of the flesh is death, but the concern of the spirit is life and peace. For the concern of the flesh is hostility toward God; it does not submit to the law of God, nor can it; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Not only do my actions kill me, they are hateful towards God, who I strive to love. "But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you."
My head was spinning from a week that eventually spiraled away from me. My two good friends, both devoted and loyal Red Sox fans, called me out with them on Thursday to watch World Series Game 2. We found a nice chill pub in the West Village and as I was drinking some beers with them I began snapping out of the terrible, wretched feeling and mood I had been in for the last 3 weeks. Into the 5th, Boston was doing well, a great Flamenco guitarist from Spain was playing on stage, we were laughing and I walked up to the bar to grab another beer when I met her. In stage plays there's that moment when the action is suddenly focused on just one character and slowly the rest of the stage fades away and a hard spotlight hits the protagonist of the moment - that's what it was like. My friends and the game and everything else in the bar went away, went dark, and it was only her and I there, chatting each other up, both of us having already drunk too many and just beginning to drink too many more. Later I turned around just in time to see my friends leaving for the night. Her and I kept it up and ended back at her place and I woke up there in the morning.
"You are not in the spirit..." What grief I put upon myself! My intentions are typically to do what is right and often moral, so how is it I allow myself to slide and willingly go with her? In the past I have behaved in far simpler and far more innocent ways and felt horrible about it, Catholic guilt and all that. This time, nothing. It becomes worse. Saturday night I found myself in Williamsburg at a Drive-By-Truckers show. After the show I was headed to a friend's Halloween Party, but I was just quickly stopping by this one bar with my friend who had gone to the show with me. On my way out of that place I ran into another girl - literally almost ran into her and we suddenly had our arms around each other and before I knew it I was ditching the party, everything was going dark, I was heading home with her and once again spiralling away. "...on the contrary, you are in the flesh.
(church info last updated 03/31/2016)
I needed further proof. Heading around the corner (and over the Holland Tunnel) to locate more of a church, I saw the steeples and was relieved to have found something.
There it was. A lonely church building. Desolate in the cold. A police officer stood watch by his patrol car near the entrance of the Tunnel as I walked up to the dead doors of Our Lady of Vilnius, and I felt watched, suspicious.
I tried the old wooden doors. No go. The old cracked red paint should have been enough of a giveaway, but I continued. All three double doors were locked, shutting out the city and any parishioners from entrance.
As far as I could tell, this was a closed church. Closed by the diocese because of money - its sanctuary and mystery lost to us forever. I feel the need to post about it here, because it was one of the original churches on my list of 96. Had I visited it sooner, perhaps back at the latter part of 2007, I would have found it still open, fighting against its own closure. Now, it is dead to us, its light shut off, a beacon no more. Gone.
Following are a few links relating the news about the closing (should have read these a little closer before my visit:)
