58. St. Joseph Church (Chinatown) (CLOSED)

NOTE: In 2015 this church (which had previously merged with the church of St. James in 2014) closed down and was merged into the Church of the Transfiguration as part of the Archdiocese of New York's great closings & mergers of 2015. Only Transfiguration will remain open for regular Masses and other events. This combined parish is called Parish of Transfiguration and of St. James/St. Joseph. 

(church info last updated 04/07/2016)
Address: 5 Monroe St. (between Catherine St. & Market St.)
Phone: 212.267.8376


Links: 
New Official Parish Website
New York's Underground Chinese Church
St. Joseph Church Blog
St. Joseph School
St. Joseph (Battery Park City)
St. Joseph (Greenwich Village)
St. Joseph (Yorkville)
St. Joseph of the Holy Family (Harlem)

chinatown
bubble tea
st. joseph, pray for me

Statue of the Virgin Mary in car window

(04/02/2010)
Additional photos...


(4/12/2010)
It seems there may be some very unjust things going on at the schools/parishes of St. Joseph and St. James - if you read the below comments from Cacique and Anonymous, you'll get a better understanding. I am going to embed here a video link from the comment below so it can be viewed on this page. Anyone out there reading this, please pray for the right and best outcome for these schools. School and parish mergers and administrative dismissals are rarely a happy ending for many involved, and though I have no personal knowledge of Sr. Deborah Lopez, from the below comments she seems like a good principal and school administrator. My prayers go out to these parishes, schools and their parishioners and students...

(4/13/2010)

57. St. Joseph Chapel (Now part of St. Peter-Our Lady of the Rosary Parish)

NOTE: In 2015 this church merged with Our Lady of the Rosary Church and the Church of St. Peter as part of the Archdiocese of New York's great closings & mergers of 2015. All three churches will remain open for regular Masses and other events. This new combined parish is called St. Peter-Our Lady of the Rosary Parish. 

Home of the Catholic Memorial at Ground Zero

(mass times & church info last updated 03/31/2016)
Address: 385 South End Ave.(Gateway Apt.'s,Entrance on Liberty St.)
Phone: 212.466.0131
Weekend Mass Times: 
Sun: 10am, 12pm, 7:30pm (all English)
Weekday Mass Times: 
Mon-Fri: 7:30am, 12:10pm (both English)
Confession: 15 minutes after Mass

Links:
Official Website
Death and Resurrection at Ground Zero
Catholic Memorial at Ground Zero
Renovata Studios
Mystery Worshipper
Blessing of the Animals Photos on Flickr
St. Joseph (Chinatown)
St. Joseph (Greenwich Village)
St. Joseph (Yorkville)
St. Joseph of the Holy Family (Harlem)

It is March, the month of St. Joseph, and I have decided to visit the other St. Joseph churches in the city that I have not yet seen. Thus far, I've enjoyed all my experiences at the other St. Joseph parishes, and this was no exception, except for the fact that this little chapel is exceptional.

Hopstop directed me to take the 1 train to Rector St., then north on Greenwich. Greenwich dead ends into Liberty St., at which point I took a left. Following Liberty St., which borders Ground Zero and therefore one of the largest construction sites in the world, lead me through a covered walkway and into the lobby of an office building - One World Financial Center. The man at the information desk pointed me across the street to South End Avenue and shortly I was at the Battery Park City Gateway Apartment Complex searching (somewhat frantically, as I was a few minutes tardy) for the entrance to the chapel.

I eventually found it (it is "on" Liberty Street if one keeps walking onto the sidewalk from Liberty St., westward towards the water and Jersey) and entered a small modern crowded chapel. Standing until a nice gentleman (whose name I believe is John, though I might be mistaken, and who seems to be the organist as well as in charge of a thousand other duties) I felt very welcomed here.

St. Joseph Chapel is part of the parish of St. Peter. This is not just a chapel but a memorial and the icons and artwork on the walls and in the building are absolutely beautiful, calming to take in, and leaves one with peace as they walk out. The chapel was renovated in 2002 after the events of 9/11 left the original damaged beyond repair. The day the towers fell the exterior was covered in dust and ash. The chapel was offered to the emergency workers (police, fire, medical) as a place of respite beginning that day and for the next six months after. All the furniture was moved outside of the chapel to offer places to sit, and was damaged by weather days later. The chapel reopened, renovated and repaired, on September 11, 2002. Unfortunately, I believe the chapel's website is not working, so I shall attempt this poor job of describing what I saw and came away with. (I am taking most of my information from the brochure John handed me.)

To me, the most striking part of the artwork were the statues on the left side of the church, by artist John Collier.

The archangel Michael, St. Florian, St. Joseph and St. Mary Magdalene. Before my visit I had not heard of St. Florian (the patron of fire fighters) and had forgotten Michael was the patron of police officers. The statues are emotional, violent, sad, strong. The artist has captured something here in that they move and act before your eyes and in a heartbeat one feels they know each one of these subjects' stories as well the stories of those who they represent.

There is also a a sculpture of Jesus done by artist Walter Szostalo, without arms, "reminding us that we are to be the arms and hands of the risen Christ in the world today." (from brochure) Below the sculpture is a quote from St. Teresa of Avila...

"Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hand but yours, no feet but yours;
yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion looks out on the world,
yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good
and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now."

Szostalo also has a colored and carved glass sculpture piece displayed, Swords Into Ploughshares, my second favorite.

Guy Kemper, a returned Peace Corps volunteer, is the artist behind four abstract stained glass panels flanking the chapel doorway. Standing near the altar and looking to the back of the chapel, one is amazed and impressed by the color and feeling these windows emote.

There is also an etched glass wall at the back of the sanctuary by Christopher Cosma...

...an Our Lady of Guadalupe terra-cotta bas-relief by Brett Slavin...

...and an icon of St. John and St. Paul by Sister Cecelia.

Every Catholic living here in New York City, as well as every visiting Catholic, should make a point of stopping by this chapel for either a Mass or service or quick strong prayer.


Some of the sites outside of St. Joseph Chapel...

Supplemental: Christmas at Home

It was over Thanksgiving and now this visit home at Christmas that I begin to realize how much I dislike the parish and church I attended while growing up. I'm not sure precisely when it was constructed - maybe 1970 - but it's one of those bland modern buildings that feels soulless and cold. Having visited and experienced these 50+ Manhattan churches (old and modern alike) with their beautiful architecture and wonderful sculptures and divine stained glass images and artwork, my old church on these visits home leaves me with such an emptiness inside after attending Mass here. Of course, I attend with my family and this is always a welcome change to my journeys alone in the city; and the priests at my old church often have good things to say; but as I look around in the middle of the service and am greeted with blank beige brick walls, ugly red carpeting, stucco-esque ceilings and two statues buried back in the recesses of the church, I feel deflated and soon enough drab and bland and blank all over.

Is it some kind of vibrancy I've found in these city churches that attracts me so, compared to the bleakness of these other holy houses buried in the suburbs of the rest of the country; or is there something exceptionally bad about the church I grew up with? Or is psychology somehow more involved and I just relate the first 20 years of my life, Catholicism shoved down my throat, with this building, and thus harbor no good will towards it. Soon after I left home, and escaped the bonds of my church's monotony, did I happen to wander into exceptional churches, or were they just "not" my old church?

The little Catholic hogan on the Navajo reservation, with it's scent of burning sage and wood, and the Jesuit priest from Chicago - that was a very special church. But then again, there was St. Joseph's in the middle of the western suburbs of Chicago that I loved - that place was certainly suburbia church bliss at it's finest. The church I found in Africa, where I tried to attend once a month, a lone white man among a family of Indian Catholics - that was certainly a great experience. Finding myself away from home and family I always feel more intensely bonded with the Catholic services that I attend and am sometimes inundated with the desire to return home and experience these feelings with my family at our parish church - but always returning there for holidays or special occasions or months-at-a-time long sabbaticals from my life I can never appreciate any of the good things my church offers, only it's uninspiredness - it's blah factor.

The emptiness of the church decor is sometimes reflected in it's parishioners. And there's such a whiteness about them too. I hate to be an asshole here, but as a friend and I were reflecting on it the other night, the church doesn't offer a single Spanish Mass - and I'm from a city that's more than 30% Hispanic! It's a mystery to me about my church, but I can only think this mystery exists in so many other towns around the country.

My best friend in NYC, who comes from my same hometown, calls the place Krypton, and vows never to return here, minus the occasional funeral he must attend. I, myself, have always tried to think about the best parts this place offers, yet this time around I'm finding it a harder and harder feat to accomplish.

My hometown leaves me feeling this emptiness and I desire to return to the city and my life there to see where it leads me. Surely, the best part of my old town and the only reason I return is my family's presence - I grieve when I am away from them and I am saddened I cannot take them with me.

The Sunday after Christmas we attended a different church in town than we usually do - this one resembling a more traditional, classic church decor - and one I have become familiar with in NYC. I felt more at home here than I ever did in my old church and the priest was quick and brilliant. As it was the Feast of the Holy Family, he drew everyone's attention to a stain glass at the back of the church - Jesus in the temple with Mary and Joseph looking on. He made a point about families and values - meal times together, respect for one another, togetherness, etc. And I stared at it and loved it and got what he was talking about.

As I leave my family in a few days and go back to my life I carry them and all they mean to me with me. I will remember what this priest said, using the Holy Family as my model for what I want to have one day in the future and what I want to become.

30. St. Joseph (Greenwich Village & NYU)

(mass times & church info last updated 04/24/2016)

Address: 371 Sixth Avenue
Phone: 212-741-1274
Weekend Mass Times: 
Sat: 5:30pm (English)
Sun: 9am, 11:30am, 6pm (NYU Student Mass) (all English)
Weekday Mass Times: 
Mon-Sat: 12:10pm (English)
Mon-Fri: 5:15pm (English, during the Academic year at the John Henry Cardinal Newman Chapel)
Confession: Sat: 4:30pm-5:15pm
Rosary: 2nd Mondays after the 12:10pm Mass
Links:
Official Website
Wikipedia Entry about the Church
Various NY Times articles
About St. Joseph
St. Joseph (Battery Park City)
St. Joseph (Chinatown)
St. Joseph (Yorkville)
St. Joseph of the Holy Family (Harlem)
- - -
This church is small, pristine, easy to sit in and pay attention to the readings and Eucharist. They have a small rooftop area where they often throw receptions or events. It is a place where it is easy to pray and a church I assume to be an asset to the people in the area, to New York University and to New York City in general.

I enjoyed my time here today, yet after Mass I grew so solemn and despondent - there was a lonesomeness growing within, something which amasses in size day to day, something I really can't help prevent, just something that is. It's forlorn, it's stress, it's despair. All those words mean is lack of faith, strength, lack of memory, lack of thankfulness, lack of wisdom; the loss of something bigger than me and all of us within me and growing.

I've gone to confession a couple times already, and need to go again soon, because something I am just now beginning to realize I need to confess to is my judgmental attitude, my weakness in forgiving, the fact I hold grudges - and everything else that falls somewhere in between.

- - -
I just recently went to go see Prince Caspian with friends. I have always been a huge fan of these C.S. Lewis books and when I saw the first film, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I have to admit I was a little dissapointed - I considered the acting to be a bit weak, some story changes abhorent and overall it was trying to be just too Lord of the Rings. Fortunately, enough time had passed from the last time I read through the books so I was not so miffed when watching Caspian the other day, I was actually quite pleased. (All the crazy battles added and characters not included didn't bother me at all.)

If you know of the movie or the book then you know that one of the many themes of this story is the coming of age into adulthood denies one further entrance into the world of Narnia. As I watched the film, this theme played over and over again in my head. At the end of the story, Aslan the great Lion tells Peter and Susan that they can no longer come back to Narnia, as they are too old. Isn't it so true that with all the "good" adulthood brings, it too brings with it loss of innocence, (often) lack of imagination and despair in faith. Faith, imagination and innocence are all very necessary traits one should carry with them throughout life, tools that can assist during life, things which lead us to live good lives and ultimately meet the ending of our lives gracefully and with meaning.

I am thinking about all of this in the context of my own life. After my years wandering (slightly), traveling, heading to Africa - I have landed here in NYC and my main goal was to obtain adulthood, a five year plan which would bring me wealth, status, a wife, insurance - all of the very adult and very responsible things we "need" to live our lives. And none of these are bad things inherently, in fact, they are obviously all good things. But I realize that I, in my pursuit of these things, and probably others too, maybe even you, have lost other things that are important along the way. Faith, imagination and innocence. These are things I should cling to, things we should never let go of, lose touch of, let slip our grasp.

Immediately after the film ended and the credits began rolling I sat in deep thought on childlikeness versus my adultness and what I have lost and what I have failed to keep important. I am lucky enough that I have witnessed in me, over the past year, a serious return to faith. If you know anything of the Narnian world, you know the human characters that get the chance to travel there love and appreciate every single moment they have there. And if you, like me, have read the books with an open heart, you too feel a joy about Narnia and even a slight (imagination!) desire to go there yourself. As I sat during the credit roll I reflected on last week's church experience - St. Vincent Ferrer - and thought to myself that at that moment last week, sitting inside this brilliant church, that is the most recent occasion in which I have felt some kind of "magic" - possibly the kind of magic one finds in Narnia.

And I determined right then and there, with credits rolling and my friends sitting nearby, to rid myself of as much "adultness" as safely possible and again open myself to the childlikeness that gets you into Narnia, that opens up the kingdom of heaven to you.

And I began trying to compile a list of my adult-like atrocities, and I realized it is quite difficult to do, because so many of these adult-like things are so pragmatic here and "seemingly" necessary - I have to develop and use a kind of filter to determine the differences. For instance:

1) My job is necessary, but any kind of love or obsession with money that comes with it, the acquisition and accumulation of wealth and status and fortune could very well border on an "adultness" trait,

2) Relationships - my intense desire right now to find the "right" girl to be with and to marry is not in itself "adult" or wrong, but it's all about how I go about it. I mentioned that I have begun online dating - this is the very definition of pragmatic "adultness" Where is the adventure, where is the fun? When an online-instigated date finally happens - both parties have come to it with so much intention and built up expectation that there is no naturalness to it. You are both looking for someone, you both have traits that you each find attractive - but when meeting in person there is no chemistry. I'm somewhat outgoing, personally, and when I meet a stranger conversation comes naturally, and laughter and some fun, but where is the chemistry? Where are the pheromones? The internet removes these from the dating/mating act completely. Not to mention that online dating opens one up to so many chances and possibilities that I, in my bad habit of a way, cannot stop thinking about all the other possibilities I may be losing out on when I begin "chatting" with or seeing one of the girls. Also, none of them are what I expect or hope for or similar to the idea I have of them in my head when I meet them. They're all a bit older looking than their pictures show; they're all a little bit spastic or mental as the years creep by and they haven't found the person they want to marry. After a short experience with the whole thing, I feel I'm not cut out for online dating - and it's all only made me realize that these "Catholics" I'm looking for are no better and no worse than any of the other non-Catholic girls I've been dating. Then why is it so important to me?

3) Alcohol - why is it that we all need such quantities and regular amounts of alcohol to get on with our lives? Children abound in energy, never needing or desiring to poison themselves with these substances to "alter" their moods and their minds. We are a community of people gathering and poisoning ourselves in order to celebrate - celebrate what?

4) Clothing - I get so caught up in how I look, how I am reflected in other people's eyes, how I look compared to these other people. Truly something "adult" and decadent and misleading and wrong. Of course, one has to look nice - but being in this city - along with all the regular, humble, plain and wonderful folk, there are those who are so pompous, so into their image and their stance and status - and why is it that I fall into this trap, as well as the many others, which lead me to follow everything material that has so little to do with grace?

These are just some of the few of the "adult-like" traps that "get" me from day to day.

My friend and I began discussing the other Narnia books in detail after we left the theater. We spoke about the final book, The Last Battle, and the fate of one of the characters, Susan. We couldn't remember what happens to her in the end - we knew she suffers some kind of loss of belief in Narnia and she may or may not enter Narnia or "heaven" in the end, but the book leaves it very ambiguous - and this whole concept of what happens to Susan fits right in with the overall theme I walked away with from Prince Caspian.

From the Wikipedia entry on The Last Battle:

Some would also claim that Susan is excluded from Narnia simply because she doesn't believe in Narnia any longer: Lewis is alluding to loss of faith, and of imagination, when we fail to retain "childlike" simplicity. This could be said to lend negative connotations to faith, suggesting that to believe, one's mind must remain childish and simplistic. It could also be said that Susan's attitude is the opposite of Jesus' teachings, "Truly I say to you, unless you repent (change, turn about) and become like little children [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving], you can never enter the kingdom of heaven." [Matt 18:2-4]. The 'growing up' mentioned is saying that Susan doesn't have the right attitude in respects to Narnia and as such cannot go there.

And what of my attitudes, my respects, my beliefs? Am I too far gone adult? Have I lost enough of the innocence there ever was in me to prevent ever traveling to that Narnian otherworld, that heaven which I most dearly hope awaits us all, even the sorriest sinner out there, one who continually lapses and falls and fails and disappoints?

24. St. Joseph (Yorkville)

(mass times & church info last updated 04/24/2016)
Address: 404 E. 87th St. (between 1st and York)
Phone: 212.289.6030
Weekend Mass Times: 
Sat: 4pm (English)
Sun: 8am (English, no music)
10am (English, but German Mass on 1st Sundays)
12pm (English, with choir from September-June)
2pm (Hungarian)
6pm (English)
Weekday Mass Times: 
Mon-Fri: 7am, 12:15pm, 6pm (during Lent) (all English)
Sat: 8am, 12:15pm (both English)
Confession: Sat: 3:30pm-3:45pm
Rosary: Thursdays at 6:30pm in either the church or rectory
Lectio-Divina: Every other Thursday at 7pm in the rectory
Post-Church Activity: Beers at Heidelberg
Links:
Official Website
About the Organ
German Catholics in Manhattan
About St. Joseph
Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Joseph
The destruction of another St. Joseph's
United States' Catholic Catechism for Adults
Making A Good Confession
How To Confess
Mortal vs. Venial Sin
A listing of sins
Another listing of sins
St. Joseph (Battery Park City)
St. Joseph (Chinatown)
St. Joseph (Greenwich Village)
St. Joseph of the Holy Family (Harlem)
- - -
-great little german church-


Pope Benedict XVI visited here last week during his New York Tour and I wonder if he found it to be as peaceful as I did.

The Saturday 4pm mass, I have to say, has quite a few older people in attendance, though I did see a few young faces - and heading to the Heidelberg Restaurant afterwards was way too much fun to have on a Saturday afternoon. My main focus of this week's visit wasn't necessarily to view the art or structure of the church, though again, it is another beautiful gem of Manhattan Catholicism, it was of a more reconciling nature.

- - -
A few days ago...
A whole whole lot on my mind this week that doesn't necessarily have anything to do directly with St. Joseph's in Yorkville, but read on and you may see the connection...

Girls never want to just be friends unless it is I who am pursuing them...

If anything is true about me it is that I am a sinful sinful man. I've just recently broke up with another sweet gal who was beautiful and smart and sexy and a good person. My problem is I keep ending these relationships with these great girls because I feel I can do better. What an ass I am! On the way down, knowing it would end soon, I ended up kissing another girl, who I stupidly began to think I could end up with, happily, all because she was Catholic and nice, and beautiful, completely disregarding the bigger picture that she and I didn't have a whole lot of other stuff in common and that she is one of those people who constantly busy themselves running from activity to activity with very little room to breathe because every action has got to have some point, some purpose; idle time to sit and to wonder doesn't really exist for these people. And perhaps I am just jealous of this type, perhaps I have all too much time on my hands and am currently unhappy with my life, my situation. Today, having gotten only a few slim hours of sleep because I had to spend time in the bars last night with my friend who was in town and forced myself to awake early this morning to have breakfast with this girl - a strange breakfast, by the way, in which I was realizing I probably didn't even really like her like I thought I might as she went on and on discussing the busy, varying and dizzying details of her life, and after which she told me she didn't want a relationship - I walked around in a daze, a zombie-like shuffle, in and out of extreme moods that dipped to despair and alighted at the top of the world

i think somebody had to be praying for me somewhere

and I felt utterly alone, without friends or a home or a future; with family far away, with people here in the city that I know either moving away or losing touch - it's like a countdown to city anonymity. I am in the middle of indecision. I have discerned I do not want to be alone for my life (ala the priesthood) but it seems I can't get too close to others either.

Because this girl was Catholic I tricked myself into believing that everything else I wanted from a relationship would evolve naturally - ignoring a host of problems right around the corner. It is indeed best she doesn't want the relationship to happen, it saved us both from a few uncomfortable months of boy/girl fights and troubles - however, it did hurt, my feelings were bruised, I was rejected on some level and though it saved us from an ultimate catastrophe, it in itself and today was a minor catastrophe.

What's worse is this girl is my Confirmation sponsor.
- - -
Attending Confirmation classes has been very enjoyable thus far. I'm learning a bit about the Church and with friends in grad schools and continuing ed classes, I feel like this is my own bit of continuing ed. I can't really see myself going to class for any other degrees; I might go for some additional skill sets and knowledge in my profession, but outside of that the only thing I'd really want to do is progress further along in theological studies. But again, I am not going to be a priest, my God, I want a wife, I even have three names for my daughters already picked out. But perhaps there's something in the religious field in my future - theologian someday, or maybe a deacon?

Something that struck me the other day while reading my catechism was that the candidate for confirmation should be in a state of grace - without serious sin.

I realized suddenly that before my confirmation date rolls around, I will need to go to confession - a sacrament I have not received in 6 or 7 years.

I know there's many Catholics out there who have, like me, neglected this sacrament, however, I now plan on making at least one confession prior to my confirmation and then maintaining this practice regularly. This comes straight from my catechism book:

"Despite society's efforts to downplay the reality of sin, there is an instinctive recognition of its existence. Children generally know, even when not told, when they have done something morally wrong. Adults readily admit the evil of terrorism, unjust wars, lies, unfair treatment of people, and similar matters. Society as a whole must also learn to admit the evil of abortion, physician-assisted suicide, and obtaining stem cells from embryos, which results in the death of embryonic human life. Denying evil corrupts us spiritually and psychologically. Rationalizing our own evil is even more destructive."

It's time I admit to what I have been doing

- - -
After Mass and confession...
After 6 years, it feels good to get things off your chest. Waiting in line for the confessional, however, I felt kind of gross, and sick in the pit of my stomach. I was nervous. It is no easy task to admit you have done something wrong, and it's even harder to admit your sin to God, even though He already knows it. And it's difficult to tell all these things to a man of God. And when I reflected on my sin and what I would say, I realized that I was most likely sharing the same other things that everyone else tells him - because we all suffer from a condition, the human condition, and it is all so difficult to live on this planet and do everything correctly - we are flawed and we fail and we get up again just to fail all over. But, yet, there is God's grace and providence and forgiveness and with all that, God help us, maybe we can get along and fail a little less, striving and moving towards what God wants from us.

Maybe.
- - -
"You believe in the Angels, or the saints. Or that there's such a thing as a state of grace. And you believe it, but it hasn't anything to do with reality."

-Sean Penn in State of Grace (*Perhaps misquoted slightly)

10. St. Joseph of the Holy Family (Harlem)

NOTE: In 2015 this church was part of a list of churches in danger of merging with other churches or closing altogether as part of the Archdiocese of New York's great closings & mergers of 2015. This doesn't seem to have happened and this church remains open for regular Masses and other events. If you have any news about this merger or lack thereof please feel free to write in the comments section at the bottom of this post.

(mass times & church info last updated 04/24/2016) 

Address: 405 W. 125th St. @ Morningside Ave.
Phone: 212.662.9125

Weekend Mass Times:
Sat: 5:30pm (English)
Sun: 8:30am (English, Family Mass), 10am (English, Gospel Mass), 12pm (Spanish)

Weekday Mass Times:

Mon-Sat: 9am (English)
Tue: 7pm (Spanish)

Fri: 7pm (Spanish)

Confession: 

Sat: 5-5:30pm (Or any time by contacting the rectory)
Adoration: 
Fri: 9:30am-6:45pm (Benediction at 6:45pm in Spanish)
Links:
Official Website

St. Joseph of the Holy Family School
St. Joseph, Protector of the Holy Family
Novena Prayer to St. Joseph
Prayers to St. Joseph
Catholic Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
St. Joseph's Day Altars
Link to a painting of a beardless Joseph by Raphael
Wikipedia: Advent
Wikipedia: Advent Wreath
St. Joseph (Battery Park City)
St. Joseph (Chinatown)
St. Joseph (Greenwich Village)
St. Joseph (Yorkville)

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

I chose this church for this third Sunday of Advent because last week at St. Jean Baptiste, the priest said that along with the four weeks of Advent, there are four main persons in the Gospel that are important to the whole idea of Advent: Jesus (of course), John the Baptist, Mary and Joseph.

A group of my friends threw a Christmas Party last night - we are the remnants of our two years in Africa. Some of us, landing in New York city after our "tour", maintain contact and friendship and decided it is important that even though we represent a kind of dysfunctional family - in that we are a group of people bound together from a common fate and decision, who do not always get along or see eye to eye but in the end what we have is each other - we should continue getting together at least once a year at Christmas. So we got together and celebrated and gave gifts and pretty much tied one on. And this morning, hungover as I am, I still drag myself to church because I feel I must - regardless of the "Catholicness" of me and any rules or rites or rituals that tell me it must be so that I attend church once a week, this New York city experience and the 96 churches laid out before me is my "must". It's my goal now, and sometimes it's all I have. And if you think that's sad then you've never been where I am before - a crossroads that you've lead yourself to be at from decisions that you always felt with your heart should be made, but now, looking down the next three paths you wonder if it's time to finally let regret begin sinking into your heart.

I walk into St. Joseph of the Holy Family church, just off the M60 bus - the ground is snow and slush covered, it's cold and brittle out and frankly feels fine. My head is full of fuzz and every part of my body is tired and screams for sleep. I slink into a pew and wait - I have about 10 minutes before service begins. Despite my drunken ailments, it is peaceful in here and I am glad to be here. There are several St. Joseph churches in the city - of course, he is a special Saint in the Catholic mythology. He took on a lot of brave responsibility, didn't he?


I kneel for a few moments and the ringing of the bells begins and though I know I've heard bells ring from churches on Sunday mornings in this city before, I don't quite remember it being like this - like that Poe poem - bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells.

They just keep ringing and ringing and I'm pretty sure it's not my head but outside - in that cold brittle air, from atop the church, a great ringing, a pronouncement, a presence in the neighborhood. The ringing goes on and on until the beginning of the service - bells bells bells bells bells bells bells.

The priest - who I think must have been Fr. Kelly - is once again, a dynamic speaker who walks amongst the congregation really involving them. At one point he even asks a young girl to spit out her gum and jokingly admonishes a few nuns sitting nearby for not assisting.

This is just one of the hundred parishes in Manhattan - but truly there is a special feeling here. This is a nice little church sitting up in Harlem, easy to get to by car or public transportation, kind of a gem sitting right on 125th street.


(08/23/2014)
Additional Photos...

Attended 9am Saturday Mass this morning and again I heard the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells!

For some reason I've always liked this church a lot, even before the first time I wrote about it for this blog. I think I had found it previously, if I recollect correctly, and to me it's always seemed peaceful — a respite away from the regular hustle and bustle of 125th street.

Only one strong thought strikes me today: Like Joseph of the New Testament and for whom this church is named, I have been having very intense and powerful dreams of late; very vivid and detailed. But no visits from angels yet, I think.