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Irish America magazine - Aug/Sept '08 issue: The Global Irishman, In the Name of the Fada, Chicago and the Irish, Hannah’s Descendants, Roots: The Marvelous McDonaghs, Slainte: Dancing at Lughnasa, Review of Books, Ashley Davis - Finding Herself Through Her Past
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St. Brigid’s Spared by $20 Million Gift
 “For
in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes
for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we don't see, we eagerly
wait for it with perseverance.”
(Romans 8:24,25)
The patience and prayers of the parishioners of St. Brigid’s Church on the
Lower East Side of New York were answered on May 21, when it was announced
that an anonymous donor had given $20 million to ensure that the
160-year-old church would not be demolished and turned into condos. The
secret Samaritan specified $10 million for repairs, $2 million for St.
Brigid’s School and the remaining $8 million as an endowment to the parish.
One of the few links left to the famine generation, the Gothic-style church
was designed by Patrick Keely. A Tipperary man, Keely moved to New York when
he was 25 and went on to have a long and distinguished career as an
architect. The cornerstone was laid in September 1848 and the church was
completed 15 months later, the work carried out by Irish craftsmen who had
fled the great hunger in Ireland. St. Brigid’s became a haven for the
Irish-American community, and later for all nationalities that have called
the parish home.
However, in recent years Mass attendance went down and in 2001 the church
was closed after a crack was discovered in a wall, rendering the structure
unsafe. In 2004 the parish was closed and the Archdiocese of New York
started making moves to destroy the church to raise funds.
The Archdiocese’s actions provoked outrage in the local community and a
committee to save St. Brigid’s Church was formed. In July 2006 demolition
workers made a huge hole in the east wall, dragged pews out onto the street,
and shattered some of the irreplaceable stained-glass windows. Numerous
legal challenges and appeals were made, but despite the committee’s best
efforts, the final appeal ruled in favor of the Archdiocese. The committee
was working on an appeal at the Court of Appeals in Albany, when on May 21
the $20 million gift was announced.
One man’s generosity changed everything. “This magnificent gift will make it
possible for Saint Brigid’s Church to be fittingly restored with its
significant structural problems properly addressed,” said Edward Cardinal
Egan, who had been much criticized for abandoning his flock in St. Brigid's,
in a statement. “The two additional gifts, to create an endowment for the
parish and to support the parish school, are a powerful testament to the
donor’s goodness and understanding. He has my heartfelt gratitude, as I
recently told him at a meeting in my residence.”
Since the incredible act of charity, the joy felt about the church’s
salvation has been matched by curiosity as to who “he” is. A spokesman for
the Cardinal ruled out actor Matt Dillon, who was an active supporter for
the church to be saved. Philanthropist Chuck Feeney’s foundation Atlantic
Philanthropies also confirmed it was not Feeney who made this extraordinary
gesture.
Though the identity of the donor may never be revealed, the impact of his
actions will be felt deeply by those who worship in the church for many
years to come. “The age of miracles has not passed. St. Brigid’s has been
saved,” said Ed Torres, chairman of the Save St. Brigid’s committee, at the
Bard for St. Brigid’s II fundraiser at Connolly’s Bar in Times Square on
June 18. As well as thanking all the artists, committee members past and
present, and parishioners who helped in one way or another, Torres had this
to say to the “anonymous angel” who saved St. Brigid’s: “I wish that person
was here tonight, not just because I would like to ask for a loan of my own!
The amount offered to restore the spiritual and historical landmark is 20
million dollars, but the chance to return to this sacred place to worship
God and honor His presence in the holy sacrifice of Mass is priceless. There
are no words adequate to thank a person for such a gift.” – Declan O’Kelly
Acclaimed author Peter Quinn participated in the Bard for St. Brigid’s II,
and puts in perspective the role and place of St. Brigid’s in the history of
the Irish in New York. Here are some excerpts from his speech:
“Here we arrive at last, as James Joyce put it by ‘a commodius vicus of
recirculation’ to this incredibly happy occasion filled with music, song,
dance, and rejoicing. This is what the Spanish culture calls a fiesta. In
Irish culture we call it a wake. Tonight, however, instead of sitting Shiva
for a person, we are waking a certain idea that St. Brigid’s was doomed and
that only a fool could believe otherwise. In the wonderful words of St. Paul
in the First Corinthians, ‘It is the fools who have turned out to be wise,
it is the weak who have turned out to be strong, it is the despised who have
turned out to have honor.’ Last week at the opening of the Irish apartment
at Tenement Museum, Consul General of Ireland, Niall Burgess, reminded the
audience that besides that apartment there was only one physical link that
directly connected us with the immense and transforming human deluge that
poured into this fort in the aftermath of the Great Hunger; one million
people in 10 years. That other link he said was St. Brigid’s. The fight to
preserve that link often seemed the mother of all lost causes. But, no
matter how lost or hopeless it seemed, we had what nobody else had. We had
St. Brigid on our side. And it was St. Brigid, she, who made a difference,
for who else could have inspired a $20 million miracle?”
Quinn went on to describe his own personal links to the church:
“The Quinns have been parishioners of St. Brigid’s for over half a century.
My grandfather was married at St. Brigid’s in 1897. He liked it so much that
when his first wife died he returned in 1898 to do it again. My grandmother
put to rest any inkling he might have to return to St. Brigid’s to make
matrimony a third time by outliving him, as Irish women usually do, by
thirteen years. My father was baptized in St. Brigid’s in 1904. He received
his first communion, first confession, and confirmation there. And so did
his brother and sister, my aunt and uncle. I, on the other hand, had the
good taste to receive all those sacraments in the Bronx. And since it
doesn’t look like I’m going to be ordained, the only other religious rite of
passage that I can now look forward to having at St. Brigid’s is my
funeral!”
- Peter Quinn is the author of many books including Looking for Jimmy, Hour
of the Cat and Banished Children of Eve, which has just been republished in
paperback by The Overlook Press.
A Look Into the Life of an Irish-American Immigrant Family
A small coffin in a cramped room re-creates a sad day in the life of the
Moore family, Irish immigrants who lived at 97 Orchard St. in 1869. The
re-creation of the Moores’ apartment, , which opened on June 17, is New
York’s Tenement Museum’s first new exhibition in six years. During the
hour-long tour you can catch a glimpse of the struggles faced by Irish
immigrants in the late 19th century, with emphasis on the lack of knowledge
about disease at the time. Though actual details of the child’s death are
unknown, through educated guesses and speculation, the curators of the
Tenement Museum have pieced together a likely scenario of the day that Agnes
Moore, the infant daughter of Irish immigrants Joseph and Bridget, died of
malnutrition. With the mortality rate for the children of Irish immigrants
at a staggering 25%, only four of the Moores’ eight children made it to
adulthood. Despite the hardships faced by the family, the apartment is
infused with cheerful decorations: a mantle covered by a bright green
runner, topped with ornaments, a man’s top hat placed carefully alongside a
cross. Steve Long, the museum’s Vice President of Collections and Education,
said in a recent article, “We wanted to emphasize the human urge to
decorate.”
The museum is at 108 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side. Tours of the
apartment are available Tuesday through Friday at 12, 1:30, 3, and 4:30 and
on Saturdays and Sundays at 11, 12:30, 2, 3:30 with the last tour starting
at 5. All tours are guided and tickets can be pre-ordered on the museum’s
website at www.tenement.org – Elizabeth Reilly
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