By Tom Deignan

FOR Father Vincent Bartley, a Dublin native, the month of March should have been a very special one.

He was tapped to serve as grand marshal of the Staten Island St. Patrick’s Day parade, one of the largest in the New York region. It was a shining moment for Bartley, highlighting the work he’s done at the St. Paul’s parish on Staten Island’s north shore.

In recent years, St. Paul’s gained some attention for its ability to bring parishioners together in the wake of the September 11 attacks. The parish school building is located right across the harbor from downtown Manhattan and in the days which followed, Bartley and others made sure hard-hit locals had a place to go 24 hours a day.

But right after Bartley led the parade this year came the announcement that the New York Archdiocese is expecting to close over 30 churches as well as 14 Catholic schools.

St. Paul’s, where Bartley has been pastor for 13 years, is one of the parishes targeted for closing. The St. Paul’s school, which educates about 200 students, is also slated for closing.

Now, Bartley spends his days trying to convince parishioners that they can call upon Edward Cardinal Egan and fight the proposed church closings.

“The parishioners are devastated,” Bartley told the Irish Voice on Monday. Later this week a group of parishioners and Bartley will meet with church officials to make their case that St. Paul’s stay open.

“We’re hoping for the best,” said Bartley.

All in all, the proposed closings in Staten Island, Manhattan, the Bronx and several upstate suburbs add up to the largest shakeup in the 150-year history of the New York Archdiocese.

Among the other churches slated to close is the historically Irish church of St. Brigid’s on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Northern Bronx churches such as St. Anthony’s and St. Francis of Assisi may hit a number of Irish American parishioners as well.

In some ways, unfortunately, many of the proposed closings — including Bartley’s St. Paul’s — are not tremendous surprises. Irish Catholics, as with other members of white ethnic groups, have been leaving the north shore of Staten Island for decades now.

Some Catholic immigrants have replaced them. But overall those who have moved into neighborhoods such as this don’t match the numbers of parishioners who have left.

So, most such parishes in transition have been waiting for the announcement of proposed closings. After all, when Cardinal Edward Egan was finally named as Cardinal John O’Connor’s replacement a few years back, it was widely believed Egan’s main job was to shuffle the area’s vast network of parishes and schools.

It is far from a pleasant task. Surely, more than a few people this past week have groaned that they wish O’Connor were still leading the New York church.

But the hard fact is that the church’s expenses have been growing, while parishioners have been moving out of many urban parishes and relocating to suburban or upstate parishes.

In fact, while a large number of churches and schools have been targeted for closing, the archdiocese plan also calls for several new churches and schools to open.

Indeed, it could very well be that in sheer numbers, Irish Americans living in the New York area may be better served by this parish shakeup.

The archdiocese has recommended creating new parishes on the south shore of Staten Island, while Orange County and Dutchess County may also see new parishes. New church buildings in Westchester, Rockland and Dutchess counties have also been proposed.

None of which helps Bartley, who, in just a few days, went from a St. Patrick’s Day parade grand marshal to the organizer of a campaign to save his parish.

Then there’s Walter Coughlin. An electrician whose grandparents hailed from Dublin, Coughlin lived in Hell’s Kitchen and Woodside before falling deep into alcoholism.

He sobered up and found himself living on Staten Island’s north shore, where, after September 11, Coughlin and Bartley helped get the Dakota Group off the ground.

What started out as an impromptu support group has evolved into a haven for recovering alcoholics, battered wives, abused children and any one else from the parish in need.

If St. Paul’s closes, and Bartley moves on, it’s not clear where those people will go.

(Contact Sidewalks at tomdeignan@earthlink.net.)