www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall NYC church advice

Father;

According to the AIA Guide to NYC, the place was built in
1859 and, as you say, as the Chancery. It seems that the
Archdiocesan Cemetery Office remained there until some time
in the 20th Century, but exactly when it moved we do not
know. Neighborhood old timers tell us that for many years
the building was very little used.

I myself find it rather awesome not only to consider that the great Archbishop
John Hughes (of Co. Tyrone)must often have been
in the place in his last years, but that the likes of Dorothy
Day, Catherine Doherty, Thomas Merton, Fr. Walter Ciszek and
other priest-confessors have worshipped there.

Strangers to us may also be interested to learn that the building
is surrounded on three sides by the cemetery of Old St. Patrick's,
the oldest Catholic cemetery in NYC.

Edmac

New York has four Russian Orthodox cathedrals: the St. Nicholas Cathedral [russianchurchusa.org] of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Cathedral of the Sign of ROCOR, the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection [nycathedral.org] of OCA and the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration [roct.org] of the OCA. Interestingly, the latter is on the Old Calendar. Is New York a little Moscow?

Dear Father Serge,

Alithos Anesti o Kirios!!

Thank you for sharing the history of that building. As a second generation born New Yorker, I always appreciate learning more about the city of my birth...

I cannot help but see, in your family's personal history with the building and how it has evolved ecclesially, a divine sign of sorts!

Respectfully in Christ,
Alice

Asianpilgrin: not so's you'd notice. RO churches of any kind
are few and far between. There does not appear ever to have
been any very large settlement of Russian Christians in NYC,
certainly not compared to other ethnic groups, Greeks,Poles
and Norwegians,for example, never mind the Irish, Italians and Germans.

I live in an area that has had a large Russian-speaking
population since at least the early 90s and there is no RO church
that I know of within several miles of here, although I did
recently come upon a small chapel in Brighton Beach, which is
where most of the early immigrants in the late 20th Century
settled. Archmandrite Eugene (Pappas) of Three Hierarchs
Greek Orthodox Church, nearby, has been attempting to serve the
such Slavic Orthodox people as there may be, and apparantly
with some success. I know that he had a Ukrainian priest serving
Liturgy after the Greek Liturgy and must still have some sort
of arrangement like that since as I came home from church on
the Julian Palm Sunday I saw a great many people carrying
pussywillows (tied up with pieces of palm)in the vicinity of
his church. It was too late in the afternoon for these folks
to have been coming from the Greek Liturgy, so there must also
have been a Russian or Ukrainian service.

Edmac

Dear Alice,

Khristos Anesti! And thank you for those kind words! Actually, it's still more complicated than that. My maternal grandfather for many years ran a Catholic boys' club at the Chinese Catholic church a few blocks down from what is now Saint Michael's. When Father Andrew began Saint Michael's it was during the depression, and came to my grandfather's attention - so he stepped forward and offered to help Father Andrew in any way that he could.

Ten years or so later, my mother was a godmother at Saint Michael's for a child of a "mixed marriage" (the mother of the child was a Roman Catholic, the father was Russian, so they agreed on Saint Michael's). That was how the whole thing first came to my attention (I was not yet ten years old).

Perhaps that makes me a well-rooted weed?

With every Paschal blessing,

Fr. Serge

Father;

Well rooted, but no weed. A wild Irish rose,
perhaps?

Edmac

Can I say, after looking for information on parishes from the Eparchy of Passaic, I was surprised at just how out-of-date the website is. After finally getting a hold of someone I was told that one parish had been gone for "10 years" and the other for many years as well yet they still exist on the website.

Reading from the website it says that parish clergy need to send them updates. In my humble opinion, shouldn't the eparchy know which churches it has? For things like website or email contact information I could understand some self representation, but bottom-up updates for more permanent information seems to be a bad way to go.

One thing that came up after our last Eparchial clergy conference was the need for an Eparchial webmaster, which the Bishop is going to appoint after he compiles some various ideas on the site, layouts, etc.

It seems the Net is often the first place people look when checking out travel plans.

Wonder if I could volunteer? Worth emailing to ask I guess.

Dear Alice,

Khristos Anesti!

Thank you. Here's further bit - Saint Patrick's [Old] Cathedral is, so to speak, next door to St. Michael's. The Old Cathedral was attacked by the Know-Nothing Riots (you can still see some bullet holes in the walls) and there are plaques both inside and outside the Old Cathedral remembering the 69th regiment and others who defended the church against the rioters. One of those defenders was my great-grandfather, Patrick Monaghan.

A bit strange - on my dad's side I count as native-born Irish. On the side of my maternal grandfather, I'm a fifth-generation Irish New Yorker. On the side of my maternal grandmother (Ellen Galligan) I'm only a third-generation Irish New Yorker. Via the Halseys, we go back even further, but that's another story.

with every blessing, fraternally in the Risen Lord,

Fr. Serge

I believe that was the Orange Riots Fr Serge.

All in all, whatever generation New Yorker, you are still Irish through and through, and a true New Yorker too!!!

Respectfully,
Alice