Replies

Anyone who has ever visited NYC will recall the constant din in the "city that never sleeps". While working in the governor's office, I was occasionally sent down for a day, to the Manhattan office. After a day of work, I would stop by the Church of Our Saviour for some respite before boarding the train home. Entering the church, I was greeted with the above image. As the doors closed behind me, the city noise disappeared and I found myself surrounded by the respite of silence and these beautiful icons that provided a backdrop for my prayers. Fr. George Rutler was the pastor who ensured the church would serve as an oasis in Manhattan. Cardinal Dolan moved him to St. Michael's, in Hell's Kitchen. Undaunted. Fr. Rutler continues to get his positive message out each week. This transformation of the Church of Our Saviour is yet another slap in his face.

Catholic ping!

The scuttlebutt I hear is that the new pastor wasted no time getting rid of the TLM in this parish. Said TLM had attracted MANY people to the parish, but he thought it was “ridiculous” to have one.

Call me crazy, but I have a hard time rooting for a pastor who will do that.

Maybe the church won’t be wreckovated. We’ll have to wait and see, but I’ve been down this path with other parishes before and it has NEVER gone well. Something’s fishy here, but I’m not sure what it is yet.

Regards,

PS: Here’s an article about the ending of the TLM and the other changes made to the parish: http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/12/what-clericalism-looks-like

If it ends up like the watercolor painting above, I don’t think that looks too bad. However, Fr. Rutler’s more Byzantine conception wasn’t bad either, so I don’t know why it really had to be changed, and think that the pastor could have explained what he’s doing better than leave everyone guessing and thinking it might be some sort of a slap at Fr Rutler and co. I have no problem if a pastor wants to reverse some 60’s/70’s hideous wreckovation to bring back beauty and reverence, but in this situation, why not build on one’s predecessor’s work. At least there should have been a better explanation what the new pastor’s goals and vision were.

"...And what about the financial implications of this second “restoration”?

Among the many emails I received while researching this story was one that included a scanned copy of a draft financial report for The Church of Our Saviour for Fiscal Years 2012-13 and 2013-14. The 2012-13 year was Fr. Rutler’s last, whereas the 2013-14 year was Fr. Robbins’ first. This report, which I was told was distributed to parishioners in their bulletins last fall, depicts a serious change in the financial health of the parish in a very short time. For FY 2013-14, expenses were over $100,000 higher than in FY 2012-13. At the same time, income dropped more than $250,000.

In other words, while Fr. Rutler finished his tenure at Our Savior with a $35,000 budget surplus for the year and money in the bank, Fr. Robbins finished his first year with a more than $300,000 budget deficit. The largest portion of the loss in income came from a nearly $200,000 decline in weekly collections – a potentially significant indicator that parishioners have not been happy with changes made to the parish under new leadership. Meanwhile, permits were filed last summer with the city for a renovation to the rectory with a cost estimate of nearly a million dollars – work that was reported to have been completed this past April.

For a parish that worked so hard to get out of debt, where is the stewardship in spending even more money on a new renovation project that is clearly a matter of choice, and not of necessity?

We are, lacking comment from him, left with no clear picture of Fr. Robbins’ thinking. But based on the facts available, one is hard-pressed to see an example of responsible stewardship or financial transparency taking place at The Church of Our Saviour. And as we scratch our heads trying to piece this together, most of the icons have been taken down – 24 of the 31 originally created..."

Naked in New York: The Unceremonious Stripping of Our Saviour