Posted on 01/14/2005 6:38:59 PM PST by thor76
A MESSAGE TO CARDINAL EGAN AND HIS LACKEYS ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAST NOVUS ORDO MASS AT THE NATIONAL SHRINE OF SAINT ANN’S
You, Sir, may be finished with this church. But we are not finished with you. You may think you have won, but we will not rest until your name is blackened in the annals of the Church and the mere mention of “Egan” nauseates the faithful as does “Esau” and “Judas.” When you enter a room, be it the Waldorf Astoria’s Grand Ballroom, the Metropolitan Opera’s Belmont Room, or any of the other humble venues you frequent, the decent will rise, not to applaud you, but to give you their backs and leave if you do not.
(Excerpt) Read more at anti-abomination.com ...
The building will be demolished, and the various art works which are not to be salvaged (which is most of them) wil be destroyed, including a huge historic pipe organ dating from 1854.
May God have mercy upon the soul of Edward Egan!
Ping
Whoah!!
This is disgusting. What/who is giving Egan authority for such an action? Has the building been taken over by the diocesan (sp?) authorities already? Could the parishioners not at least salvage some of the antiquities?
Ah, well, this is what comes from the Latin church making up a way to 'deconsecrate' churches, and deciding it can pick and choose among the canons of the Holy Ecumenical Councils. In the East our churches may have been desecrated by Muslims or Bolsheviks, but we don't willingly take them out of service, and are forbidden by the canons (which the Latins once shared with us) from selling ('alienating' being the technical term) consecrated churches.
Caiphas, Annas, Judas, Karol Wojtyla, Egan - all betrayed Chirst and the Church - all will receive the same fate.
This is evil, pure EVIL.
I hope someone gets inside to salvage the altar and artwork.
The Parishioners of St. Ann's have been fighting hte closing for over two years now - with no results. The Chancery either will not repond at all, or merely reponds with half truths and lies.
Egan wants the money from the sale of the property - that is all! It is surrounded with college dorms, nightspots, etc., and is in a thriving - though unchurched community.
It should also be noted, that in this heavily populated area of Manhattan, filled with youth who do not know God, he intends to close at least 3 other churches! So much for zeal for souls!
According to Canon Law, a bishop may not close a parish until every possible avenue of recourse has been explored, and the parishioners are consulted for their advice, input, solutions. Here there was no problem, as the parish was obviously self-sustaining economically, and had an active congregation. Needless to say, the parishioners WER NOT consulted - just thrown out! This is in clear violation of Canon Law - which Egan was the cheif author of in the 1983 revision!
It had been given to the Armenian Catholics in 1983 as their Cathedral - In perpetuity - by them Cardinal Cooke. The Armenians were s amll group....but wit the help of the NO parishioners, which included a very active Ecuadorian community, as well as those who attended a Tridentine Mass, the place was able to pay its bills for ordinary expenses.
It should be noted that the $500,000 raised for the restoration would have been much, much more, had not the Ecuadorians donated their physical labor & sweat out of love for God and St. Ann to do a lot of hte work themselves. Teh work included roofing, heating, and central AC....as well as the first parint job in some 50 years! This restored many of the hidden beauties of the historic church.
The parishioners will have no chance to sace any of the antiquities from the church.....as the scanvenger NO priests are going to take away anything they want: statues, baptismal font, etc. I am sure that most of the stained glass - which is over a century old, and priceless, will become landfill.
Read through the anti-abomination.com site for the full story.
Here is a page of photos of St. Ann's interior and exterior - of what will be lost. A great tragendy indeed!
http://www.anti-abomination.com/nationalshrineofsaintann.htm
So true! Every time I read or hear of such aberrations in the Roman church, it only solidifies my intent to move East ASAP. The real problem has and continues to be the idea of "collegiality" of the bishops which makes a mockery of the Catholic Faith and enables these renegades to only push their personal agenda with the able assistance of the vast majority of like thinking clergy. So much for Rome's overseeing this mess. As horrible and disgusting as the sexual abuse situation is and remains in the Roman church, to me the worst is that of the spiritual abuses which no one, not even the Pope, offers to curb. Apologies don't do it, action does. Sorry for the tirade, but my heart aches for all those souls in New York who have had their tradition and security yanked away, as always with the lure of big bucks. So much for taking the souls of the faithful into consideration.
What is visibly absent is the Protestant "supper table" in front of the high altar.
Thanks for stopping by to kick dirt in our faces when we are down.
Move along please.
Unbelievable. I'm disgusted. Is there any recourse against this? Is there anything that NYers who no longer live in NYC can do? Somebody we could write to, for example?
It's no wonder that Cardinal O'Connor made two visits to Rome (while he was dying of cancer) to ask the Pope not to appoint Egan. Of course, the Pope ignored his request, but I guess that's a whole nother story.
A very interesting observation -
One of the "criterion" (translation: miserable excuses) which Egan has used to give the impression that there was any sort of serious analysis of the p[arishes slated for closure.......beyond that of the value of the land underneath them.........was parishioners.
According to him, your parish must have at least 1000 members to be considered viable. This is of course ignoring the fact that smaller parishes (like St. Ann's)can readily pay their bills if managed intelligently and honestly.
So of the 99 parishes in Manhattan, what nationally famous church has far less then 1000 regular parishioners, yet is NOT slated for closure?
St. PAtrick's Cathedral. Within its parish boundries there are at most 200 Catholics who attend it on a regular basis. At that, this is a very generous estimate, based upon what clergy have told me. It has virtually no population base, as it is surrounded by offices and a shopping district. What few residential buildings there are have few Catholics.
The 15,000 people who attend mass there are not parishioners; they are tourists, shoppers, etc. So......by Egan's evaluation criteria, St. Patrick's Cathedral should be closed and sold.............netting a whopping 3 Billion in revenue!
Obviously, the Cathedral is necessary and pays its bills.
But so does the Church of the Holy Innocents, on west 47th Street, around the corner from Macy's flagship store. It has fewer then 150 parishioners. YET over 1000 people a day stream through it for its 8 daily masses......and put some $1500 a day in the candle offerings.......and have their souls refreshed by the sacrament of confession, holy mass, and public devotions.
Yet this church, which serves so many, many people in a busy commercial district.....is slated to close.
Built in 1868 by architect Patrick C. Keely, with similar grandure to St. Ann's - and artistic worth.....it is not important to Egan either. Neither as a work of ecclesiatical art, historic signifgance, nor as a spiritual home to thousands of shoppers.
It is just another cash cow......like St. Ann's.
I pray the lawyers and prosecutors pursue this case with zeal and uncompromising diligence to determine the truth. Unless there is truth there can be no justice,the Church cannot heal nor can God or man be merciful. Justice cannot prevail in the absence of facts,let us pray that the prosecutors get to the facts. This must come before another appeal for forgiveness, only then can mercy be even considered..
These days truth seems to be the missing ingredient as we struggle to "heal".
I have been disappointed,maybe even disgusted with Egan since 9/11 when he,representing the Catholic Church,gave the most pathetic,pitiful sermon or talk. There was nothing of the transcendent beauty and comfort the Church provides for the souls lost and the survivors suffering loss and pain. Nothing,nothing but blather. I don't believe he even mentioned Jesus Christ during the entire monologue.
Yes,this is a small little man and may this Church closing,while not related to the scandal or his monologue,put a spotlight on him and his deficiencies that he cannot escape. A spotlight that follows him like the hound of heaven until he drops from exhaustion or is trapped in a cage.
Glad I got that off my chest.
Those concerned Catholics involved in this struggle, including myself, have written the Cardinal, Chancellor.....contacted the local new media....all essentially to little avail.
Nobody is interested. the story gets relegated to page 36 of a local paper.
Appeal? To whom? The best move was made by parishioners of St. thomas the Apostle in Harlem, who have filed a class action lawsuit again the Archdiocese in re the closing, and to recover contributions made to restore that church - which Egan seized.
Essentially, we are helpless, I am very sad to say.
But, my criteria is a self-supporting parish. If it can pay its bills, the church should stay open.
You've offered a couple of examples here of parishes that are self-sustaining, yet are being closed, it seems to me, for arbitrary reasons.
Egan has never come across as anything other than a cold fish CEO-type, and he's living up to that reputation here.
Some inestimable treasures will be lost due to naked expediency.
I've only seen this church from the outside. I'm sorry I looked at the photos of the inside. It causes an ache in my heart to know that such beauty to glorify God will be gone soon.
I can't fathom why the pope gave NYers such an insect as Egan. He makes my skin crawl.
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