Our congregation, with its nasty modern building, is baptizing a half dozen adults and admitting 27 others into full communion this Easter. They're certainly not joining for the beauty of the building or because of sentimental attachments. They're joining because they can look past buildings to one not made with hands.
I abandoned what I now consider a pseudo-communion with probably the best ecclesiastical architecure in the US. Leeks, garlic and flesh-pots still tempt and beckon, but once you've located the fire and heard the voice, buildings matter less than they did.
Maybe his excellency did wrong. But maybe he had shortages and shortfalls to deal with and he had a bunch of unattractive choices to make. Much as I like the NY Post, I would hesitate to trust them to portray in all its painful detail what led to the decision.
And you seem to not be too familiar with Cardinal Egan's basic modus operandi.
I would be slow to say the the Church in Europe does things better than we do here.
That is quite a stretch from what I said. It is rather well established that Church attendance in France is barely measurable. Does that mean that the churches of Notre Dame and Chartres, etc. should be put on the real estate market, sold and torn down? My point is that the mentality that sees $$$ as more important than inspirational and functional architecture is misguided. It is one thing to close a church and board it up until it is needed again, or perhaps to rent it and it is quite another thing to destroy a beautiful building and sell the land. The Church is NOT a for profit business. Saving souls, rather than the financial bottom line, should be the highest priority.
When things get tough, should the church sacrifice evangelism for architectural preservation?
Please show me in the article where it said that Egan was deciding between evangelism and architectural preservation. It is not an either/or situation.
Perhaps the parish needed to be closed. Was it really necessary to have the locks changed while the pastor was meeting with the Archbishop and before there was a scheduled Mass? Does that strike you as charitable?