Of all of this city's architectural gems, the diverse houses of worship seem to catch my eyes - and camera lenses - first. From synagogues and small parish churches to the city's grand cathedrals, New York has a religious diversity - reflected in the architecture of its churches - that seems staggering to catalog. One of my favorites in the category of "small parish churches" is Our Lady of Vilnius, founded in 1905 to minister to the city's Lithuanian population. Like so many small churches throughout the five boroughs, this parish serves as a focal point for the neighborhood, even long after much of the local Lithuanian population has moved elsewhere. Located on Dominick Street in Soho, it sits just opposite the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, and for years I've noticed it with curiosity as we've left the city for destinations far afield.
Earlier this week I had to run downtown to City Hall and decided to walk home, taking Hudson St. from Chambers all the way up to the West Village. And there it sat, Our Lady of Vilnius, just half a block away from my path as I trudged uptown. Mind you, it wasn't easy to reach, tucked between the various lanes that feed traffic into the tunnel. I had heard a couple of years ago that the parish might be closed by the Archdiocese of New York as part of Cardinal Egan's controversial effort to shutter and consolidate smaller congregations. Naturally I wanted to get over there before something happened to the building, but unfortunately I was too late. The exterior is in a sad state and I've learned that the roof of the sanctuary, constructed in 1905, is structurally unsafe, upheld by scaffolding. The whole place was padlocked, neglected, and dark.
With a little digging I found out that the church was closed in February 2007. Indeed, the manner of its closure underscores charges that Cardinal Egan has behaved in a heavy-handed and decidedly non-pastoral fashion. At the very hour he had scheduled a meeting with Father Eugene Sawicki of Our Lady of Vilnius, Cardinal Egan's goons were changing the locks on the doors and turning tearful parishioners away. Needless to say, the priest and his congregation were shocked and dismayed. Since then the archdiocese has stripped out the historic stained glass, altars, and other art works, while painting over a fresco on the ceiling behind the altar (shown at left).
It's just amazing how badly this congregation has been treated by Cardinal Egan. Efforts to compromise have fallen on deaf ears. Even the Lithuanian government has joined the effort, appealing to both the archdiocese and the pope. Reports suggest that the church will be demolished and the property sold to developers. If that is the case, once again, profit will have trumped propriety in New York's cutthroat real estate market. To be sure, New York City has a much improved track record in the field of historic preservation. But each year more structures of significance are leveled in the name of progress. The situation is especially troubling when an institution like the Archdiocese of New York engages in the kind of behavior we usually associate with the robber barons of the city's real estate market.
One of the gems of Battery Park City is the Irish Hunger Memorial, located at the corner Vesey St. and North End Ave. The creation of artist Brian Tolle, the Memorial was designed to increase awareness of the Irish potato famine that began in 1845, while also calling attention to the current issue of famine in our society. (The famine ultimately contributed to the deaths of approximately one million people in Ireland, while an additional million emigrated, most to the U.S.) The Memorial includes stones from each of Ireland's 32 counties, as well as native vegetation from western Ireland. (The wildflowers, foxglove and little white roses were incredible, giving one the impression of walking through an Irish landscape - right in the heart of downtown Manhattan.) In the middle of the Memorial stands the ruins of a stone cottage, brought from Ireland and reconstructed on the site. From the overlook that faces the Hudson River one can look out to the Statue of Liberty as well as Ellis Island, where so many victims of the famine arrived. I had completely forgotten about the Memorial, but finally remembered reading about its 2002 dedication. It's a bit "off the beaten path," even for the tourists who swarm over the nearby "Ground Zero" site of the World Trade Center towers. In fact, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon there were only a handful of people visiting the Memorial. I'll definitely return, camera in hand, to see how the place changes with the seasons.
Walking along the waterfront in lower Manhattan's Battery Park City, Sam and I stumbled upon another installation of whimsical Tom Otterness figures. If you're a regular visitor to this site you might recall my May 23rd entry on his works that populate the 8th Ave./14th St. L Train subway station. As in the subway pieces, money, in the form of piles of change, seems to be a common theme in many of his works. Also, compared to the small scale of the subway sculptures, these pieces were usually larger, and in some instances had small foot outlines included, perhaps to encourage climbing children. (My favorite is the bound and gagged cat being carried away.)
Two articles in the New York Times this week continue the process of revealing the corruption and ignorance that have guided the Bush administration's disastrous policy in Iraq. First, testimony from the former Pentagon official who oversaw the government's contract with KBR (Kellogg, Brown, and Root), suggests he was removed from his post because he acted as a whistleblower by questioning $1 billion in charges. It should be noted that Houston-based KBR, which provides food and housing to U.S. military personnel in Iraq, was a subsidiary of Halliburton, for which Dick Cheney had once served as CEO. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, notes that this situation “is startling, and it confirms the committee’s worst fears. KBR has repeatedly gouged the taxpayer, and the Bush administration has looked the other way every time.” It also provides ammunition for critics who have charged that KBR has benefited significantly (upwards of $20 billion thus far) from its close relationship with Bush. The article ( "Army Overseer Tells of Ouster Over KBR Stir") provides startling details on how KBR executives had easy access to key Defense Department and White House figures to effectively circumvent the oversight process. Corruption between contractors and the government during wartime is hardly a new problem. However, this administration has made cronyism a spectator sport when it comes to handing out lucrative government contracts.
Father's Day on Sunday started with the usual 8:00 a.m. baseball game for my younger son. Then I had a couple of hours to lie around and do nothing in complete silence. Presented with this rare opportunity, I could have spent many more hours as a layabout, drifting between the Mets game and sleep. But I always feel guilty after wasting that much time, and wanted to use the afternoon to visit one of Manhattan's newest museums - the Rubin Museum of Art, dedicated to art from the Himalayan region. I walk by the museum, located on 17th St. in Chelsea, several times a week but had never visited. Making a spur-of-the-moment visit to any museum, especially an art museum, can be a chore when one has kids. But on Sunday I grabbed Sam, my 7-year old, and walked up to 17th St., determined to spend at least an hour.
It's a fantastic museum, with the collection spread out over six very manageable floors. Although there were objects from as early as the 2nd and 3rd centuries, I think the bulk of the collection falls into the 1400 to 1700 time period. With predominantly Buddhist and Hindu influences, the collection was visually spectacular, from gold figures to complex paintings on fabric in which red, the color of power, was dominant. At $10 for adults and children under 12 free, it's certainly worth a visit. Even my son enjoyed it, primarily because many of the paintings of the myriad Buddhist and Hindu deities resembled the fierce creatures he's apt to paint and draw these days. He carried around a little sketch book making drawings and taking notes. Thankfully the RMA is small, relative to MOMA or the Met, and is thus easy to do with children. (But I can't wait to go back alone so I can take more time and study the objects more closely!)
