This is not my photo. It belongs to The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny. For a history of the parish and more views of the magnificent art that is about to be destroyed or dispersed please refer to their web site: sthughofcluny.org/2012/02/the-churches-of-new-york-xx-end...
For the final outcome:
canmua.net/new-york/battle-to-save-new-yorks-st-vincent-d...

Tags:   St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic stupidity French Catholic classical senseless distruction patromony disrespect waste barbarism Henry Engelbert The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny wanton distraction

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St. Boniface Church was built to serve the German speaking population of Jersey City.
The parish functioned from 1863 to 2006.

It is now condos.

Tags:   Jersey City New Jersey Hudson County church Roman Catholic St.Boniface abandoned building urban decay

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After over one hundred years of service to Jersey City children the Archdiocese of Newark is pulling the plug on St.Nicholas School. The school was the victim of the usual Roman Catholic greed and stupidity that has seen countless historic churches and schools shuttered across the country.

Adding insult to injury the boys at the Archdiocese offices waited until August to announce that the school would not open in September leaving the working parents of the parish to scramble to find slots in local schools. This will push many of the students from St. Nicholas into local charter schools which in many cases are quasi religious non-catholic institutions.

St. Nicholas sits on a large large parcel of land in one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. A single family home a short walk from this school recently sold for over one million and I guess the temptation of a big pay day was too much for the girls in the Chancery.

I try to harden my shell to the grotesqueness of Roman Catholic greed but this one strikes close to home. I went to this school as did my mother and several relatives.

I wonder how long it will take them to close the church?

Tags:   St.Nicholas School St.Nicholas Jersey City school statue abandoned greed stupidity

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St Lucy Parish was founded in 1884 the church was built in 1895 serving the large working class neighborhood that once covered the area now taken up by the Holland Tunnel and it's access areas. The church was closed in 1986.
The church was designed by Jeremiah O'Rourke, a Newark architect who was responsible for at least a dozen other Catholic churches in the state. The tower is quite similar to that of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield, which O'Rourke also designed.
The statue of St.Lucy still stands guard in her niche over the rose window.

The church father say a nightly prayer that the church will just fall down but St.Lucy seems to be a stubborn patron and in spite of all the damage the Archdiocese has dished out it still stands.

Tags:   St.Jude St.Lucy Jersey City New Jersey Hudson County

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Although President Nicolas Sarkozy of France wrote directly to both Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the Archbishop of New York and to Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, to express the French government's interest in preserving the church. He received as the French would say "l'oiseau."

The church of St. Vincent de Paul is now a little closer to demolition. The votive statue over the main door and windows have been removed. What if anything from the interior will be saved is a matter of conjecture. The murals will soon be dust.

Will the monument to the Lafayette Squadron that President Charles de Gaulle of France attend the re-dedication of after World War II be saved? Not that monuments or memorials to non clerics count for much in the great scheme of the Church.

The Archbishop managed to find $175 million to spruce up St. Paricks but the boys from the main office hang there, only people used St. Vincent's.

I hope they made a pretty penny, or at least thirty pieces of silver, when they sold this piece of our Catholic heritage.

But don't worry about the archbishop he is getting a new private garage:
newyorkyimby.com/2015/12/st-patricks-cathedral-to-get-new...

Tags:   St. Vincent de Paul church French Lafayette Squadron President Charles de Gaulle New York landmark heritage President Nicolas Sarkozy Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan distruction distrust discust sorrow Roman Catholic historic

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