(Above) Most Holy Redeemer, New York (photo 1/6/2013)

The New York Post has published an extensive article summarizing the lack of progress on landmark designations in New York City, particularly those related to Catholic churches:

Moore, Chadwick, “Historic NYC churches and landmarks at risk of being razed for the sake of ‘affordable housing,’” nypost.com ( 10/15/2026)

The article specifically mentions – and provides photographs of –  churches to which we ourselves have returned many times in this blog – reporting on the history of the church, its more recent vicissitudes, and, sometimes, the celebration there of a Traditional Latin Mass. For each church listed by the Post I provide a link to one of our relevant articles :

Most Holy Redeemer (The Churches of New York IX: Vierzehnheiligen on the East River)

St. Michael’s (West 34^th Street)( The Churches of New York XXXI: the Wrong Side of the Tracks)

Our Lady of Guadalupe (at St. Bernard’s) ( The Churches of New York XXX: A Tale of Two Churches)

Church of the Transfiguration (Maspeth, Queens) (A Church in Danger of Closing)

St. Mary’s (Grand Street) (Landmark designation already received) ( The Churches of New York XXIV: In the Beginning. The interior seems to have been painted in garish red since we last visited.)

The New York Post article attributes the drying up of landmark designations to the desire to free up real estate for building  both luxury condominiums and affordable housing, Thus, the interests of both real estate speculators and “democratic socialist” politicians and planners may be aligned:

“Without landmark protection, it’s very likely that eventually all of the historic buildings, the tenements, the old synagogues and churches, the institutional buildings will be demolished and turned into luxury housing and expensive hotels, the way things are going,” Richard Moses, president of the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative, told The Post of the current climate.

The socialists who have taken over have a dim view of preserving old buildings, particularly houses of worship, because they’d rather see more affordable apartments. They claim keeping churches from being torn down isn’t “equitable.” 

The article gives an example of proposed legislation seeking to exploit the alleged tension between historical preservation – of churches – and affordable housing:

Preservationists are particularly worried about buildings being demolished to make way for affordable housing, after a bill called the “Faith Based Affordable Housing Act” was introduced by Brooklyn Democrats Andrew Gounardes and Brian Cunningham. It targeted houses of worship to have their landmark protections amended to allow developers to add-on or completely demolish sites of historic religious significance as long as they offered a fraction of the units they build at below market rates.

“Culture is low on the totem pole. If the mayor really wants an affordable housing complex to go on a historic site, it’ll probably happen,” Michele Bogart, former vice president of the New York City Art Commission under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, told The Post.

The flashpoint of the conflict over landmarking Catholic Churches is now Most Holy Redeemer in the East Village:

Preservationists are particularly alarmed over the fate of Most Holy Redeemer church on East 3rd Street in Manhattan’s East Village — a granite and limestone cathedral built in 1851 by German missionaries.

(Above) The former altar from St.Ann’s. (Photo: Diocese of Rockville Center)

We have covered over the years the fate of the sculptures, windows and other furnishings from St. Ann’s parish (destroyed by Cardinal Egan) now scattered over the archdiocese: “The Spoils” (7/20/2016); “The Churches of New York LXIV: Losses 7” (10/12/2014); “The Churches of New York XIV: The End of the Journey“(8/8/2011). We recently discovered yet another legacy of this church – the former high altar. It is now located in a side chapel of the Cathedral of St Agnes of the diocese of Rockville Center (Long Island). The site of the contractor (Rohn & Associates), which carried out the last restoration of the cathedral, provides a description of the matter:

After Vatican Council II, St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre, NY, was dehumanized to contemporary simplicity with the introduction of a whitewashed interior and the removal of many priceless carvings, reredos, and stone furnishings that had once graced the inside of the cathedral. The cathedral’s interior lost its sense of sacredness and the proper emphasis on the altar, ambo, font, and presider chair as primary signs and symbols of liturgical teaching, especially with the reserved Eucharist removed from the sanctuary and relocated to a side chapel. 

Chapel

Rolf handpicked a marble high altar originally from old St. Ann’s Armenian Cathedral in New York. The altar, found in a warehouse and dating from the 1890s, was installed to enrich what was originally a bland chapel. His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan donated the altar to the Cathedral, recognizing that it could not find a finer home. Local contractors restored and expanded the hand-carved woodwork and executed the painting and decorating under the direction of Rolf and Eric.

Anderson, Eric, “St. Agnes Catholic Cathedral Renovation and Restoration Bring Reverence and Harmony,” catholicliturgicalart.blogspot.com (1/27/20025)

The restoration actually took place in 2016. It was one more expensive effort needed to undo the damage of the immediate post-conciliar years.

For a detailed set of photogrphs of the various stages in the development of the interior of the Cathedral of Rockville Center (also demonstrating the provenance of the chapel altar), see:

Ortega, Alberto, “History and renovations of St Agnes Roman Catholic Cathedral,” The Beauty of Catholicism (2/17/2025)

(Above) The artist’s rendering of the refurbished chapel. (Photo: St. Agnes Catholic Cathedral Renovation and Restoration Bring Reverence and Harmony, supra.)

(Above) The 2nd century AD “Porta Nigra” in Trier, Germany. St Simeon (died 1030) had his hermitage here. After his death, this Roman gate was converted into a church and thus survived relatively intact.

Peter Kwasniewski has replied to an article in The Catholic Thing by Dmitrii Solzhenitsyn, “The Original ‘Liturgy Wars’: between East and West,”thecatholicthing.org (9/18/2026). I also feel obliged to add a few words. (Mea culpa! I forgot to cite Peter Kwasniewski’s post: “There was no “Original Liturgical War”: a response to Dmitri Solzhenitsyn,” crisismagazine.com(10/7/2026))

First,  I take issue with the term “liturgy wars” which Solzhenitsyn has borrowed from another source. There is no “liturgy war” between opposing forces in the Roman Catholic Church. Insofar as we are talking of “violence” (physical or coercive measures) the campaign  – directed by the Vatican,  the mainstream religious orders and much of the hierarchy –  is entirely one-sided. It is the representatives of the establishment who are prohibiting traditional masses, imposing malicious requirements on the laity, sanctioning scholars, excommunicating the FSSPX and issuing a never-ending barrage of ad hominem attacks. Aside from intellectual arguments the traditionalists have not replied in kind – of course, they are unable to do so.

Second,  the conflict between the Church of Constantinople and the Roman Catholic Church is not – or not primarily –  a liturgy war. It is a longstanding disagreement, varying in intensity over the years, involving political and theological issues even more than those strictly liturgical. Certainly, at times  – such as under patriarch Michael Cerularios of Constantinople in the 11^th century – liturgical issues were asserted, such as the use of unleavened or leavened bread. But this was not always or consistently the case.

What Mr. Solzhenitsyn’s article does reveal is the conviction in at least part of the Orthodox world that the conflict with the Catholic Church reflects a primordial, unbridgeable divergence between the “East”  (meaning the Orthodox Church) and the West. In this view the Orthodox Church, in its current state, is an exclusive, perfect community which also happens correspond with the early Church. This “East” is seen as originating in the 4th century or even earlier, depending on the author. 

There is no evidence, however,  that this understanding of a monolithic bloc of the “East” as contrasted with a “West” ever existed before relatively recent times. There had been disputes, often fierce,  between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches about specific theological, liturgical and disciplinary questions. But  as we shall see, for centuries representatives of both the “Latin” and “Greek” churches also acted as if no such fundamental gap existed. Mr. Solzhenitsyn seems to acknowledge this difficulty by theorizing that a formal break between Constantinople and Rome only happened in the 11th century because it was only then that the respective liturgical traditions actually came in contact with each other each other. I don’t think the facts support that.

Let us consider the situation in the city of Rome itself. In the year 536 AD Emperor Justinian reconquered the city of Rome. It  – and the papacy – remained more or less closely associated with the Eastern Roman Empire till about 750. An Eastern Roman garrison resided in the city. As time went on numerous popes from the East occupied the papal throne. These “Greeks” came from all of the territories under the control or influence of the Eastern Roman Empire ranging from Palestine to Sicily. It was at this time that the art of Constantinople began to exercise a direct influence in the city of Rome and that strong influences of the East  – not just of the Church of Constantinople – were  felt in the Roman liturgy itself. One thinks of  the Trisagion chanted in the traditional Roman rite on  Good Friday  – among other importations. These centuries saw a “rebirth” of Greek in the city of Rome. Supposedly, this interchange was not a one-way street: according to Byzantine tradition the Mass of the Presanctified, which is much more commonly celebrated in the East than in the West, was composed by Pope Gregory the Great.  However that may be, it is interesting that St. Gregory became associated with liturgical reforms in both Rome and Constantinople.

But these borrowings did not at all mean that the popes of this era, whether Latin or Greek, were subservient to the culture or dictates of the Eastern Empire.  On the contrary, a series of popes, like St. Gregory the Great, vigorously defended Roman  liturgical practices against those of the East. After initial waffling, the popes took a strong stand against the Monothelite heresy introduced by the emperor. Later, the same was true was true of Roman opposition to iconoclasm. So the creative interactions between Rome and Constantinople in this era involved intellectual, liturgical and theological exchanges that were conscious and selective.

Fortunately, we have a direct monument of these years. The church of Santa Maria Antiqua was decorated between roughly 550 and 800 AD. This church was likely associated with the imperial government and Greek bureaucrats and soldiers. In this church we have a wide variety of paintings –  some overpainted repeatedly –  that show the direct influence of the art of Constantinople in the city of Rome. Like the churches of Ravenna or the monastery of St. Catherine’s on Mount Sinai, Santa Maria Antiqua preserves art that was otherwise destroyed in the East during the iconoclastic period. Furthermore, these frescoes were saved from further change by the “Latins” themselves because the church was buried by an earthquake in the 9th century and abandoned for 1000 years.

(Above) Santa Maria Antiqua, so-called palimpsest wall (550-700 AD). Mary as a Byzantine Empress.

(Above and below) Santa Maria Antiqua. Frescoes (8th century AD) with saints of the West and East, perhaps with an anti-iconoclastic message. Note the language of the inscriptions.

After 750 the political bond between the papacy and the Eastern Empire ceased. But contacts between East and West continued and, in some cases, even intensified. In the 9th century we could think of the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius which found both opposition and support in the Church of the West. According to tradition, the first hermit to live on Mount Athos, a Greek, St. Peter of Mount Athos, had received consecration from the Pope of Rome. This is not as startling as it may seem, because it likely happened during the years of iconoclast rule in Constantinople. Like the Islamic conquests, this resulted in the coming to Rome of a stream of religious refugees from the East.

And the interactions continued.  Saint Nilus the Younger founded the Byzantine monastery of Grottaferrata near Rome in 1004.  He was a Greek from Calabria, a mixed Greek and Latin area of South Italy. His successor at Grottaferrata, St. Bartholomew, (died 1065!) is credited as the second founder of that Abbey. He was also Greek from Calabria. He even gave refuge to the Pope of Rome, the notorious Benedict IX, who ended his days as a penitent in this monastery. In this same era, we encounter St. Simeon of Trier, who had been born in Syracuse of Greek parents under Arab rule.  He was educated at Constantinople,  traveled in the east and was for a time at Saint Catherine’s monastery at Mount Sinai. Later he acted as a kind of “tour guide “for western pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Thanks to these contacts he moved to Trier in Germany where he died in 1030 as a hermit and was subsequently recognized as a saint by all. In 1540 his unique Palestinian euchologion (= missal) of the Orthodox rite was translated and published by a German humanist. Unfortunately, the original manuscript has been lost!

I could take issue with other facts that Mr. Solzhenitsyn recites. So, he quotes an unidentified source for the proposition that the Orthodox church prohibited the use of three-dimensional art (statues) and that this had become a key liturgical difference with the West. But, at least in Russia, as an absolute rule this is untrue – there is a well-known museum in the city of Perm that has an outstanding collection of religious sculpture much of it dating from the 17^th century. For the production of such statues continued, as demonstrated by the need for the Russian Church to issue repeated edicts against the practice, such as that of 1721.

My point is the none of the facts set forth above would have been possible if the self-understanding of the Orthodox Church in those times had been that of an exclusive bloc opposed to everything in the West and motivated above all by liturgical differences. Furthermore, these interchanges were often by people very familiar with one or both liturgies and traditions (for example, St. Gregory the Great had lived in Constantinople for years).

In subsequent ages political clashes multiplied and attitudes hardened.  But even then, there were conflicting reactions, even by the same person.  So, Nikolai Gogol,  who wrote horrendous passages against Poles and Catholics,  also was very much impressed by the city of Rome (he started a novel, never finished, set in that city). Whether a reconciliation between the Roman Catholic Church at the Orthodox Church will be possible anytime soon I do not know. But I do agree with the ecumenical movement to this extent:  we should not be building up barriers derived from an incomplete understanding of what actually happened in the past.

I would recommend the following sources for further reading.  Ekonomou, Andrew J., Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes: Eastern Influences on Rome and the Papacy From Gregory the Great to Zacharias, A.D. 590-752, (Lexington Books, 2007) (a very pro-Greek account!); Rubery, E., Bordi, G., and Osborne, J., Eds., Santa Maria Antiqua: The Sistine Chapel of the Early Middle Ages(Harvey Miller Publishers, London 2021). And generally. the works of that profound scholar of Russia culture, Dmitry S. Likhachev(1906-1999) who detected all kinds of correlations between the artistic development of Russia and of the West. On the sculptures in Perm see “Permskaya Derevyannaya Skulptura,” ru.wikipedia.org. (accessed 10/11/2026) (“Wooden sculpture of Perm” (in Russian))

Nothing new. but an article in The New York Times covers the situation:

King, Maya, “Lower East Side Parishioners Mourn Loss of ‘Spiritual Home, ’” The New York Times (10/11/2026)

Most Holy Redeemer church still remains closed – supposedly for “repairs.”

“Catholic churches, once a mainstay of neighborhoods like the Lower East Side, have become endangered: Many have closed to merge with other churches as part of a reorganization plan that the Archdiocese of New York put forth in 2014 to conserve resources. Others have been torn down and rebuilt as parking lots, college dormitories or, in one case, luxury condos attached to a Barnes & Noble.”

Against the backdrop of a potential $800 million settlementbetween the Archdiocese of New York and victims of sexual abuse from its clergy and lay leaders, Most Holy Redeemer’s sudden closure and what parishioners view as the church leadership’s limited response stands to further damage an already strained relationship between the nation’s foremost Catholic archdiocese and its members.

“I think that the lack of an open line of communication is probably the most disturbing thing to the parishioners,” said Laura Sewell, the executive director of the East Village Community Coalition, which is helping lead the fight to reopen Most Holy Redeemer.

The response of the Archdiocese, is, in my opinion, hardly reassuring:

Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the church’s closure was unrelated to the archdiocese’s pending settlement. Construction on the church ceiling began last month ( the church has been closed since August 2025 – SC!) and Mr. Zwilling said the Mass schedule will be determined after the repairs are completed. The frequency of Mass will depend on several factors, Mr. Zwilling added, including “the needs of the people, the availability of Mass elsewhere and the ability to provide priests to celebrate the Mass.”

That leaves all options open, does it not? So the struggle continues:

Parishioners say they have repeatedly asked the archdiocese and parish leadership when repairs would be made so that services could restart but haven’t received satisfying answers. They have held protests, pursued local and national landmarks status and appealed to politicians. And one lawyer has filed a challenge with the Catholic church against the Archdiocese of New York, arguing the cessation of Mass violates canon law because the archdiocese has not issued a formal decree declaring the church or its parish closed.

Perhaps involving a religious order or community might be a way out of the stalemate? Let us hope so!

…for the maintenance of Most Precious Blood church in Little Italy. The would-be donor is the charity which runs the San Gennaro festival. No explanation was given –  that raised speculation that preparations for a sale of the church might be in the works.

Verra (a board member of the San Gennaro Festival)said the check was originally accepted by Father Daniel Ray, the pastor of Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral. But he said Bishop Edmund Whalen, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese, ordered it to be returned.

Verra said, “One theory is that they are maintaining the church with money from the sale of the rectory in 2018. Once the money runs out, I think they will shut it down completely and sell it off.”

“Most Precious Blood is an important part of Little Italy history. I think the only reason they have not sold the church already is they know it would create an uproar” (said Verra)

(Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese) insisted, however, “Most Precious Blood is not for sale.” The legal position of the former parish has lived through various twists and turns in recent years.

For more information, read the full article:

Kelly, Keith J. “Archdiocese Turns Down $100G Donation for Historic Little Italy Church, Stirring Speculation,” chelseanewsny.com (10/3/2026)

(Above) Traditional Latin Mass ar Most Precious Blood church in 2019, during the San Gennaro Festival – sponsored by the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny.

Saints et Saintes: Les cultes supprimés, interdits et confinés.

(Saints: The Cults Canceled, Prohibited and Restricted).

By Sylvain Roussillon

Preface by Fr. Jean-François Thomas, SJ

Via Romana, Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt

2026

223 pages

Critical analysis of the “Cultural Revolution” of Vatican II has long concentrated on the liturgical changes during and after the Council.   More recently, attention has been given to the drastic measures taken in other areas as well. For example, Fr. Claude Barthe in his recent The Seven Sacraments, Past & Present(English edition, Os Justi Press, 2026), examines the drastic changes to both the texts and the administration of all the sacraments. Now Sylvain Roussillon has given us Saints: The Cults Canceled, Prohibited and Restricted. It is a catalogue of those saints whose cult was subjected to restrictions of some kind in connection with the Council. Most of these changes date from decrees of Pope Paul VI issued in 1969. Some, however, predate that year and even the Council, so, for example, the cancelation of St. Philomena by a decree in 1961.

How this was done is one more illustration of the disadvantages of the accumulation of centralized papal power by the 1960s. For the Pope, aided by a committee of experts, undertook a review of the entire calendar of Saints in the Latin rite. In this process many saints were subject to sanctions of various kinds. Some were dropped from the general liturgical calendar and their veneration restricted to local use. Others were completely canceled. A third group was not just cancelled but had their cult prohibited. These saints were not just ancient martyrs and obscure local figures but included some of the best-known names in the Christian world: St. Christopher, St. Catherine, St. Barbara, St. George, etc. Saints inserted in the general calendar as recently as 1960 were summarily removed; the same is true of saints venerated as early as the 3^rd century. In many cased these changes reflected a judgment on the historicity of the saint in question,  obviously based on the state of knowledge in the 1960s. But revered figures whose existence was absolutely verified were “demoted” too. Combined with the changes in liturgy, the sacraments, the rules for fasting, and the dress of the religious, the changes to the calendar of Saints dramatically accelerated the sense of disorientation spreading throughout the Church at that time.

Sylvan Roussillon has done us a great service by collecting all this information in one volume. In the case of some saints, he has carried the analysis beyond 1969. For subsequent popes revised or reversed some of Paul VI’s decisions. So, the canceled St. Catherine of Alexandria reappeared in 2001. Roussillon shows that many of these canceled Saints have continued to live on in popular devotion, either locally or in a more general fashion, regardless of papal decrees. Just yesterday, in fact,  I received the catalog of a prominent supplier of religious goods featuring a statue of St. Philomena. 

I regret to say, however, I found Roussillon’s entry for the one saint of whose post–1969 status I had personal experience to be incorrect. For Roussillon tells us that the cult of St. Ursula was canceled – culte supprimé (along with that of her 11,000 companions). Now in 1979 or so I was present at a mass in the city of Cologne where the celebrating priest apologized to the congregation because he had not realized that St. Ursula’s feast day – as one of the city’s patron saints –  was a solemnity in the city of Cologne. October 21, her feast day, remains a solemnity (Hochfest) in the city of Cologne, a mandatory memorial elsewhere in the Archdiocese of Cologne, and an optional memorial in the other dioceses of Germany. Furthermore, her feast day is an optional memorial in the Archdiocese of Vienna, and is celebrated, as you might expect, throughout the Ursuline order worldwide. Finally, as recently as 1989 a new parish dedicated to St. Ursula was established in the British Virgin Islands  – which, after all, are named after St. Ursula and her companions. Thus,  it would be more accurate to say St. Ursula’s cult has been stricken from the general Roman calendar and restricted to local calendars. And this example illustrates how such “local” saints still may enjoy widespread devotion.

(Above and below) She’s still here! The church and shrine of St. Ursula in Cologne, Germany. (photos 7/9/2026)

Further, in discussing the cancellation of St. Catherine of Alexandria in 1969 and the restoration of her cult in 2002, Roussillon writes that this restoration was made for the same reason the cult of St. Cecilia had been kept: popular devotion. Roussillon does not mention in this book any issue with St. Cecilia (he does discuss the topic of popular devotion in regard to St. Margaret).   Nor does he explain to us why this rationale, supposedly protecting St. Catherine,  was not applicable in the case of other popular saints. These examples suggest more rigorous editing would be advisable in a potential second edition or translation of this book. 

Let me add my own observations regarding more recent decades. We have seen a great deal of fluctuation in the calendar of the Saints since the purge of the 1960’s. An ever-expanding stream of canonizations has continued – very often of the founders and members of religious orders.  Beginning with John Paul II, however, popes have been much more open to the influence of popular devotion. Major figures such as Cardinal Newman, Padre Pio, and Father Damien of Molokai have been raised to the altars.  The same is true of numerous modern martyrs. Pope Francis also revisited the causes of saints that had been previously derailed, obviously for political reasons (for example, Queen Isabella of Spain). Another motivation for the “restoration” is ecumenical relations with the Orthodox who didn’t cease to venerate many of the great saints canceled or downgraded in the Roman Catholic Church.

On the other hand, Pope Francis canonized the popes from John XXIII to John Paul II. (John Paul I at this moment remains only a blessed)  As someone once put it,  Pope Francis here canonized ideas, not people (the ideas being those of Vatican II). I might include in this “ideological” category of saints and potential saints the causes of Dorothy Day (pacifism and left-wing political activism), Pedro Arrupe SJ (Jesuit social activism) and Robert Schuman (the EU). 

Locally in New York, the status of the saints is also mixed, even uncertain among the faithful. The remains of the early martyr St. Datian still lie, unreverenced, in the closed church of Most Holy Redeemer on East 3rd St (along with the relics of many other saints). Regarding those more recently canonized, I don’t know how many people go to visit the burial place of (most of) Mother Cabrini on Fort Washinton Avenue. Upon his canonization, St. John Neumann was given a hideous modern statue in St. Patrick’s cathedral – it was removed a few years ago. Even New York’s own Mother Elizabeth Seton once had a shrine in downtown New York, built on the site of a house where she once had lived. That shrine is a now a convent of the Sisters of Life and is virtually inaccessible to the public. The fate of some of other recently canonized saints has also been mixed outside of New York City.  Some have been overtaken by the collapse of their own religious communities. So, the bodies of Marianne Cope and Katherine Drexel had to be reinterred in other locations after their first places of burial, the mother houses of their respective orders, were closed.

Despite these developments,  there are indications that the cult of saints is alive and well – a fact that has been recognized by the hierarchy. In recent years,  a constant procession of relics of saints has moved around this country – St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Jude etc. – attracting no little interest and devotion. Moreover, other recently proclaimed saints and blesseds have unexpectedly attracted widespread and spontaneous devotion such as Blessed Karl of Austria. Indeed, the cause for the canonization of his wife, Empress Zita,  is now underway. 

Fr. Jean-François Thomas, SJ provides Saints: The Cults Canceled, Prohibited and Restricted with a marvelous preface which introduces not just the story of the purge of the saints in the 1960s but also summarizes their role in Christianity. Indeed, this short but profound preface is in fact a miniature guide to the entire world of the Saints. 

“The book of Sylvain Roussillon draws up a list of those (saints)who have paid the price of tales and legends, but also of a spirit systematically suspicious, critical and hardly supernatural. … Sainthood is not at all a historic vestige to which only weak and credulous spirits are attached. Over the course of the centuries the cult of saints has never ceased to change but it has remained constant from its origins. Historical challenges have never been able to make it disappear, and rightly so,  because it is a pillar of the relation of man to God. … (Writing of the Golden Legend) To reject such narratives en bloc, very imprudently and with contempt,  is conducive to the annihilation of an essential part of the relation between God and man… The saints are accessible to all – they are not content to be merely “patron saints”  but are also and especially the intercessors before God.

So, the cult of the saints endures despite the vicissitudes of official Vatican favor. As Fr. Thomas reminds us, their intercession continues and is a key element of the Christian life. And did we not just witness an elaborate series of tableaux depicting the saints of France on the occasion of Pope Leo’s visit to Paris? Roussillon’s book on the saints illustrates a misguided effort to restrict or purge their cults to create a more modern image for the Church. An attempt, which, by all accounts, has failed.

(Above) The massive rectory of St Michael’s parish to the right of the church.

A curious development in the shuttered St. Michael’s parish complex. The charismatic group Chemin Neuf is now operating out of the St. Michael’s rectory building:

Thursday evening gatherings

We gather every Thursday evening for worship, prayer, silence, and formation. The content can vary from week to week – please see schedule below.

– Prayer Gathering: Sung worship, silent prayer, and formation in the charismatic and Ignatian traditions
– Formation and Dinner: spiritual formation around a shared meal
– Mass: weekday Eucharist with sung worship
– Testimony

6:30 pm Doors open
8:00 pm Social

Thursdays, 6:30pm-8:30pm
St. Michael’s Rectory
Entrance at 424 W 34th St

Chemin Neuf Young Adult Ministry, us-chemin-neuf.org (accessed 10/2/2026)

It is unclear to me whether they also enjoy use of St. Michael’s church.

(Above and below) The door to the rectory.

What is Chemin Neuf? It is an ecumenical French charismatic movement. Its account of its own history, with admirable candor, describes the protestant origins of the charismatic renewal. In France it enjoyed growth but also experienced some of the problems which afflicted virtually all the Catholic European charismatic movements.  “Communauté du Chemin Neuf,  fr.wikipedia.org(accessed 10/2/2026). Celine Hoyeau, although she doesn’t have much to say about Chemin Neuf as such, does mention that it was at one of their “youth festivals”  that she encountered the charismatic leader of another group that eventually led to no end of trouble for her. Hoyeau, Celine, La Trahison des Pères at 8 (Bayard, 2021).

In 2022 they came to New York, sponsored by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (Episcopal). For the occasion Pope Francis himself provided a laudatory video! (Wells, Christopher, “Pope sends message for launch of ecumenical community in New York.” Vaticannews.va (9/9/2022) On January 24, 2024, the dean of St John the Divine spoke at an interfaith prayer service:

He said Community at the Crossing, a recently established intentional ecumenical community in New York, is evidence of the potential to bridge divides. The new community is an initiative of St. John the Divine in partnership with the Chemin Neuf Community, a 50-year-old French Catholic association with an ecumenical focus.

Further, at the same service:

Sister Hannah Spiers, an Anglican sister who is part of the Chemin Neuf Community, is a coordinator of the Community at the Crossing initiative. Community at the Crossing is open to Christians ages 21-33 who commit to spend a year in prayer, discernment, biblical and theological formation, intentional community, service and mission — and to do so with men and women who may be radically different from themselves. Griffin, Beth, “Homilist: New Ecumenical Community Offers Hope among Christians” thegoodnewsroom.org (1/24/2024)

Chemin Neuf includes all Christians. It claims to follow both charismatic and Ignatian spiritualities – things normally seen as opposites. Members use the Book of Common Prayer but also attend the Catholic Mass:

WEEKLY PRAYER

Daily Morning Prayer and weekly prayer gatherings during the academic year.

Morning Prayer

A sung and spoken liturgy based on the Book of Common Prayer, led by the Community at the Crossing.

Weekdays, 8am
Cathedral of St John the Divine

Prayer Gathering

Hosted by the Young Adult Ministry (18-30s).

7:15pm Doors open
7:30pm Sung worship, silent prayer, and formation in the charismatic and Ignatian traditions
8:30pm Social to follow at local bar / eatery

Thursdays, 7pm-8:30pm
Church of Notre Dame
Entrance at 405 W 114th St

Mass

Members of the Community worship at the French-speaking mass at the Church of Notre Dame.

Sundays, 10:30am

“Community in the US: Weekly Prayer,”  us.chemin-neuf.org (accessed 10/2/2026)

Although their first base in the city was at St John the Divine, they are present at the church of Notre Dame (= the chaplaincy of Columbia University) and now at St. Michael’s on West 34^thStreet.

Really, it is amazing to see the scale of the resources that the establishment Catholic Church devotes to true fringe groups like Chemin Neuf ( to the extent it can be considered Catholic at all). The same can be said for the massive annual meeting in the US of Communion and Liberation.  And not to forget the support the Catholic LGBT movement enjoys from the Archdiocese,  the Jesuits and the Franciscans. This, when traditionalists still have to worship on a semi-underground basis; they ask from the ecclesiastical powers that be mere tolerance, not active support!

ADDENDUM: Informed sources tell us that it is planned for Chemin Neuf to have use of the Church of St. Michael once that becomes feasible. Certainly Chemin Neuf is acting on that basis:

NYC- 2-Day Retreat

• Saturday, February 20, 20279:30 AM 
  Sunday, February 21, 20278:00 PM
• St Michael’s Church424 West 34th Street, New York, New York.

Live in New York City or plan to visit? Set aside a couple of days to focus on your relationship in the good company of other couples.

This retreat will include dialogue as a couple, teaching, relaxation, prayer & worship, and in the good company of other couples.  

Children are welcome and will participate in their own programming, giving couples time and space together.

When: February 20-21, 2027
Where: St. Michael’s Church, 424 West 24th Street, New York

This is a commuter retreat. No overnight lodging included.

“Upcoming Events – NYC-2-Day Retreat,” canausa.org (accessed 10/3/2026)

The reader should be aware that, at least twice since 2020, negotiations for St. Michael’s between the Archdiocese and a well-known, well-established traditionalist community reached an advanced stage and fell through. Although, given the real estate values near the Hudson Yards, if I were in Chemin Neuf I might worry how long this arrangement will last

(Above) St. Jean Baptiste church (“Saint Gene’s”).

Thus the New York Post:

Fleming, Kirsten, “Have you heard the Higher Word? NYC grown Catholic orchestra going from strength to strength.” nypost.com (10/1/2026)

The orchestra will be performing tonight, October 2, at 7:15 PM at St. Jean Baptiste church, 184 E. 76th Street, New York. Tickets are required.

According to the above article:

(At their recent concert at Old St Patrick’s Cathedral)the audience was filled with stylish Catholics, young and old, many of whom gathered a few blocks away at Jack’s Wife Frieda for the afterparty. Higher Word claims responsibility for at least two marriages and a few Catholic conversions of musicians.

Well……

But we can certainly support these goals:

To stage such elaborate and elegant evenings, Higher Word relies on ticket sales, donations and the generosity of friends. Many of the musicians play, not for the money, but “for the mission.” They hope to become sustainable and offer a larger calendar of events, including lectures, liturgies and more concerts and eventually to be stitched into the mainstream cultural fabric of the Big Apple. “Anything that’s Catholic shouldn’t be siloed in a corridor, where things that are beautiful are reserved for the secular world,” said McIntosh.

(Above) The Higher Word concert at St Patrick’s Old Cathedral, April 2025.