A Cathedral Grows in Brooklyn

Photo from the website of St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral

The New York Times reports on the creation of a second cathedral (or”co-cathedral”) for the Diocese of Brooklyn:

“Amid criticism, a Changing Brooklyn gets a Second Cathedral”

The first cathedral, St. James, is the first Catholic parish church in the diocese of Brooklyn. Despite its great population, the diocese of Brooklyn never erected a true cathedral; plans for a grand gothic edifice were abandoned in the wake of the consolidation of Brooklyn and Queens into the city of New York in the 1890’s. So St. James soldiered on as the “pro-cathedral” – more recently just “cathedral” – of the Brooklyn Diocese. Followers of this blog know that this Society has sponsored several masses there. If an event required more space than St. James offered, one of the grand parish churches of Brooklyn would serve as the venue – notably Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Now the church of St Joseph has been restored and converted to serve as the “co-cathedral” of the diocese. We intend to provide a report later; from the available photographs it is obvious that a great deal of thought and care has gone into this restoration. It’s a far cry from the “wreckovations” of the 1960’s and 70’s. But, although we have indeed come very far from those days, The New York Times article makes clear that the ideologies of those years are very much alive. And there’s one more lesson to be gained relevant to developments across the East River. According to the Brooklyn Diocese, St Joseph’s, which had lost most of its parishioners by the 1980’s, might well have been torn down. But that didn’t happen, and today this church has not only been restored but is a cathedral! One never knows what the future may bring….

Website of St. Joseph