Our Saviour’s Church, New York – a “Progress Report”

I  strolled today down to Our Saviour’s church – excuse me, THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PARISH OF OUR SAVIOUR, SAINT STEPHEN AND OUR LADY OF THE SCAPULAR, CHAPEL OF THE SACRED HEARTS OF JESUS AND MARY – to check on the ongoing “restoration.” And to view the first spoils of the closing of St. Stephen’s parish.

(Above) The removal of the icons formerly on the pillars is now complete. The front pillars are painted in beige, the two in the rear of the sanctuary in what appears to be  dark olive drab. The image of Christ Pantocrator is still there – for the moment?

From the September 27 bulletin of Our Saviour’s parish:

“BAPTISMAL FONT

This past week, the Baptismal Font from St. Stephen’s Church, which dates from the 1800s, was placed before St. Jude’s Altar at the Church of Our Saviour. Its location here will allow entire families to participate in the Sacrament of Baptism. The font, which has recently been restored and refinished, has baptized hundreds of thousands of Catholics over many generations, will continue to be used for generations to come.”

Compare and contrast excerpts from a statement (formerly?) on the parish’s Facebook page:

“Since his appointment as pastor on August 1, 2013, Father Robert J. Robbins has worked to restore the church to its original vision…. To date, twelve large and twelve smaller icons have been removed from the four columns that flank the altar. According to archival photos, these columns did not originally have decoration of any kind.

Rev. Robert J. Robbins
Pastor
Lawrence Hoy
Renovata Studios”

(Above) Actually, the font is in front of the Sacred Heart altar. (Below) On the altar of St. Jude, statues have been collected.

(Above) Meanwhile, another font sits forlorn behind the impressive gate of the original baptistry of the church. But this font too came from a famous church closed by the Archdiocese – in this case, St. Ann’s.