(Above) The transept of the grandiose interior.
My first encounter with this church was as a solitary visitor in the early 1980s. The interior was dark and dilapidated; like many other Victorian-era churches it had been painted in the course of time a miserable battleship gray. Only a few Vatican II-type banners, hung here and there, relieved the somber appearance.
I still have always found this church nearly empty when I have visited even on much more recent occasions – this neighborhood is no hotbed of Catholicism – but at least it is usually open. For this parish still disposes of some financial resources including rental income from real estate in the vicinity. The high school is also active.
(Above) Jesuit martyrs of Japan. A devotion to them existed at this parish as early as the 1850’s. One of the many murals in this church by William Lamprecht.
(Above and below) The two Tiffany windows of this church.
(above) A “German”style window now in the “Mary chapel.”
Now in 2000 the exterior was renovated at a cost of $2M; in 2009 it was the interior’s turn for $13M. Both now shine in relatively pristine splendor – it would be interesting to confirm whether the interior’s dominant hue of yellow is a restoration of the original color scheme. The basic decor, largely intact, consists of stucco, statues and paintings. It reminds me, with its lavishness and a certain heavy-handedness, of early baroque interiors north of the Alps, like the Theatinerkirche in Munich. Like St. Ignatius Loyola church and its mosaics, the main decorative element of the church is on the walls – paintings and sculpture-instead in stained glass windows.
But then we come to the chancel or apse which has been renovated “to embody the ideals of Vatican II.” The expanded sanctuary – now broadened into a “liturgical ministry area” – includes room for organ, choir and instrumentalists. A “Novus Ordo” altar and lecterns have been set up. The so-called “Reredos (former High Altar)”, which functions today as a large flower stand, was moved forward to create space for a new sacristy (with a skylight). Most outrageously, a large marble baptismal pool and font have been set up in before the (former) High Altar! This arrangement seems to be unique and without any historical precedent. Aesthetically, it is unsuccessful: the architectural focus of this church is occupied by a jumble of platforms, ramps, musical equipment, marble and wooden objects.
What sense then does it make for the church guide of St. Francis Xavier to boast of how ”[g]reat care has been taken to restore the rest of the interior elements (i.e.,other than the sanctuary – SC) to their most original condition?” Why talk about the fact that “one third of the hanging lamps were restored to original condition, …3 ornamental cherubs decorate each hanging lamp” while applauding the vandalization of the church’s liturgical center – the very reason for this church’s existence?1) Let us recall that a similar move by the Jesuits to renovate St. Ignatius Loyola church had been blocked by Cardinal Egan in 2002. Apparently, another Jesuit church in a more remote area of the city was not worth the same fuss – and no descendants of rich donors were on hand to intervene.
(Above and below) The former high altar with the baptismal pool before it.
(above)The altar of the three young Jesuit saints (including St. Aloysius), today an HIV/AIDS “Altar of Remembrance.”
(Above and below) St. Francis Xavier depicted in a medallion over the crossing.
David Dunlop informs us that “[f]or eight years, the church ( of Francis Xavier)offered a Mass for Members of Dignity, a group of gay and lesbian Catholics, until the archdiocese ordered an end to it in 1987.” 2) But this by no means ended the “outreach,” if anything, it was its beginning. In this respect, as in many others, St. Francis Xavier became the rightful successor of the original bastion of New York progressive Catholicism, St Joseph in Greenwich Village. This was due in part the gentrification of Chelsea, which was becoming an ever more “trendy” and tourist-filled part of town in recent decades, culminating in the High Line development.
In fact, I think it’s not unfair to say that “LGBT” ministry is today the best known aspect of this parish to outsiders. The parish’s comprehensive website reports on “Gay Catholics,” “Catholic Lesbians,” the “Transgender Day of Remembrance.” 3) An “HIV/AIDS Altar of Remembrance” stands in a transept. 4) But other issues dear to “woke” Catholics are not neglected in this “welcoming and inclusive” parish: “Zen meditation,” discussions of “white privilege,” the “migrants,” Muslims, etc.
All these concerns of course, are taken directly from the secular media and academia. Even so, following the progressive course is not without its perils. Such as when the “dancing master” pastor of St Francis Xavier parish was removed in September 2018 for “boundary violations” with a man. He had been Jesuit artist-in-residence at Boston College for 35 years and more recently ( December 2017) had staged a production at the archdiocesan Sheen center. 5)
At times the discrepancy between what is depicted and written on the walls of this building and the current attitudes and practices of this parish (and of course, those of the Catholic Church in general) shocks the conscience. Such as where St. Francis Xavier, in the great central medallion of the ceiling, is extolled as “Xavier, Virgin in Soul and Body,” and elsewhere as the “Destroyer of idols” “Helper in…pestilence.” Or where: “the crown at Aloysius Gonzaga’s feet represents giving up his noble birth to minister to those dying of plague in Rome.” 6)
I can’t deny this to the Jesuits of today: there is an undeniable audacity in daring to present in such surroundings their current theology, spirituality and way of life as a continuing “Jesuit tradition.” For their current tradition forms the greatest possible contrast to the trappings and history of this parish. A recreated Roman basilica displaying a meticulously restored nave and transept, but a gutted sanctuary and repurposed altars and confessionals; evangelizing priests, pious housemaids, military cadets and longshoremen in the past – “self-referential” liberal clergy and their lay groupies now. But isn’t the problem more fundamental – wasn’t it foreshadowed in the 1930’s when Margaret Sanger located her clinic next to St Francis Xavier church and high school? Could anything better symbolize the emerging cultural break with the West’s Christian past – a process of rupture of which the Jesuit order later became a full participant and leader ? Perhaps the parish of St Francis Xavier communicates to us this discontinuity better than any other.
(Above) A dance work by the former pastor of St Francis Xavier performed at the Sheen Center(Source: Xavier High School Site); (Below) Recent concerns of the Jesuit parish (Fall 2017)
1. For the quotes regarding the decor and renovations and for further details see generally Church of St Francis Xavier Tour Guide.
2. Dunlop, op. Cit. at 204-205.
3. https://sfxavier.org
4. Guide, supra, at 12.
5. http://www.cny.org/stories/jesuit-pastor-stages-christmas- revelations-at-sheen-center,14821?
6. Guide, supra, at 23, 12.
Related Articles
No user responded in this post