
(Above) The Interior of the Church of Notre Dame (2008)
We have now received more detailed information about what is going on near Columbia University.
Columbia University, one of the premiere institutions among the Ivies, now has a proper Catholic center.
The Thomas Merton Institute for Catholic Life had a “soft opening” at the upper Manhattan campus this week, as the center continues to finish construction.
Named for who is most likely Columbia University’s best-known Catholic convert, the Merton Institute is being constructed at the Church of Notre Dame.
Columbia Catholic Ministry is planning a grand opening of the Merton Institute for later this semester, when the space is better furnished, said CCM co-president Joel Kattady.
Merton Institute President Brian McAuliffe, a Columbia alumnus, estimates it will take $10 million to finish the Institute, which still requires further construction and furnishing. McAuliffe anticipates that successful alumni fundraising will meet this need.
“So much about the living of the Catholic faith goes beyond worship,” said Fr. Roger Landry, the chaplain to the Merton Institute and Columbia’s Catholic religious life adviser. Fr. Landry arrived at Columbia last year after serving at the Holy See Mission to the United Nations.
Source: Columbia University gets its own Catholic Center (2/16/2023)
And the website of Corpus Christi parish(“Masks requested, please“) – until now silent on all these developments swirling about it – has posted this:
It’s official: Corpus Christi and Notre Dame have merged into one parish. We are called, quite simply, the Parish of Corpus Christi and Notre Dame. We are one territorial parish, whose boundaries extend from 110th Street to 125th Street, and from Morningside Drive to the Hudson River. We remain two church sites, Corpus Christi on 121st Street and Notre Dame on 114th Street. According to Cardinal Dolan’s decree, Corpus Christi is the parish church, housing the rectory, office, and all parish records (including those of Notre Dame and St. Vincent de Paul). Notre Dame will continue to serve the community as it has been, as the center of French-language Catholicism in New York City as well as a center for Columbia Catholic Ministry (under the aegis of the Thomas Merton Institute for Catholic Life, who are in the process of transforming the Notre Dame rectory for this purpose).
In the coming weeks, Archdiocesan officials will help us to form a new civil corporation. This will mean appointing trustees and setting up a new finance council and parish council. We are a diverse parish and I intend to have qualified representation from across the community in these councils.
CORPUS CHRISTI AND NOTRE DAME CATHOLIC PARISH NEW YORK CITY
So many questions are still unanswered. It takes $10 million to renovate a rectory? Who will own the renovated rectory? Is Fr. Landry now at least de facto the Catholic chaplain of Columbia University? Is Notre Dame church once again the center of the Columbia chaplaincy? Is anything going to be done to the magnificent church itself? Will the Thomas Merton Institute be transparent on the details of Thomas Merton’s life in the 1960’s? We will have to see!
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