A Visit To Columbia

UPDATE: I have added some clarifying comments and notes here and there in this article.

I recently paid a visit to the neighborhood of Columbia University. That institution is currently almost on lockdown,  with all the entrances to the “quad” controlled by security guards. We all have heard of the recent clashes related to Gaza.  But this security and surveillance environment is more fundamentally the inevitable result of the woke ideological domination there. As for the Catholic Church, its presence near Columbia is divided between two churches, Corpus Christi to the north on West 121st St. and Notre Dame to the south on West 114th St. (I recognize that the Catholic churches I am discussing have responsibilities beyond just caring for the Columbia Univerity community; I think that aspect, however, is more interesting to outsiders.)

For decades the face of Catholicism to the Columbia University community was Corpus Christi parish – culminating in the idiosyncratic regime of Msgr. Myles M. Bourke from the 1960’s until 1992. He did foster his own unique liturgy – nevertheless he was devoted to Catholic truth and above all to the continuation of an outstanding music program superior to that of almost any other church of the archdiocese of New York.

Since his departure, the ecclesiastical situation between West 144 and West 121 Streets has been fluid. Institutions, personnel and philosophies have abruptly appeared and disappeared – sometimes very publicly, often with little notice or explanation. Notre Dame parish, originally separate from this world, was drawn into it when the chaplaincy of Columbia university was first shifted there. 

Currently there is now one Catholic parish:  the “Parish of Corpus Christi and Notre Dame.”  The “parish church” of the united entity is Corpus Christi church.  The chaplaincy of Columbia University, however, was installed in the rectory of Notre Dame parish – at considerable expense.(initally a figure of $10 million was claimed) I believe the intent of these changes is to make Notre Dame primarily a chapel for the Columbia community while Corpus Christi retains its status as the local Catholic parish.(see footnote 4 below)

This return of the chaplaincy to Notre Dame – it had already operated out of that church between 2003 and 2011 – should be a significant upgrading of the architectural image of the Catholic church in the eyes of the students and faculty of Columbia. For Corpus Christi church, however elegant, was designed in the 1930’s in part to appeal to the supposed expectations of protestant America. Notre Dame church, on the other hand,  is exuberantly Catholic – even baroque, if in a restrained, classicizing 17^thcentury French form. 

Undeniably,  positive changes have been made under the united parish’s current leadership. At Corpus Christi church, the tabernacle has been returned to the center of the high altar. Indeed, the parish bulletin compared the new arrangement of the tabernacle with a photograph of the 1950s. And, by all appearances, Corpus Christi’s tradition of musical excellence continues – backed by financial support independent of the parish.

Analogous changes to the layout of the church of Notre Dame also have been made, if with less publicity. At some point in the recent past, an altar – and the tabernacle – were placed, rather incongruously, inside the church’s Lourdes Grotto, which now serves as a kind of Lady Chapel. The previous location of the tabernacle in a side chapel has been terminated; whether the Blessed Sacrament in this church has now been restored to the “center of the sanctuary” literally depends on your point of view.

I recently attended the 12:10 PM weekday mass in the Grotto. A congregation of 25 to 50 was present, which isn’t bad at all for New York City ( I would guess 150 or so attend the weekday mass at around the same time at St. Patrick’s cathedral). The priest gave a detailed explanation of  Saint Albert the Great which particularly impressed me as I had studied in Cologne where the saint is buried. The mass concluded with the recitation of the prayer to Saint Michael and the singing of the Salve Regina. Both would have been virtually unthinkable at the campus ministries (including those of “Catholic” universities) of  the 1970’s.

Yet how sustainable are these gains? As the recent history of these two  churches near Columbia has shown,  in the current state of the Roman Catholic Church everything depends on the personality of the current pastor (and bishop). Yes, remarkable achievements have been made, but at the same time attitudes and ideologies persist that implicitly or expressly challenge these accomplishments. For example, the pastor of Corpus Christi has emphasized the role of the restoration of the tabernacle to its central place as a key step in the “eucharistic revival” in the Church. 1) Yet, a month earlier, in the same bulletin of this church, a lengthy quotation of Cardinal Cupich appeared:

As Cardinal Cupich and other commentators have recently noted, since the Eucharist is our Life, it is more an action (taking, blessing, breaking and sharing) than an object. We should focus on the dynamic action and prophetic challenge of the Eucharist….more than on the worship of Jesus present on the altar. Likewise, our liturgy should be a community action and consciousness, rather than an act of individual piety. The very fact that the Eucharist is under the forms of bread and wine shows that it is essentially transitory, made to be consumed by us to transform us, all together into the Body of Christ….2)

Cupich clearly is setting forth the reasons why the tabernacle was moved off the high altar in the first place. 

Further, the Catholic chaplaincy also has just offered the “Annual Thomas Merton Retreat” led by Robert Ellsberg,  the son of Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame. He has long been a stalwart of Catholic religious and political radicalism. The advance publicity for the retreat would seem to promise an uncritical presentation of the thought of Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day, among others. And of course, Ellsberg now can draw on papal authority:

Pope Francis has distinguished between what he calls a “laboratory faith” and a “journey faith.”  The first can appear like a “compendium of abstract truths” while in a “journey faith” we find God along the way…3)

We could also mention the uncertain existence of the mysterious “personal parish” of St. John Henry Newman for the students and faculty of Columbia University. 4)  And Fr. Roger Landry, installed as chaplain to Columbia University with great fanfare in 2022, and who led a procession with the Blessed Sacrament at Columbia this year is leaving at the end of December 2024 for bigger if not better administrative responsibilities. 5) The parish of Corpus Christi and Notre Dame also has more mundane problems not dissimilar to those besetting many parishes in the city and beyond. The number of masses in the combined parish has had to be reduced because of the shortage of clergy. A French Sunday school associated with the historic French mission of Notre Dame parish recently moved out because of the lack of French families living in the vicinity of Notre Dame parish.

In summary, much has been improved on the Upper West Side. Yet, as always in the Novus Ordo, all such favorable developments remain linked to the current leadership of the parish. With new clergy, a different direction could be taken. That is why traditionalists place their trust not on present spiritual leaders,  however charismatic, but on the fulness of the faith, in liturgy, theology and morality.  

(Above) One of the plaques in their original location – St. Vincent de Paul church. Perhaps we cannot fully comprehend the identification of the French cause in World War I with the will of God. (Photo 6/2008)

(Above) Commemorating the reinstallation in 2017 of these memorials in Notre Dame parish. Perhaps if these worthies had shown more energy in the past St. Vincent de Paul parish could have been saved. (Photo 11/2024)

1. Parish Bulletin, August 18, 2024. (with a picture from the 1950’s!) The bulletin claims the move of the tabernacle to the side altar (or room) was made around 1990. Also: “This restoration is part of a larger, more long-term renovation, in which we plan to move the baptismal font to where the tabernacle has been, and to install an accessible restroom where the baptismal font currently sits.” (Accessed 11/16/2024)
2.  Parish bulletin, July 14, 2024. (Accessed 11/16/2024)
3. Corpus Christi Chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society, “A Journey Faith (sic): walking with Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day and other Companions along the Way,” (handout in Corpus Christi church; no author given)
4. “Decree erecting the Personal Parish of Saint John Henry Newman for the Pastoral Care at Columbia University in New York” (9/28/2023). “The church of Notre Dame, in the parish of Corpus Christi and Notre Dame, is herewith designated as the parish church of the newly erected personal parish.”
5. Murphy, Alyssa, “‘Luckiest Priest in America’ Leads His Last Eucharistic Procession on Campus,” National Catholic Register ( 11/12/2024) (Accessed 11/16/2024)