This past Monday, March 20, 2017, was the Feast of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Patron of the Universal Church. As part of the festive celebration of the Feast of St. Joseph, Holy Innocents had a beautiful Sung Mass at 6PM. This was the last day of the triduum in honor of St. Joseph, which concluded with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. After the Mass and the triduum, everyone in attendance was invited to go to the parish hall for the beautifully arranged and decorated St. Joseph’s Table.

A special Italian custom!

(Text and photos courtesy of Eddy Toribio)

We received enthusiastic letter from one of our readers about St. Mary’s Church in Roslyn Harbor, NY.

“Your members might be interested in a wonderful series of sung Latin Masses offered at St. Mary’s in Roslyn Harbor in Nassau County. Fr. McCartney generally picks one special feast each month, on a weekday, to offer these. His homilies are fantastic. Will give a link to the schedule below.
Fr. McCartney, the pastor, is also inviting boys to come at 6:15 on the evenings of these Masses to learn to serve. All the boys who come, even if they are totally new to this, get to vest, process, and participate.”

All Masses are at 7 pm.  The next will be on Easter Wednesday, April 19.
http://www.stmarysroslyn.com/2017Tridentine.pdf

From  Prof. Luc Perrin:

“Once bitten, twice shy.”

We will rejoice greatly the day canonical recognition (of the FSSPX) will be proclaimed in Rome.

But already in 2012 all the traffic lights appeared green and indeed an agreement was imminent in May/June of that year. But it evaporated after a completely foreseeable offensive from cardinals of the curia erupted in the plenary sessions of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Since 2016 under Pope Francis many lights are also green but one is not at all safe from a 2012-style coup de Jarnac (a mortal, insidious blow – referring to a famous duel in 1547). Undoubtedly, though, the pressure exerted on the pope by bishops and cardinals regarding separated Traditionalists is less strong today. For the crises have so greatly multiplied since 2013 that the sensitive character of the regularization of the FSSPX has been put into perspective. When a great forest fire menaces the house, it appears a lot less critical whether a portrait of Msgr. Lefebvre should be hung in a corner of the living room….

Source: Le Forum Catholique

In honor of the Feast of St. Vincent Ferrer, a Solemn Mass in the Dominican Rite will be offered on April 5, 2017 at 7:00 PM at the High Altar of the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, 869 Lexington Ave, New York, NY.

The Schola Cantorum of Saint Vincent Ferrer will sing
Missa Sancti Wilhelmi devotio – John Taverner (c. 1490-1545)
In dedicatione templi – Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594)
Quod autem cecidit – Manuel Cardoso (1566-1650)

Continued from Part 1

St. Ignatius still presents a very handsome appearance to the visitor. The gold of the marvelously intact and well-maintained interior is festive but restrained.  The statues, altars and stained glass are very fine and typical of the period – but, in general, do not rise above the level of the artwork of other, more ordinary parishes of that era. Only the magnificent metalwork of St. Ignatius consistently achieves an artistic result fully commensurate with the impressive cost.  But, as we shall see, it is unfair to view each item of the decor in isolation.

(Above and below) Aspects of the decoration and furnishings of St Ignatius Loyola – trying to capture the spirit of a renaissance Roman basilica.

The lavish use of marble facing and the many mosaics are a distinctive feature of St. Ignatius Loyola church. Certainly the mosaics of the apse and of the Stations of the Cross are impressive and were very expensive to acquire. We have to admit, however, that mosaic work was perhaps the least successful branch of ecclesiastical art at that time. Compare, for example, the  somewhat later mosaics in St. Francis of Assisi church near Penn Station, celebrated in their day but likewise not totally convincing.

(Above) Mosaics in the apse: (below) mosaic stations of the cross.

(Above and below) Magnificent metalwork in the sanctuary of the church.

(Below) the sanctuary lamp.

The real jewel of St. Ignatius Loyola, though, both in 1916 and today, is the world-class baptistery in the rear of the nave. Indeed, it was planned and completed before the decoration of the rest of the church, the decoration of which conformed to that of the baptistery. Designed as a monument to St John the Baptist, it was initiated by the devotion of one Jesuit Father to the Baptist and funded by an unknown donor. A circular confection of mosaics, marble, metalwork and stained glass, St. Ignatius’ baptistery is unique among New York Catholic churches. It incorporates the work of a number of artists, including Tiffany studios. 9)

Much of the decoration of the church dates from one campaign in 1910-13 by the then pastor, Fr. Hearn, to finish the interior. Mosaics(imported from Venice), frescoes, statues, colored marble, stained glass and altars were installed at that time. We see here the tendency in this, the “golden age” of New York ecclesiastical art, to integrate all decorative elements in one whole. In St. Ignatius Loyola, a model of that artistic understanding was already at hand – the baptistery. The effect is to recreate the appearance of a Roman basilica in Manhattan. 10)  The more sophisticated artistic talent and greatly increased financial resources available to the New York Archdiocese after 1890 made possible the realization of such projects.

(Above and below) the Baptistery.

Now, in 2016 the Jesuits have celebrated yet another 50 years at St. Ignatius. There are far fewer Jesuits at the parish and its schools. But even if they are giving up apostolates from Auriesville, New York to Staten Island, the Jesuits will still retain a presence at St. Ignatius. Seen from the outside, the parish seems to have changed very little from 1966. The territory of the parish is still extraordinarily – and nowadays exclusively – wealthy.  I would guess that the neighborhood is far less Christian, and that the Catholics living there are far more “international” than the Irish and German parishioners of yore. The parish boasts an impressive number of registered households; as in the case of the rest of the Archdiocese, however, those actually attending services are but a minority. Still, St. Ignatius parish still enjoys an income, mostly from collections,  beyond the wildest dreams of most Catholic parishes.

The boys’ choir is gone – in return there are several “childrens’ choirs.”  The day nursery, once a charity conducted by the sisters of Bon Secours to help working mothers, has been transformed into a lay-administered “highly selective” preschool for the wealthy (tuition: $24,300 for the full day program). 11) St Ignatius also hosts an ambitious and impressive musical “outreach” program – most unusual for Catholic parishes. Indeed, the alleged influence of the musical program became a point of discussion  in the controversy over the renovation of the sanctuary in 2001-2002 (see below).

In recent decades St Ignatius Loyola parish settled into what could be described as a modern day Jesuit routine of catering to the rich while preaching a secular social gospel. Now ministry to the well to do is not without its dangers – both for the spiritual director and those he directs. That is especially so where, in contrast to 1916, the wealthy may bring to the table their own ideological baggage.

Let us mention a few recent highlights of parish history .

The funeral of Jacqueline Onassis (who was baptized at this parish but in more recent years had attended nearby St. Thomas More parish) in 1994 attracted an inordinate degree of media attention – and featured her “companion” reciting a secular poem. There has since been a series of “celebrity funerals” of individuals whose connection in some cases with the Catholic faith seems to me unclear.

In 2001 the Jesuits at last had decided to “renovate” the church – specifically, the sanctuary. Those of us familiar with the results of such plans at St. Francis Xavier, the other main Jesuit church in Manhattan, know what that likely would have meant. Yet, in a perhaps unique intervention by the Archdiocese to preserve a historic Catholic Church, Cardinal Egan in 2002 stopped the execution of this plan – specifically, the redesign and expansion of the sanctuary, including the removal of the communion rail. The pastor of St. Ignatius bellowed with rage:

(T)he sanctuary redesign is at the heart of what needs to be done. It would be a major compromise of our own integrity as a post-Vatican II community to spend over two million dollars refurbishing a Catholic Church and leave it as if the Council had never happened and the liturgy never reformed. (P)roceeding with a renovation without addressing liturgical needs would expose us to justifiable criticisms and even ridicule. It would be an embarrassment to the Society of Jesus to administer a Parish that had so glaringly turned its back on the liturgical movement inspired by Vatican II. 12)

We have heard that certain parishioners of St Ignatius Loyola itself were active in achieving this result. Indeed, Cardinal Egan contended there were significant divisions within the parish, despite the claims of the pastor, Fr. Modrys, SJ, that support within the parish for the renovations had been “overwhelming.” A New York Times reporter, however, was able just in a cursory survey to identify “some difference of opinion” among parishioners. 13) We might add that only a few years earlier a Catholic church – St Agnes – had been rebuilt in Manhattan restoring a communion rail – “as if the Council had never happened and the liturgy never reformed.”

Finally, as part of the Making all Things New program, the Archdiocese in 2015 suddenly determined to fold the parish of St. Thomas More back into St. Ignatius Loyola, thus reversing the actions of Spellman in 1950. That step, however, was never carried out in the face of vehement opposition – this time from the parishioners of St. Thomas More.(Although the “cluster team,” including representatives of both churches, also unanimously rejected the proposed merger)

So, St. Ignatius Loyola parish remains standing in solitary splendor with its intact church and array of schools. It would seem that St. Ignatius has managed to continue the ambitious mission typical of so many New York City Catholic parishes of a bygone age.  Naturally, the National Catholic Reporter in 2016 also acclaimed this parish. But we ask:  does what is lived and taught today at St. Ignatius still resemble the doctrines professed there in the past?   What exactly are the differences nowadays between St Ignatius Loyola and an upscale Episcopal parish of the City? This church, which of all Manhattan Catholic parishes has benefitted most from “demographic change,” may not have survived unscathed after all. For, as the German Catholic Church can testify, access to abundant financial resources is but one small aspect of the challenge of Christian mission.

PARISH WEBSITE (incuding a complete guide to the church)

1. Shea, John Gilmary, The Catholic Churches of New York City at 476-77(New York, Lawrence G. Goulding & Co, 1878)
2. Patrick Joseph, Fifty Years in Yorkville or the Annals of the Parish of St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Lawrence O’Toole  at 61- 63 (Parish House, New York 1917) (This is the best and most entertaining account of any Catholic parish in New York – it’s really a chronicle of the Jesuit order and the Catholic Church in the entire Upper East Side/Yorkville area)
3. Walter F. Modrys, SJ, “Jesuits Come to Yorkville” (Homily at the Sesquicentennial Mass; October 30, 2016)
4. http://nycnpc.org/db/bb_files/ST.-IGNATIUS.pdf (New York Landmarks Preservation Commission determination of 1969); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schickel_%26_Ditmars; Dooley, op. cit. at 157.
5. Dooley, op.cit. at 229-230.
6. Dooley, op. cit. at 299-301.
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regis_High_School_(New_York_City); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_J._Grant#Marriage
8. The Jesuits in Yorkville 1866-1966 (1966, Custombook, Inc., South Hackensack)
9. Dooley, op.cit. at 165-166 (followed by excerpts from a previously published contemporary guide to the baptistery)
10. Dooley, op.cit. at 246-256
11. http://ignatiusdn.org
12. Walter F. Modrys, SJ, cited at http://diaryofacityparishioner.blogspot.com/2006/04/passion-sunday-2002-st-ignatius-of.html
13. Wakin, Daniel J., “Modernization vs. Tradition as Egan Halts Church Facelift” ( The New York Times, March 30, 2002)

.

St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Lawrence O’Toole

980 Park Avenue

The austere gray neo-renaissance facade of the church of St. Ignatius Loyola blends well with the anonymous, uncompromising canyon walls formed by the apartment buildings of Park Avenue. It exudes the same reserved, off-putting attitude that once characterized the mainly Protestant economic elite of America. Inside the church, in contrast, we encounter a “Catholic” burst of color, mainly gold, covering the walls and ceilings of an interior in the Italian Renaissance style. Yet, on closer examination, this too lacks the decorative exuberance of many other Catholic churches of that era. Very expensive but cold marble and mosaics cover walls, baptistery and sanctuary. The magnificent golden metalwork of the railings, sanctuary lamps and pulpit gleams brightly. This is St. Ignatius, the main church of the Jesuits in New York City.

But this cold grandeur was not always so!

In 1851 a parish arose on the upmost fringes of New York City in what was at that time a distant village: Yorkville. That area included all the territory later considered part of the Upper East Side. 1854 a modest church on East 84th street was dedicated: “with the smoke of incense and the aspersion of holy water, the church was blessed under the invocation of St. Lawrence O‘Toole.” ( a 12th century bishop of Dublin). Archbishop Hughes preached, taking as his text Apoc. xxi 1-3: “and I saw a new heaven and new earth. … And I John saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from God, prepared as a bride for her husband. And i heard a great voice from the throne saying: Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people; and God himself with them shall be their God.” 1)

(A little further, at Apoc. xxi 5, we read: “Behold I make all things new.” In 1854 the Archbishop of New York cited Revelations for building new churches – not closing them)

The Jesuits had been visiting the islands adjacent to Yorkville early on. The Jesuits came to exercise a ministry to these outcasts of the “periphery,” as the expression goes nowadays. First, there were the quarantined sick. (As one early Jesuit put it: other missionaries are like hunters who have to pursue their game, here the police drive the game to the missionary.) Second, and even more importantly, they took over the spiritual care of the home for “fallen women” in the care of the Good Shepherd sisters. Their duties at the convent included “confessions for the sisters, the Magdalenes, the penitents and the Perseverance class.” To reach the convent, the Jesuits had to travel north from their New York center at St. Francis Xavier in Chelsea far to the south. Given the transportation of the time the journey was very wearisome – so in 1866 the parish of St. Lawrence O’Toole was given to the Jesuits. 2) A former pastor of St. Ignatius has claimed that the Jesuits in fact “conspired” with the last Archdiocesan pastor of St Lawrence O’Toole – who had been a Jesuit and now returned to the order – to achieve this ‘takeover.” 3)

And then began an almost incredible change of circumstances. The center of New York wealth moved steadily northward along Fifth Avenue. Splendid mansions rose up along its length; the side streets and adjacent avenues flourished as well. St. Lawrence O’Toole parish, which had started as an outpost on the fringes of the city, by the 1890’s found itself in the midst of the wealthiest neighborhood in the United States, perhaps the world. Only the story of the surroundings of St. Patrick’s cathedral is comparable. The Jesuits of St. Lawrence O’Toole were active in the rapid buildup of Catholicism in Yorkville and what began to be called the Upper East Side – for example, they were directly involved in the organization of the German parish of St. Joseph.

A new church was required, reflecting the growing splendor and population of the neighborhood. At first, a Gothic style edifice was planned. Work was begun in 1884 but came to a halt in 1886. When it resumed in 1895, a new, grander design was adopted in the new style of that era: the classical/baroque/ renaissance idiom of the fashionable beaux-arts movement. The architects were Schickel & Ditmars (known at that time for executing numerous commissions for the Catholic Church, including Dunwoodie Seminary and the nearby churches of St. Joseph in Yorkville and St. Monica). The new church was dedicated in 1898 – the installation of the furnishings, mosaics and windows continued for years. In 1898, the upper church was dedicated to St Ignatius Loyola; the lower church to St. Lawrence O’Toole. Technically, since that year this parish has been under the joint patronage of these two saints. 4) Around St Ignatius church a whole complex gradually arose: a parochial school, a high school and associated structures. It was similar, in that regard, to many other parishes of that day – both those of the archdiocese and those of the religious orders – but on a more lavish scale.

(Above) The original church of St. Lawrence O’Toole (From Gilmary, The Catholic Churches of New York City(1878))

(Above) The transition from the buttresses of the original gothic plan of 1884-86 to the beaux-arts design of the completed church. (Below) The Roman beaux-arts grandeur of the facade. But two towers that were planned were never completed. Undoubtedly, as at St Vincent Ferrer, it was felt that any towers or spires would be dwarfed by the multi-story apartments rising up around these churches.

(Above) The nave and sanctuary and (below) a side aisle in Renaissance style.

(Above) St. ignatius Loyola; (below) St. Lawrence O’Toole. The two patron saints of the parish depicted in windows formerly in the lower church.

In 1906 the mixed choir of St Ignatius church was disbanded because of the Motu Proprio of Pius X on liturgical music. As a consequence in 1907 the boys’ choir was instituted. It soon attained citywide renown. (Similar developments took place at St Patrick’s Cathedral and St. Vincent Ferrer). 5)

Then came two special institutions.

Before World War I, St Ignatius Loyola parish straddled two worlds – that of the rich near Fifth Avenue, and across Park Avenue (and its railroad tunnel), that of the working class. In 1910 a day nursery was founded for the struggling working mothers of the parish. And then: “the sympathy of Mr. Nicholas Brady was enlisted in the work (of the day nursery) and, as he is accustomed to big things, his sympathy took on big proportions.” Brady (1878-1930) was a prominent businessman and Catholic philanthropist represented on the board of many American corporations. He purchased a new site at 240-42 East 84th street and in 1915 erected magnificent five-story building “fitted with every requisite for a day nursery.” It included originally an “exquisite” chapel. The only condition imposed by the donor was “that none shall be denied the use of its facilities on account of race, creed or color.” 6)

(Above and below) St. Ignatius Loyola’s day nursery.

Second, in 1914 Regis High School for boys opened its doors nearby. It had both high requirements for admission and free tuition – features it retains to this day. In fact, Regis High School is probably today what most New York Catholics think of when St Ignatius Loyola parish is mentioned. Not so well known, however, is that it too originated from a single donor’s initiative and generosity: Julia M Grant, widow of New York mayor and businessman Hugh J Grant. The family of Julia Grant continued supporting Regis financially for decades afterwards. This family involvement may partially account for the radically different course – regarding quality and finances – taken by Regis compared to most other Catholic schools of the area. 7)

In 1916 the Jesuits celebrated their first fifty years at St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Lawrence O’Toole. Henceforward the Jesuits’ mission became increasingly the polishing and perfecting of what had been created rather than the launching of new initiatives. The schools consolidated their reputations and acquired new facilities. The church received in the 1920’s magnificent new metalwork.

But, from the perspective of economic demographics, the luck of the Upper East Side Jesuits only increased. Through the 1920’s arose the endless wall of luxury apartment buildings that line Park Avenue. And, after the Second World War, what remained of old Yorkville “on the wrong side of the tracks” commenced its gradual transformation from working and middle class to a much higher income stratum. In fact, until the 1960’s the only fly in the ointment – other than negotiating the perils of the Great Depression – was the carve out of the new Archdiocesan parish of St. Thomas More in 1950. Cardinal Spellman undoubtedly wanted to share more directly in the Upper East Side glory!

And in 1966 the parish issued a slim follow-up volume to Dooley’s original parish history: The Jesuits in Yorkville 1866-1966. 8) It is a curious monument to a “Catholic milieu” which, within a few years, would utterly disappear. In this volume we still find talk of patriotism, anti-communism, sodalities, campaigns against pornography and conversions – and a photograph of a grand benediction in the presence of 20 copes. But we also read of ecumenism and aggiornamento, see a photograph of the mass celebrated “versus populum” and hear that attendance at the parochial school is declining.

The Old and the New. (Above) Forty hours devotion closing ceremony in 1966; (below) mass “facing the people” in the lower church.
(Both from The Jesuits in Yorkville 1866-1966).

At that time, the Jesuits stationed at the Upper East Side still engaged in a multitude of apostolates and ministries across New York City – including  what had brought them to Yorkville in the first place: acting as chaplains to the island hospitals. (The Jesuits had had to give up their other early apostolate in the area, the chaplaincy of the convent of the Good Shepherd sisters, as early as 1892)

Part 2 of this article