Congregations throughout New York City - from West-Park Presbyterian Church (gorgeous stained glass pictured above) here on the Upper West Side to the former Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Boerum Hill to St. Vincent de Paul in Chelsea - are under pressure to vacate their historic houses of worship. Treated as mere real estate instead of anchors of community and spirituality, the buildings themselves too often fall victim to the wrecking ball.

In recent years, the Catholic Archdiocese of New York has been particularly aggressive in closing churches and dislocating congregations (e.g., St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Harlem, Our Lady of Loreto in Brooklyn). So it is heartening to learn that at least some congregations are successfully pushing back...in Cleveland, Ohio (see "Vatican Reverses Cleveland Catholic Diocese's Closing of 13 Parishes," The Plain Dealer, 3/7/12).

123 West 23rd Street, Manhattan

Read on to learn more about the campaign... 

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Call to Action from our colleagues at  

Save St. Vincent de Paul! 

An architectural and historical gem, and home to NYC's last-remaining French-speaking Catholic parish, located at 123 West 23rd Street in Manhattan, is in immediate danger of closure!  

Despite widespread and vocal support including an appeal to Mayor Bloomberg by the President of France, three requests for evaluation have been dismissed without even the courtesy of a public hearing by the Landmarks Preservation Commission and Chair Robert Tierney.  

Since 1841, the church has been a center of NYC's French-American community - Edith Piaf was married here with Marlene Dietrich as her bridesmaid - and a standard bearer of social justice. In fact, its school was the first in the city to integrate. Today its diverse congregation boasts congregants from France, Francophone Africa, Haiti, Southeast Asia, and beyond.  

Preservationists from noted expert Mary B. Dierickx to the New York State Historic Preservation Office have praised its fa�ade, its remarkable stained glass windows in the style of Lafarge and Tiffany featuring scenes from the religious history of France, its side chapel famously dedicated as a memorial by Charles de Gaulle.  

Fears that the Archdiocese will sell the valuable Chelsea site to a developer are only exacerbated by the fact that church leaders won't accept supporters' offers to pay for repairs to damages the church roof sustained in Hurricane Irene - a textbook example of demolition by neglect!

Now as the group "Save St. Vincent de Paul" and its hundreds of supporters ready a new Request for Evaluation for the LPC, we have launched a website and need your help in the Save St. Vincent de Paul letter-writing campaign.  

Please send your letter of support right away to the Mayor and the LPC, telling them St. Vincent de Paul must have a public hearing and should be landmarked. It's real easy, just click on this link to the website  www.SaveStVincentdePaul.org. 

Within 3 blocks of one another in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn:   

Former Bethlehem Lutheran Church 

New Baptist Temple 

Redeemer Episcopal Church

A Catholic church in Chinatown:  

St. James Church 

Plus many others...