Sunday, February 16, 2014

Makeshift altar arrives at former Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church


[Photo by EVG reader Matteo]

Last summer, workers demolished the church, school and rectory on the Mary Help of Christians lot on Avenue A between East 12th Street and East 11th Street. Developer Douglas Steiner awaits city approval for his retail-residential complex at the now-empty lot.

In the meantime, someone has created a makeshift altar on the East 12th Street plywood… which includes a frame around the plywood portal…


[Photo by EVG reader Matteo]

..and EVG reader Alta Tseng shared these photos…







Despite the demolition, former church regulars continued to hold their daily sidewalk prayer service on East 12th Street through August.

Previously on EV Grieve:
New residential complex at former Mary Help of Christians lot may include rooftop swimming pool

Meet your new neighbor on Avenue A

Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

Scaffolding arrives for demolition of Mary Help of Christians

The 'senseless shocking self-destruction' of Mary Help of Christians
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9 comments:

  1. GojiraFebruary 16, 2014 at 8:40 AM

    The "structure"??? It was a *church*!

    The photos of that altar make me weep. Literally.

    ReplyDelete
  2. EV GrieveFebruary 16, 2014 at 12:32 PM

    @ Gojira

    Yes. I changed the wording. It was very early when I wrote this...

    ReplyDelete
  3. GojiraFebruary 16, 2014 at 1:15 PM

    Thank you so much. It may sound stupid for me to have gotten so upset, but given its fate, I just thought that beautiful building needed to be remembered as more than just a structure...

    ReplyDelete
  4. chris flashFebruary 16, 2014 at 4:35 PM

    WHAT WAS THE FUCKING RUSH to demolish that building????

    The pricks who did it are probably out of money to build the architectural monstrosity they have in mind for that lot, so NOTHING will happen there.

    Meanwhile, no church, no school (11th Street side) and no flea market....

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFebruary 16, 2014 at 7:58 PM

    Since we're being picky, that's not an altar. It's more like the votive candle area to the side of the altar. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownFebruary 16, 2014 at 10:04 PM

    Yeah! Flash! I agree!

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousFebruary 16, 2014 at 10:05 PM

    There is a man who stops and prays here almost daily. He used to stand or kneel at the bottom of the church steps and continues now even though the church is gone. He was there in the middle of one of the snowstorms a few weeks ago. He is there now as I write this.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousFebruary 16, 2014 at 10:19 PM

    it looks like an art piece not a make shift altar put there by a former parishioner.

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousFebruary 17, 2014 at 9:25 AM

    Theists are weird.

    ReplyDelete

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