Catholic Church Closings in New York Bring Sadness and Anger

Yosefina Kim at a vigil Thursday outside of Our Lady of Peace
.CreditMark Kauzlarich/The New York Times

 Wearing a blue sash emblazoned with “Save Our Lady of Peace,” Ms. Dooner Lynch said of the church’s closing: “This is the beginning of our crucifixion, our Good Friday, the nails driven into the coffin of Our Lady of Peace.”
Her feelings were echoed by angry parishioners at the Church of St. Joseph in Lower Manhattan, who after a Mass in Mandarin, yelled about how the locks had already been changed.

The scene was more subdued at the Church of St. Ursula in Mount Vernon, N.Y., where the Rev. Robert J. Verrigni asked the few dozen people gathered for the final Mass “to pray one last time in our beloved church.”
More than two dozen churches have filed petitions with the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy contesting the archdiocese’s decisions. Some of petitions were rejected on procedural grounds. The Vatican organization has told the remaining churches it plans to issue rulings on their cases after Sept.1.
“If I were the cardinal, I would be very concerned to have all these angry parishioners when the pope is about to come,” said Sister Kate Kuenstler, a canon lawyer who is representing eight churches in their appeals.
The closings are part of a reorganization plan for the archdiocese that reduces the number of parishes by 20 percent. The reductions, which archdiocesan officials said were being driven by demographic changes and a declining numbers of priests, are occurring through mergers. In some cases, the churches in the merged parishes will continue to hold Masses; in others, one or more of the churches will be closed except for special occasions.

A church worker barricading the door after the final Mass at the Church of St. Ursula in Mount Vernon, N.Y. CreditEric Thayer for The New York Times

On Friday, parishioners seemed resigned about the closings. At the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary on the Upper East Side, which has also long doubled as the parish for New Yorkers who are deaf, Marie dee Frenette Herrington, 72, dressed in black for the occasion, dabbed at tears as solemn organ music drowned out the soft voices of parishioners singing “Amazing Grace.”I’m crushed,” Ms. Herrington, who has been coming to the church for nearly 50 years, saidas fellow parishioners shuffled out in silence, some pausing to look back at the altar.But from the pulpit at Our Lady of Peace, Ms. Dooner Lynch sounded a note of defiance as she turned the teachings of St. Paul into a rallying cry about the need to keep fighting for the church, a call that was met with applause, cheers and murmurs from worshipers.“We have fought the good fight, we have kept the faith,” she said. “But we have not yet finished the race.”

Ileana Najarro, Kate Pastor and John Surico contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on August 1, 2015, on page A17 of the New York edition with the headline: Last Day at Closing Catholic Churches Elicits Sadness, Anger and Vow to Fight .