The Church of St. Veronica in the West Village.
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A group of parishioners dedicated to preserving the historic Church of St. Veronica in the West Village is reporting a widening gap between the Vatican and Archdiocese’s plans for the building.
For the last several years, the group of worshippers, now under the banner of the St. Veronica’s Moving Forward Committee, has been trying to revive the dormant church at 149 Christopher St. That entails advocating for repairs to the church’s leaking roof and regular services in accordance with Vatican rules.
But while the efforts have spurred some support from the Vatican, members of the committee say that they are concerned that the New York Archdiocese has other plans: to sell the property instead of rehabilitating it.
“They’re just trying to make it decay enough where they’ll say, ‘Oh, it can’t be open, and we have to close it,’” alleged Vincent Orgo, one of the group’s members.
The committee has launched a legal effort to bolster its case, taking the fight to the Vatican, which has taken some steps in their favor. After the church’s former pastor closed the church with little notice in 2017, the Vatican court officially re-sanctified it as an active church in 2020.
Since then, the group has been pushing the local parish to hold at least two annual, public Masses at the historically landmarked church, and ensure that it’s open for daily silent prayer and meditation hours, services the committee says are required by the Vatican.
“The archdiocese refuses to allow us to do that, which is one of our big points of contention at this point,” said Cindy Boyle, who has been a parishioner since the early 1980s.
The Archdiocese of New York did not respond to a request for comment.
The group’s legal appeal to Vatican courts claims the church was closed improperly by its former pastor. The court has accepted their case, but it’s stuck behind a long backlog of others, which…
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