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For Your Safety and Our Security

The New Year didn’t start very happily for us because on Tuesday morning, January 2nd, at approximately 7:20 AM, a monstrance was stolen from the altar in the lower church. The Blessed Sacrament was not in the monstrance at the time. The police were called and they are investigating the theft.

As you are probably aware, security issues have risen over the past few years. We having been working hard to enhance the security and safety of our buildings and property with video surveillance and other measures. However, incidents like this are almost impossible to prevent because we cannot patrol every inch of the property at every moment.

We have decided to try to limit access to parts of the church when they are not in use.

Effective immediately, the lower church will be open only during the following hours:

Monday to Friday: 7:30 to 8:30 AM; 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM; 4:00 to 5:30 PM

Saturday: 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM and 3:30 to 5:30 PM

Sunday: 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM and 4:00 to 5:30 PM

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament will take place in the upper church Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 11:30 AM and 1:00 and 4:30 PM.

We regret having to put these measures into effect, but we are concerned about your safety as well as the security of our church and buildings. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation, and remember, if you see something, say something.

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UPDATE:  Good News!!!

The Monstrance has been returned to the Church of St. Francis of Assisi!

This recovery we owe in large part to the power of social media.

The Diocese of Brooklyn posted about a monstrance that was found on the F Train in Brooklyn. Then Arrys Ortañez who saw our post about our stolen monstrance, posted a photo of the monstrance sitting in the MTA New York City Transit lost and found office. Because of these two posts, the monstrance was recovered safe and sound. The photo was taken after Fr. Andrew Reitz, our pastor, returned to the parish with the monstrance.

Thank you to everyone who expressed concern for the stolen monstrance. We pray for the troubled person who walked out of the church with it and hope that he receives the help he needs. We believe that the monstrance was taken by someone who is in need of care and assistance.

It is appropriate that we are all concerned for the precious objects that the Church uses in our liturgical and devotional life to worship God. And yet, we must remember, that the monstrance itself is of insignificant value compared to what it holds. It is is not in gold and jewels the the Lord remains with his people, but it is in humble bread and wine of the Eucharist that the Lord of Glory chooses to manifest Himself to and remain with his people.

Peace and all good to everyone.

There’s no more unusual setting to celebrate today’s Feast of the Holy Family than Barcelona, Spain and the towering unfinished sandcastle known officially as the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia.

In 1882, the plan was hatched to build a vast place of worship in reparation for the revolutionary and liberal leanings ofthe city. The modern artist Antoni Gaudi dedicated his life to the project, living in the building, attending Mass daily, and giving up his personal wealth. When people pressed him to pick up the pace, he responded, “My client is not in a hurry.” (Gaudi’s cause for beatification is moving along, and he could be the first professional artist and architect to be beatified.)

The Spanish Civil War, a disaster for the Catholic Church in which thousands of priests, brothers, and nuns were murdered, halted work in 1935. In the 1950s work began anew, speeded up by computers in the 1980s. Still, the final stage of construction is not due to end until 2026. If the original methods had stayed in place, it would take several hundred more years to complete the plan.

So far there are eight towers, with four to go. The highest steeple is three feet shorter than the nearest hill, since the architect didn’t want his work to surpass God’s artistry. The three faces of the basilica each have three doors, with the faces named Passion, Nativity, and Grace. The interior is crammed with geometric figures that almost seem to spin, crazy-quilt windows, spiral staircases, and jumbles of statues and figures. Although inspired by ancient Gothic cathedrals, the style is called Expressionist, and very little is left unexpressed by the masonry.

If you can’t afford a visit, Sagrada Familia maintains a web site, and virtual visits are free.

-Rev. James Field

This inseparable bond between ouracceptance of the message of salvation and genuine fraternal love appears in several scriptural texts which we would do well to meditate upon… The message is one we often take for granted… How dangerous and harmful this is… God’s word teaches us that our brothers and sisters are the prolongation of the incarnation for each of us: “As you did it to one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it to me.”

The way we treat others has a transcendent dimension: “The measure you give will be the measure you get.” It corresponds to the mercy which God has shown us: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you… For themeasure you give will be the measure you get back.”