Dear friends: It is hard to believe that the church where my grand parents met, where my parents met, where myself my brother and two sisters were baptized and it happens to be the saint who I was name after, is going on the chopping block. This church on the upper east side of Manhattan has been a cornerstone for the Carnegie Hill neighborhood it has served for generations of Catholics. The community it created was based on giving not receiving. My grandmother Louise Smol gave unconditionally to the elderly of our parish. She would cook for them, sit with them, read to them and help to make their lonely remaining years without family near more humane and happy. Both my Grandmother and Grandfather received the Good Samaritan Plaque from the NY Catholic Archdiocese and Cardinal OConner for their giving and service to the elderly. They shook the hand of Pope John Paul II. My mother Barbara Higgins sang in the choir for close to 40 years. My Father Walter F. Higgins was deeply involved with the parish council as well as volunteering to cook for parish luncheons for the less fortunate. This was such an unassuming church that Jackie Kennedy chose to worship here and it was at St Thomas More where she was laid to rest. I spent my childhood in this church, singing choir, as an alter boy, first communion, conformation. It is where my parents were married. There is more of my families heritage within these walls than any place on earth. The current Archdiocese in NY wants to dismantle St. Thomas More and combine its parish with St Ignatius on 84th and Park Av. I think of my Grandmother, my Grandfather and all the elderly they helped care for and wonder how will they get to church on a blustery cold February morning when their new church is 3 times as far for them to travel. They wont be able to make it and thus will stop going. St. Thomas More and St Ignatius are separate beings from separate neighborhoods and should remain as such. Please sign this petition to help save this little church that 3 generations of my family have worshiped and called their spiritual home. Thank you.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 16:56:25 +0000
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