Saving St Brigid's

Thomas Adcock

06-13-2008

"Saving St. Brigid's," as Roman Catholic parishioners of a historic church in Manhattan's East Village call their legal struggle against annihilation by wrecking ball, is a city epic coming to closure, thanks to the intervention of a mysterious financial savior and in part to attorneys believed by a lay leader to be "angels from God."

The latest turn in the long-running battle between the laity group and the Archdiocese of New York - Wednesday's response brief filed by the archdiocese with the Court of Appeals in the Manhattan Supreme Court matter of Committee to Save St. Brigid's Inc. v. Edward Cardinal Egan, et al., 110443/06 - may prove to be a penultimate legal action, leaving the judges in Albany to rule on a narrow point of law involving exactly who is entitled to raze the church, or else to declare the case moot in view of a $20 million anonymous donation. Edward Cardinal Egan, the Archbishop of New York, says he will use the financial gift to restore St. Brigid's.

Whatever, opposing clients in the case encompassing two lawsuits against the Archdiocese express something rare in civil litigation - satisfaction with a favorable outcome as the result of their counselors' high-profile wrangling.

Marisa Marinelli, a partner at Holland & Knight and lead plaintiffs' counsel in the second suit now before the Court of Appeals, said her clients' passions were so high she decided the only way to keep her lawyerly objectivity would be to steer clear of viewing St. Brigid's, shuttered since 2001 due to outside structural damage and half gutted on the inside on orders of the Archdiocese.

But late last month, when a mysterious donor stepped forward with $20 million to cover restoration of the dilapidated church building and support for its adjacent school, where Mass was celebrated for the tenacious faithful, Ms. Marinelli gave in to passion and the exigencies of a press conference, and finally visited the site on Tompkins Square Park.

The church and its setting, she said, put her in mind of "beautiful movies about old New York." St. Brigid's was built in 1848 by immigrant refugees of the Great Famine in Ireland.

Surrounding Ms. Marinelli on the day of the press conference were celebrants with famous and non-famous names, descendants of one sort or another of the waves of Irish, then Italian, then Latino immigrants who call St. Brigid's home.

"I've never seen so many happy people in New York City in one day - ever," said Ms. Marinelli.

"Every time you turn around in this city, there's bad news. There are plenty of churches around the city being closed, which nobody seems to care about," she said. "For once, we have good news. I look forward to attending the first Mass in a restored St. Brigid's. I will use the word 'triumph' when that day comes."

But a legal issue remains before the Court of Appeals: who decides the fate of churches like St. Brigid's, parishioners or the church hierarchy?

In their reply brief filed Wednesday, Kelley Drye & Warren attorneys for the Archdiocese claim the U.S. Supreme Court settled that question in the 1952 case of Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral of Russian Church, 344 U.S. 94, ruling that "the hierarchy is the final authority over who controls a church building, not the parishioners."

Prior to the $20 million gift, Cardinal Egan had put St. Brigid's on a list of parish churches to be closed, citing damages that would cost about $7 million to repair versus some $500,000 to demolish, and the fact that three other nearby Catholic churches were available to the St. Brigid's flock.

But in the plaintiffs' brief before the Court of Appeals, Ms. Marinelli said the Archdiocese violated Religious Corporations Law §5 with the hasty appointment of a St. Brigid's church board that "would allow defendants to proceed with the demolition and use the property [for other than religious purpose]" in accordance with Religious Corporations Law §2, which defines an incorporated church as that which is created "to enable its members to meet for divine worship." Throughout the legal battle, plaintiffs have claimed that the Archdiocese intended to sell the St. Brigid's property for redevelopment as a site for high-end condominiums.

To date, said Ms. Marinelli, Holland & Knight has invested about 800 pro bono hours toward saving St. Brigid's. She was aided by Roseann Bassler Dal Pra, an associate who has since left the firm, and current associates David Herrington and Robert Burns. Mr. Burns has been more heavily involved, said Ms. Marinelli.

Holland & Knight entered the cause when Manhattan solo practitioner Harry Kresky, long a champion of historic preservation on the Lower East Side, lost the first action against the Archdiocese and sought alliance with a major commercial firm to improve the odds of succeeding in a second battle.

Advocating for Cardinal Egan and the Archdiocese are Neil Merkl and John M. Callagy, partners at Kelley Drye & Warren. Mr. Callagy said client confidentiality prevented him from disclosing the basis of the firm's representation, paid or pro bono. Mr. Merkl said Kelley Drye had a 30-year attorney-client relationship with the Archdiocese.

On May 21, Mr. Callagy sent a letter to the Court of Appeals in the matter of Committee to Save St. Brigid's v. Cardinal Egan, in which he said the legal dispute "has now been rendered academic" in light of the $20 million donation, and that the diocesan-appointed parish board "will surrender the demolition permits . . . and begin the restoration of the building."

In her May 23 letter to the Court, responding to that of Mr. Callagy, Ms. Marinelli acknowledged the donation as a "positive step" but said promises to restore the church, and official receipt of the anonymous $20 million, had not been formally "confirmed and documented." Until documentation, she said, her brief on appeal would stand.

Mr. Callagy's response brief contained no such documentation. In an interview, however, he said "at some point building permits will be sought" to begin reconstruction of St. Brigid's and that demolition permits obtained by the Archdiocese prior to the donation "will not be acted upon." The procedure for his client's collection of $20 million, he said, is "something I would not know."

Joseph Zwilling, communications director for the Archdiocese, told the Law Journal, "I'm not going to question the donor's timing."

In a written statement issued on May 19, Cardinal Egan said the "magnificent gift will make it possible for St. Brigid's Church to be fittingly restored with its significant structural problems properly addressed."

Although "nothing has been resolved in terms of legalities, we are nevertheless very happy," said Edwin Torres, head of the plaintiff parishioners committee.

"We've been blessed - first with Harry Kresky, so resourceful even when he had no funds, and then Marisa Marinelli, so humble and proud to have done what she did," said Mr. Torres. "I've had experiences with attorneys before. But these attorneys were people who genuinely cared about saving our church. They are truly angels sent by God to help us out."

Mr. Burns, a senior litigation associate at Holland & Knight, said he took on Mr. Torres' campaign because "I'm a big fan of New York City history, and because in this line of work it's rare that you have something so profoundly tangible to protect as a building, and because this is also that rare case where I could engage my personal passion."

Mr. Kresky described the battle as "David versus Goliath," which is why he sought help from Holland & Knight to keep the struggle going, though he never imagined someone with $20 million would come along.

"The East Village is a very hot neighborhood from a development point of view, and this is a development-oriented city," said Mr. Kresky. "But it is also a city of history. And we're talking about a parish church here. It's not St. Patrick's, it's not St. Bartholomew's. But it's a church with a real history of serving immigrants, and real meaning, and we tend to undervalue that."

Mr. Kresky, along with Ms. Marinelli and Mr. Burns, look forward to possible informal talks with the lawyers at Kelley Drye between now and September, when the Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral argument. Ms. Marinelli has until June 20 to file response to Mr. Callagy's brief of June 10.

Meanwhile, Mr. Zwilling described Cardinal Egan and the anonymous donor - whom he characterized only as "he" and "not Matt Damon," the film actor who is among dozens of celebrities in support of Mr. Torres and his group - as "a match made in Heaven" in the saving of St. Brigid.

Mr. Kresky said he was uncurious about the donor's identity because "I don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

- Thomas Adcock may be reached at tadcock@alm.com.