EAST VILLAGE — Parishioners fighting to save their church from closure later this summer have a new goal: a shrine dedicated to its most notable member, Dorothy Day.
Parishioners have been fighting to keep the Church of the Nativity open through letter-writing and social media campaigns since the Archdiocese of New York announced it would be one of nine Manhattan parishes to merge with nearby congregations and cease weekly masses on Aug. 1.
Church members have also filed an appeal of the closure with the Archdiocese of New York, which was denied, said Mercedes Sanchez, a lifelong worshipper who has been active in the effort to keep Nativity open.
Parishioners plan to continue fighting the merger, saying that they were never given a chance to properly appeal the decision, but now they are also asking the archdiocese to build a shrine dedicated to Day, as first reported by the New York Times.
Day co-founded the Catholic Worker movement and worshipped at Nativity until her death in 1980. An effort is currently underway to canonize her.
“If a Dorothy Day Shrine is built within Nativity we believe it will become a national place of worship,” Sanchez wrote in an email. “This is where Dorothy attended [mass] as she worked with the poor in the Lower East Side/East Village.”
Sanchez said the shrine could be built within the church, but if the archdiocese decides to sell the property — as it did with another East Village church, Mary Help of Christians in 2012 — parishioners hope it will build a chapel or retreat center “where Nativity members and neighboring parishes can worship/work together.”
“It can be on the ground floor of whatever condo will be built should the church close,” she wrote.
Sanchez said parishioners first floated the idea of a Dorothy Day shrine last year but have not heard back from the archdiocese. They are now in the process of following up on the request, she said.
Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said it had not received a formal request from the parish for a shrine, but would be "happy to listen to what they're proposing."
Parishioners plan to hold a special mass in honor of Day on Saturday at 6 p.m., followed by a press conference about their efforts to keep the Church of the Nativity open.
