Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Majestic Ridgewood church seeks tower repair funds

The following is a request for donations being circulated on behalf of St. Aloysius Church in Ridgewood:

You may or may not be aware that the bell towers of the Church are in desperate need of repair and the bells and clocks have not been working for over 10 years. This fundraiser is for the
benefit of restoring the bells. Through your generous donations Saint Aloysius Church will repair the bells and also preserve an important asset to the Ridgewood community. Please note that the donation is a tax write off and you can request a tax receipt letter.

To make a donation to the tower fund, mail check to:

St. Aloysius R.C. Church
382 Onderdonk Avenue
Ridgewood, NY 11385

There's also a special fundraiser scheduled for later this year for alumni.

If the church had been landmarked, it could have qualified for special grants. Oh well.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just an idea. Have they looked for grant programs for the restoration of bells. Does The Foundation Library show any grants?

Help may be here: http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/church-preservation/church-preservation.htm

What a beautiful church! When was landmarking denied? Perhaps they should try again.

Anonymous said...

Why did they wait so long to start raising money to make repairs?

JohnnyRidgewood said...

The following events is the reason why this beautiful church will never be landmark.
Back in 1992, they did major renovations inside the church. Like the removal of the marble pulpit for a wood one, all the artwork on the ceiling whitewash, enlarging the main altar, and so on.
10 years ago at&t installed their antenna equipment in one tower(this is why the bells can never be used again)
Couple years ago they installed an useless elevator that goes from the church floor to the basement
They do a lot of fundraising every couple of years but listed above, they spend the money on stupid projects that do nothing is preserving the church as it was back in 1892.

Queens Crapper said...

JohnnyRidgewood:

Only exteriors of buildings are landmarked.

The elevator was likely installed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

JohnnyRidgewood said...

Sorry crappy, but the building is definitely not landmarked. I spent a couple of years working there, and saw a lot that happen. The elevator installation had nothing to do with ADA, when the school was sold for 7 million, they took a lot of that money and spent it on the BSMT gym. It was transformed into an event hall, and the pastor decided to install the elevator lift (even though the parish council was against it)

JQ LLC said...

As an atheist, I think that it's a travesty that churches of outstanding design and architecture are being cast out by landmarking one by one. City officials have been talking a lot lately about art, but the churches don't count? But hideous street art like the Sunbather in LIC and the "fearless" brat are?

Despite all the criticism, and it's well deserved because of years of covering up child molestation by priests, of the the catholic religion, these churches should remain where they are and maintained. And also for constitutional reasons being that since people have the right to worship and practice their faith without infringement, the churches are proper venues for them.

I also think it's an outrage that permits are being doled out left and right for megachurches and mosques that look more like shopping malls or concert arenas.

Middle Villager said...

FWIW, this church was built starting in 1902 (the parish is older). I know this because my father remembered as a child going to Mass across the street in the saloon while the Church was being built. Must have been great ' The mass is over,bars open'. A sizeable donation to the building foundation got you a reserved seat at a specific mass. We always had to sit there if we went back to his old church. Times change.

Anonymous said...

Look, stop your idle speculation on Landmarking. There is two reasons why this (as well as the rest of Queens) is against Landmarks.

Your city councilman: they are owned by developers and the needs of Honest Joe Crowley's patronage machine. The weaker the community, the more easy to develop and shoehorn in future Democrats, the better for them. And expect no real help from elsewhere - those bastards vote on budgets in city council (which should scare off any support from outside Queens) and they may not be very creative or imaginative but they are vindictive and petty when a citizen exercises their right to think and express an opinion that is not in their script.

You, the Queens resident: the pols have done so much thinking for you that your ability to form an opinion independent of them has atrophied - you just go ahead and vote for them even though pay lip service to you and go about their course for themselves and their 'firm.' They say that 'Landmark is bad', soooo, you accept that 'Landmark is bad' mouthing all the bs reasons they tell you and 'hoping' it will be 'saved' by the the developer you sell it to, and telling your children 'there is nothing you can do to fight city hall'. Its so funny, that when challenged to go into Landmarked communities to mouth your 'certainties' you scowl and slink back to your cave. You are pathetic.

Queens Crapper said...

"Sorry crappy, but the building is definitely not landmarked."

I am well aware of that, which is why I mentioned it in the post. It still could be landmarked, but you need the church and council member on board for that.

Gary W said...

Let the Pope pay for it. He can sell a painting or something.

Anonymous said...

What about Hell's Bells? Whose going to pay for those?

Anonymous said...

Well as the person involved I have to say that most of these post especially by so called JohnyRidgewood is just simply a bunch of croppy lies.
First of all elevator or a ramp had to be done because of the designation of the parish hall that was transformed into multifunctional facility such as religion school for children or Polish Saturday school or an event meeting space for the members of the parish. And all were on board with it. Not against it. So someone who has no clue about it should just sit down and shut up. Period. So much to say.