Submitted by Marilyn Otero Rpac, Mar 17, 2007 12:34

I am not of Irish descent, but I was raised on East 7th Street and attended St. Brigid's School. I received the sacraments of Baptism, Communion and Confirmation at St. Brigid's Church.

I remember when the new altar was placed, the spires were brought down and the mass was changed from Latin to English. I also remember a melting pot of people: Irish, Polish, Italian and Hispanic, coming together and worshiping as a community. But I guess what I remember most was a neighborhood in crisis!

Gangs like the "Young Lords", drug dealers and addiction infested the neighborhood. There was no where to go and no money to spend on recreation. The neighborhood youth "hung out" in alleys, lots and the projects. Avenues A; B; C; D and beyond at times reminded me of the movie, "Night of the Living Dead", as I looked into the blank, nodding faces of the heroin addicts. I remember feeling scared that I too, would become one of them. The neighborhood's youth were emotionally and physically dying.

There was only one haven, one escape....St. Brigid's Church ! Every Sunday the Church was packed with people, praying , singing, and rejoicing , if only for one hour. this was a place of hope, where desperate parents prayed that their children be saved and where children, like myself, prayed that God would show me the way!

Priests such as Father Thompson and Father McDermott literally took us off the streets and invited us into their home. the rectory became a place of comfort where you were welcomed, and could find others like yourself engaged in music, counseling, and comradery.

Yes, many of us who found a haven there were saved ! Not in just a religious way, but as humans who grew up to contribute to society.

So, it saddens me to see that our children will not have that available to them. Surely, those that still live in the neighborhood continue to attend religious schools and other neighborhood churches. Nonprofit organizations catering to our youth abound.... but nothing is quite the same as a community church where adults and youth can come togrther and feel connected and safe.

St. Brigid's community needs its church. It continues to be a neighborhood in transition that needs and cries out for a solid unifying force. The neighborhood's youth still faces many of the dangers that I faced ! Let's not blind ourselves to this fact.

$285,000 to save a community ? That's less than $30.00 times 10,000 people. You can count me in! No greater return on your investment can be gotten. Philanthropists, bless their hearts, give huge amounts of money to help humanity. Ironic, how one such opportunity exits right under their very noses, one that they are too blind to see.

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