It’s absolutely amazing how advocates of causes that target the Catholic Church are able to mount drawn-out campaigns, raise defense funds, hold rallies and vigils, and find sympathy in the courts and the press.

One such campaign concerns St. Brigid’s, a church in the East Village that is scheduled for demolition. Opponents consider the building an Irish cultural landmark that should be preserved, and they have offered to buy the building to restore it. The archdiocese claims St. Brigid’s is unsafe, but it won’t sell. Would this conflict even exist if the property did not belong to the archdiocese?

I first became aware of the situation a couple of years ago when my nephew, who is an artist and lives in the area, asked me to write a column urging the archdiocese to reconsider its position. Obviously, my nephew has an inflated opinion of my influence in the community, but I did promise to look into the background.

One of the first things I learned was that this battle is not along the usual lines. It does not involve heartbroken parishioners struggling to save their parish. This campaign is being funded by individuals more concerned with aesthetical changes in the community than the removal of a spiritual nexus.

Articles in the local press assert that former parishioners are the ones behind the campaign to save St. Brigid’s, but the director of communications for the archdiocese, Joseph Zwilling, said attendance at the church was quite small. While some of the petitioners opposed to the demolition include former parishioners, they are certainly not the majority.

A filmmaker, Jerome O’Connor, a native of Cork, Ireland, has been at the forefront of this effort to save a landmark he claims is of great historical significance to the Irish immigrants who escaped from the great Famine and built this church. It is St. Brigid’s Irish connection, rather than any religious association, that motivates his drive to save the building.

Another passionate petitioner is Edwin Torres, who was a parishioner for more than 30 years and was very involved in the parish services. He has appeared on “The Brian Lehrer Show” on WNYC with Mr. O’Connor to plead for the preservation of a beautiful church with historical significance to both the Irish and Hispanic communities.

One caller to the show charged that the reason the archdiocese is gutting the church is that it needs the money to pay for the judgments stemming from the priest pedophile scandals. Mr. Zwilling, however, told the Village Voice: “If all we cared about is money, we would have sold it to this person who was offering market value for it. That would have kept the preservationist crowd happy. But that’s not what we’re interested in. We’re interested in serving the needs of the people consistent with the Catholic mission and the purpose of the Archdiocese of New York.”

He also told me: “Is it fair that we deprive funding for education in our inner city schools in order to preserve church buildings in poorly attended parishes?”

The archdiocese is in the progress of a realignment of its parishes. It will be closing some sparsely populated parishes and expanding those in growing areas. Consequently, faithful parishioners are facing the closure of churches that have traditional connections to their families. I sympathize with parishioners like Mr. Torres, but I find it somewhat unrealistic for them not to realize that for the church to survive, it must make difficult choices. Thriving parishes where the congregations are generous with time and money never have to worry about losing their spiritual homes. Far too often, sentiment and nostalgia play more of a part in these battles to preserve edifices than true devotion and faith.

My old parish, St. Cecilia’s on 106th Street in Spanish Harlem, holds many fond memories, but if it were razed tomorrow, how could I possibly protest? I was baptized there, but haven’t attended Mass there in more than 30 years. What right do I have to hold the church hostage for my injured feelings?

We lose landmarks every day in this city, but the only ones we truly have a right to demand the preservation of are those that are publicly owned. Remember the Roxy, the Paramount, the Lorelei, Café Feenjon? All may have had some form of cultural significance, but they’re all gone and I don’t recall any candlelight vigils before their departure.

I heard one woman on Mr. Lehrer’s show say that she passed the church every day on her way to work, and that it would be a shame to see the beautiful building torn down. Well, perhaps if more people did more than just pass the church, St. Brigid’s fate might have been avoided.