High rent may doom Catholic chapel that survived 9/11

[rug]

A sculpture of Our Lady of Guadalupe adorns St. Joseph’s Chapel, Thursday, April 27, 2017, in New York. The Roman Catholic chapel that sheltered first responders after the destruction of the World Trade Center and was reborn as a memorial to the terrorist attack’s victims may fall victim itself to the prosperity of its resurgent New York City neighborhood. (Mark Lennihan/Associated Press)

By Karen Matthews | AP April 29 at 8:56 AM

NEW YORK — Parishioners at a New York City chapel that sheltered 9/11 first responders are praying for a miracle to save it from falling victim itself to the prosperity of its resurgent neighborhood.

St. Joseph’s Chapel is living on archdiocese subsidies after the rent for the relatively small space tripled in 2014 to $264,000 a year.

“If it should disappear and become a Gap or something — nothing against Gap, but it’s really not OK,” said Justine Cuccia, 55, a leader of the effort to save the tiny Roman Catholic chapel, part of the oldest Catholic parish in the state.

St. Joseph’s occupies ground-floor space in an apartment complex in Battery Park City, a community fewer than two blocks from the World Trade Center. The chapel is a mission of St. Peter’s Church about a half-mile away, where worshippers will be expected to go if St. Joseph’s closes.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/high-rent-may-doom-catholic-chapel-that-survived-911/2017/04/29/95e27890-2cd7-11e7-9081-f5405f56d3e4_story.html?utm_term=.1bc0d717ae58