I received an email this morning from John J. O’Sullivan (full disclosure – John is a friend of mine) who attended the rally yesterday evening in Manhattan to save the icons at The Church of Our Saviour. He reports:
There was a small rag-tag group of Catholics who stood in front of the residence of Cardinal Dolan. We asked to see Cardinal Dolan, but he was away. At first, we thought that we wouldn’t be able to get any word in, but we were told that we’d be able to see a representative of the archdiocese.
At first, it was said that only one of us would be able to meet with the rep, but eventually Ken Woo, the artist responsible for the icons, along with two men who attended Our Saviour before and after Fr. Rutler’s tenure met with the archdiocesan rep.
Afterwards, they said that the meeting was “productive,” and the archdiocese was made more than aware of what is currently happening at Our Saviour.
No word of any resolution to this issue yet, but a “productive” meeting with someone from the New York Archdiocese is more than has happened so far. For the time being, we’ll remain cautiously optimistic that the Pantocrator can be saved, but I’m not betting any money (yet) on the restoration of the other icons.
