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To the Editor:
The report in the Dec. 29 issue regarding the razing of Our Lady of Vilnius noted that the building no longer served the Lithuanian community for which it was founded. I can add that it has spent the past few years serving Marymount Manhattan College’s class on the history of Greenwich Village.
I learned abut Our Lady of Vilnius from Caroline Ware’s 1935 study, “Greenwich Village,” and from Msgr. Thomas J. Shelley’s Catholic Historical Review article on Greenwich Village’s ethnic Catholics, which I’ve long assigned my students, and followed recent developments in the local newspapers. Most students start the class knowing Greenwich Village’s reputation in the arts. Through the story of Our Lady of Vilnius, among other churches, they learn about the ethnic groups that formed a neighborhood in which those creative artists could make their own communities. One of the class highlights is the walking tour during which we find the places we’ve read about all semester.
Even if the Lithuanian community no longer worships there, I’m glad Our Lady of Vilnius stayed for so long. In its last years, it has helped class after class learn more about the role of the Church in the City of New York.
Mary Brown
Staten Island
