Donor Gives $20-Million for N.Y. Church Built in 1848

An anonymous donor has given $20-million to save from demolition St. Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church, a historic structure in New York, and to support Catholic schools, reports The New York Times.

Of the donation, $10-million will restore the church, built in 1848 by Irish immigrants. Another $2-million will endow the parish “so that it might best meet the religious and spiritual needs of the people living in the community,” and the remaining $8-million will support St. Brigid’s School and other needy Catholic schools, the newspaper reports.

A great deal of restoration work needs to be done, said a spokesman for the archdiocese, which had closed the church in 2001 because of structural problems. The decision to demolish the building had been held up by court appeals.

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