Photograph by wallyg on Flickr It's a $20 million miracle for an East Village church slated for demolition! An anonymous donor has given a multi-million donation to the struggling parish and its school: There's $10 million for the restoration of the the church, $2 million for a parish endowment and $8 million to support St. Brigid's school and other Catholic schools. With a cornerstone laid in 1848, St. Brigid's is one of the oldest......

Now that he has welcomed Pope Benedict XVI to NYC, the NY Times speculates that Cardinal Edward Egan could retire soon. Egan, the head of the powerful NY Archdiocese, presented his resignation letter last year (required by Vatican Law of all archbishops who turn 75). The Times explains the pope decides when resignations take effect--while Pope John Paul II allowed bishops and archbishops to serve longer, Benedict "has been more prompt about replacing bishop." It's......

Edward Cardinal Egan, the archbishop of the New York Archdiocese, had no patience of protesters or reporters covering the protests outside a Midtown church yesterday. Some people have been upset their local churches have been closed by the Catholic Church, most notably parishioners Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem, who have been protesting the February closing every weekend since February. And yesterday, outside of St. John the Baptist on West 31st Street, Our......

It was the coldest Easter Sunday in 67 years, but there were still lots of colorful and crazy hats on display during the Easter Parade. The parade also travels past St. Patrick's Cathedral, where Edward Cardinal Egan was smiling at the crowds. But the Post noted his Easter homily was more serious:There is so much information that is forced upon us. It's impossible to click through [television] channels without being shamed. There are obstacles......

We knew the Catholic Church was sneaky, but we never thought that a cardinal would stoop this low! Cardinal Egan had a meeting with the priest at Our Lady of Vilnius Church yesterday, only to take the opportunity to lock the church while the priest was gone! The Post reports that security guards were dispatched to lock the doors, leaving parishioners to cry when they found a closed church and no mass. Parishioners held......

On Wednesday a blog called Whispers in the Loggia posted an open letter from New York priests calling for a vote of no confidence in Cardinal Edward Egan, archbishop of New York. The Daily News quickly picked up on the story, as did the Post, and today the Times catches up with the story. The letter, from a group called A Committee of Concerned Clergy, is unusual in this area not only in that......

-- Nothing says love like an illegal wedding at the Metropolitan Museum. -- The Brooke Astor saga is over-- her son agreed to give up guardianship, in exchange for keeping the cash he diverted from the estate. -- 50,000 people sent Katie Couric suggestions on a sign-off line. Our submission: "Suck on that, America!" -- Is Pirro really tough on pedophiles? She let 93% of the ones she caught plead out to probation. --......

New York Press makes it's annual attempt at relevancy this week with it's list of the 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers. Sigh. We always really want to like this list, but it just never quite lives up to our hopes. They get some good bits in there ("Sometimes it’s funny when a Jewish-American named Larry gets into wacky adventures due to being stubborn and shortsighted. Unfortunately, Larry Silverstein is no Larry David.") but they......

- Okay, to recap: No more talks between the MTA & TWU are scheduled as of yet and the TWU won't full-out strike until Tuesday at the earliest - David Lee Roth is really excited about his talk radio future - The Village Voice notices how Madonna seems "removed" from New York with lyrics like "I don't like cities but I like New York/Other places make me feel like a dork" - but they like......