Old St. Patrick’s in Manhattan.
By Irish Echo Staff
The group Concerned Members of the Affiliated Organizations has put its money where its mouth has been.
It has covered the $250 New York City St. Patrick’s Day affiliation fee paid by the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral.
As reported in the Irish Echo last week, Old St. Patrick’s was informed in a letter from parade organizers that it was behind on parade dues going back several years.
The basilica was told that sum owed was $1250 – a total made up of affiliation fees for the past five years - but that the $250 would do for now.
That sum was paid and Old St. Patrick’s will have a contingent in the parade on St. Patrick’s Day.
The letter, however, has prompted CMAO to release a statement expressing its concern over fees being levied from educational and religious institutions which might have a hard time paying.
The statement also direct critical comment at the parade organizing board.
Said the CMAO statement in part: “Have the finances of the Parade become so precarious as to warrant sending collection notices to financially-strapped Catholic organizations?
“In previous years, the Parade Committee Chairman, John Dunleavy, waived the affiliation fees for these financially strapped affiliated organizations who would be forced to choose between marching in the parade and spending their limited resources fulfilling their Catholic mission of educating children, serving the poor and evangelizing the people.
“Many of these affiliated organizations have proudly marched in the parade for several decades, including the alumni of several Catholic schools that have closed in recent years. They have made it a point to gather every year on St. Patrick’s Day to celebrate their faith, their heritage and their Catholic education.”
The statement said that “in the spirit of St. Patrick,” the Concerned Members of the Affiliated Organizations had made a donation directly to the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral to cover the affiliation fee in order to ensure its participation in the 2016 Parade.
And it continued: “The CMAO recognizes the historic significance the Basilica as the original St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the birthplace of Irish America.
“It was the church where brave Irish Americans of the AOH stood shoulder to shoulder to defend her from bigoted nativists who sought to burn it to the ground.
“It is the church where the great Archbishop John “Dagger John” Hughes established the parochial school system that has set the standards of educational excellence. It is the church where the famed Fighting 69th Regiment celebrated Mass before marching out of its doors to ships waiting to take them to the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861.
“The basilica is a treasure to Irish American faith, history and culture. It would be a shame to deny them an opportunity to proudly march in the Parade because of the financial woes of the current parade administrators.”
The statement pointed to a parade board release stating that the parade had managed to raise sponsorship “nearing $500,000” at a point roughly two weeks before this year’s parade, a standout in that it marks the centenary of the 1916 Rising.
The CMAO statement posed a question: If the Parade Corporation had successfully raised the money, then why was it a case of “harassing small, cash strapped Catholic organizations for affiliation fees which have traditionally been waived?”
If the parade has been successful in its fundraising why were letters on the lines of the one sent to Old St. Patrick’s being sent out?
The statement answered its own question in part by pointing at the parade broadcasting contact with WNBC and “entertainment expenses for private parties at the high-tone New York Athletic Club.”
If such money had not been so spent, the statement concluded, “perhaps money might be available for scholarships (which have not been granted for the last two years) and the Parade Board would not feel it necessary to deny the charity shown to the participating Catholic schools, parishes and organizations over recent years.”
