Archdiocese Turns Down $100G Donation for Historic Little Italy Church, Stirring Speculation

Officers for the San Gennaro Festival said they attempted to donate $100,000 to be used to benefit the 122-year-old Most Precious Blood church, that has always held an important spot in the annual celebration of Italian culture.

"We were stunned,” said John Fretta, a vice president of the San Gennaro Festival, the nonprofit charity that runs the annual feast in Little Italy each September.

The statue of San Gennaro, the patrol saint of Naples, Italy, plays a prominent role at the annual festival, and returns to a place of honor in Most Precious Blood on Baxter Street, which runs parallel to Mulberry Street.

After all the bills were paid after last year’s festival, he said a $100,000 donation was made earlier this year to Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, with the provision that the funds could only be used for Most Precious Blood. The Italian cathedral church in Little Italy has fallen on hard times and currently has no clergy of its own but is overseen the Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Most Precious Blood has only two Sunday Masses, 11 a.m. in English and in testament to the changing make up of the neighborhood, a 2 p.m. Mass in Vietnamese.

Still, turning down a six figure donation surprised the festival organizers. “The Catholic Church never refuses anything,” said Mike Verra, a board member of the San Gennaro Festival who is one of a dwindling number of Italian-Americans who still lives on Mulberry St. “All the Churches around Little Italy are gone, except for Most Precious Blood,” he said.

Refusing the donation has sparked renewed speculation that the Archdiocese plans to sell the Most Precious Blood church adding it to the long list of churches that are being sold off to developers to raise money for a fund for survivors of past sexual abuse.

Verra said the check was originally accepted by Father Daniel Ray, the pastor of Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral. But he said Bishop Edmund Whalen, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese, ordered it to be returned.

No reason was given for the returned check he said.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan merged the parish into Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 2015, the year after the Franciscans who had administered it for over a century, pulled out. The following year, Cardinal Timothy Dolan merged the church with its rapidly dwindling congregation into the Basicilica of Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In a surprise move, on Jan. 1, 2024, Cardinal Dolan dissolved the merger. But instead of joy that it was back on its own, the de-merger only sparked new fears that it was a first step in a sell off move.

But then the de-merger was quietly rescinded by the Archdiocese last year, and the church was once again put under the administration of the Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral once again.

Fratta said he was told that it cost about $100,000 to maintain the Most Precious Blood church.

Verra said, “One theory is that they are maintaining the church with money from the sale of the rectory in 2018. Once the money runs out, I think they will shut it down completely and sell it off.”

“Most Precious Blood is an important part of Little History,” Verra said. “I think the only reason they haven’t sold the church already is they know it would create an uproar.”

The festival just celebrated its 100th anniversary this year, making it the biggest and longest running festival of Italian-American culture in the city.

Joseph Zwilling, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese said, “The parishes are merged. The previous decree was revoked.” He insisted, however, “Most Precious Blood is not for sale.”

But that is not likely to squash the sell off speculation in Little Italy and still does not clear up the mystery of the declined six figure donation. A call to Bishop Whalen and to officials at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral were not returned.

The offices of the San Gennaro festival say that while rain dampened turnout over the final two days of the festival this September, they still expect to be able to make another $100,000 donation for the beloved church after all the billas are paid this year. “We are going to try to give the same or a little more this year,” said Verra. “We’ll see what happens.”