Rock of the Village

St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery151 2nd Ave. (10th St.), 212-674-6377

Early January, and I'm the only one strolling in Abe Lebewohl Park. Pacing is more like it. Abe Lebewohl, a handful of benches on weathered paving stones that border the triangle at 2nd Ave. and 10th St., is more patch than park. On fair days, the space has a quiet bustle to it-people taking lunch, walking dogs or people-watching-but today is in the low teens with a light snow falling like soot.

Even on days like this, there's always something going on at adjacent St. Mark's Church. When assistant pastor Frank Morales arrives, I meet the choir director, who's giving a gospel singer a tour of the building. Alessandra, the office manager, is attending to a phone that only stops ringing when it's off the hook. The thrum of footsteps up and down the building's stairs is constant.

St. Mark's Church is the oldest site of worship in New York City. Peter Stuyvesant bought the land in 1651, and the Georgian-style building was constructed as the first NYC Episcopal parish between 1795 and 1799, with the financial assistance of the Stuyvesant family and Alexander Hamilton. The church's elderly roof-in need of replacing-has a long history of sheltering social justice, arts, cultural and, of course, spiritual communities. Danspace and the St. Mark's Poetry Project, and more recently Richard Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Theater, are tenants; countless meetings are held on the ground-level, with its graceful blond floors and stained-glass windows. The space has played host to everything from discussions immediately after 9/11 to organizing sessions for 2002's World Economic Forum. During last summer's Republican National Convention protests, the church acted as an information center.

Sitting behind a desk in his light, airy attic office, Pastor Julio Torres explains that advocating social justice is at the core of the St. Mark's mission. He speaks of the church as a place with an affinity for the arts where people can grow in their spirituality. "Though [the arts groups] pay rent, there is more than a landlord/tenant relationship," he explains. "It's a community of arts projects and religious congregation in collaboration. We're here to support social justice issues-the Critical Mass riders among many others-but without specific political affiliation."

Father Torres, a bespectacled, soft-spoken man in his early 40s, was raised in El Salvador, went to seminary in Cambridge, MA, and was a missionary in Nicaragua, where he worked with refugees. His experiences in both countries laid a foundation for his commitment to human and civil rights. After a stint as a pastor of St. Matthew's & St. Timothy's on the Upper West Side, Torres joined St. Mark's in 2000. Among his main concerns at present are the capital project to replace the roof and a burgeoning sister-to-sister relationship with a Sri Lankan village, with the goal of helping them recover from December's tsunami.

The St. Mark's religious community consists of about 100 people, 35 to 40 of whom are also volunteers. On Wednesday afternoon, there is a noonday prayer and silent meditation; in the evening, a religious service is followed by a discussion, meal and study program. The main liturgy and Eucharist takes place on Sunday, in English at 10:30 and in Spanish at 1.

"We minister to the people of the community from a vantage point rooted in the power of the spirit of liberation, love and justice in the here and now," says Father Morales, who does not distinguish between his activism and faith. "The gentrification of the neighborhood has resulted in the displacement of many from the neighborhood, with impacts in material, cultural and spiritual ways-all negative. And yet, that reality is always contradictory-we also have a possibility of creating positive alliances with others."

In 2001, Lower East Side community center Charas/El Bohio was evicted after over 20 years of tenancy, triggering an ongoing battle to prevent the owner of the former school building from turning it into a dormitory or luxury condos. It's a familiar story, and I remark to Father Torres that a great deal seems to hinge on property ownership. He nods. Even as neighboring small businesses fold under the pressure of rent increases, Torres isn't worried. St. Mark's Church owns the building.