St. George's New Church Brightens Manhattan Lower East Side (12/31/77)

St. George's New Church Brightens Manhattan Lower East Side

NEW YORK, N.Y. - On Manhattan's lower East Side, an area that has had its share of neighborhood decay, a magnificent new church is rising - a symbol of the faith of the people in rebuilding their community, wrote the New York Daily News on Tuesday, December 27.

St. George's Ukrainian Catholic Church, at Hall Place and E. Seventh St., is the Ukrainian people's gift to New York. Designed in the traditional Byzantine style, it is about 90 percent completed.

The pastor, Rev. Volodymyr Gavlich, said yesterday that thanks to the generosity of the Ukrainians from all over the country - but particularly those in the greater New York area - the church has had no problems in raising slightly over $2 million of the $2.5 million construction costs.

An additional $350,000 is needed to finish construction of the church, which is to be in the spring.

St. George's parish was founded in 1906 by immigrants from the western part of Ukraine. The first church was located on 20th St. In 1911, the parish purchased an old courthouse on E. Seventh St., then the home of the Methodist German Church. The Ukrainians transferred their congregation there.

Rev. Gavlich said that there are now about 100,000 Ukrainian Americans living in the greater New York area. The number had been higher, he said, before many of the younger Ukrainians moved to the suburbs in the 1960s.

To offset some of this migration the Basilian fathers, who administer St. George, decided that a new school was needed before a new church which had been promised the parishioners. A parish school and a high school were built on Sixth St.

In April 1976, construction on the new church began. The building of the church and school has improved the area and, Rev. Gavlich said, "We are getting many young people coming back to the city, particularly on weekends, to take part in the youth activities. Some come from as far away as Colorado for Easter and Christmas celebrations."

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