Frequently Asked Questions
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1.
What is the mission of St. Bartholomew’s Church?
Our church is a house of prayer, open to all, in which we worship God through sacrament, preaching, teaching and music in the evolving Anglican tradition. We nurture seekers and those in need through many and varied ministries. We are committed to growth in depth of faith, in numbers, and in institutional sustainability.
As stewards, we dedicate ourselves and this landmark church to serve God in our city and the world beyond.
2.
What types of people attend St. Bartholomew’s Church?
St. Bartholomew’s parish is a diverse blend of people of all ages, backgrounds, socio-economic levels and faith traditions. Everyone, from the corporate manager to the college student to families with children to the tourist wandering in from a walk through midtown Manhattan is radically welcomed at our daily services. St. Bart’s is an inclusive church, offering a home to those often turned away from conventional congregations, while at the same time offering the comfort of traditional, spirit-filled worship.
3.
What is the annual operating budget?
In 2006, St. Bart’s required more than $8 million to sustain its operations, including its worship services, educational and interfaith programs and its shelter and feeding programs.
4.
How are these funds raised each year?
Parishioners and those who support St. Bartholomew’s Annual Fund provide the largest share of funding. Other areas of income include enterprises and rentals, other giving, invested funds and programs.
5.
Does St. Bartholomew’s have an endowment?
St. Bart's has a modest endowment of approximately $7 million. Each year, St. Bart’s is required to raise 98% of its operating budget to provide the community with a growing range of ministries and programs. The income from endowment funds is restricted primarily to the support of those community ministry programs that serve the less fortunate in our city.
6.
What happened during St. Bart’s landmarks dispute in the 1980s?
In 1981, a real estate developer offered a plan to build an office tower on the site of the St. Bart’s community house. This plan would have provided a financial endowment for the church’s mission and maintenance of the buildings. However, conflict developed within the parish and between the church and the city over the building’s landmark status. St. Bart’s became linked in the public eye with contentious issues resulting from conflict between the religious community and the historic preservation movement. The case worked its way, over 11 years, to the Supreme Court, which in 1991 refused to hear an appeal, thereby upholding the New York State landmarks law.
7.
What effect did it have on St. Bartholomew’s?
The congregation paid a heavy price for this battle. Half the members left, relationships were strained and giving declined. Existing financial problems deepened and maintenance on the building was deferred.
8.
How did St. Bartholomew’s recover?
St. Bart’s has experienced a great transformation in the last 12 years and vitality has returned. Under the leadership of William McD. Tully, who became Rector in 1994, and an energized and focused staff and lay leadership, attendance and membership have grown through sustained and innovative efforts to appeal to the present spiritual needs of the city and an increasingly diverse parish.
9.
Why must we restore the buildings?
As we prepare for continued growth and service to our community, we are called to address the poor physical condition of our buildings. St. Bartholomew’s Church must function as a living, vibrant institution for the 21st century and beyond. Our immediate priority is to preserve an environment that inspires gathering, worshiping, teaching and accommodating a range of social and community uses.
10.
What are the building’s most pressing challenges?
1. Excessive water penetration
2. Deterioration of the dome’s mosaic tiles
3. Antiquated electrical and mechanical systems
4. Inadequate interior and exterior lighting
5. A limited endowment
11. Why haven’t we been able to restore the buildings until now?
The building controversy of the 1980s hurt St. Bart’s financially, so when Bill Tully arrived in 1994 the church was in a very precarious state. In an effort to build up the community, St. Bart’s invested most of its resources in programming, outreach and growth. Urgent maintenance has been the norm—and much has been accomplished with a dedicated and savvy building engineering staff. But operating funds simply could not cover the cost of the restoration work.
12. Should we consider selling the buildings and moving to a new location?
After the consideration of several options, including leaving our location to take St. Bart’s elsewhere, we have decided to remain here to restore and enhance what God has bequeathed to us. We reaffirm that Christian ministry, in any form, is utterly centered on worship. We are, first and last, a church. We care for God’s acreage given to us, and in this context, our location at the beating heart of a great, powerful, complicated and needy city requires us to be on Park Avenue and 51st Street.
13. What projects will be supported by The Campaign for St. Bart’s
?
· Preserving St. Bartholomew’s dome and protecting it from irreparable damage; repairing related internal drainspouts to prevent further leakage in the church.
· Restoring the terrace and creating a new Community House entrance on the terrace level that will better connect the visitor to the secular and sacred spaces of St. Bartholomew’s
· Enhancing the sacred space for public and liturgical use by addressing inadequate lighting and sound systems and improving the seating
· Upgrading antiquated mechanical and electrical systems that have compromised our ability to operate in our buildings
· Establishing an endowment to provide the resources for future maintenance of our buildings
14. I thought we had to raise more than $100 million to restore the buildings?
With an initial goal of $30 million we will commence the first phase of our restoration project to address the most pressing structural, mechanical and spatial issues of our landmark buildings.
15. What are the other restoration projects that aren’t covered in the present Campaign?
Other structural and artistic elements of our buildings have long suffered the effects of deferred maintenance and water infiltration. Future projects will include:
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Repairing and restoring the external structure, including repairing the roof and cleaning and repointing the exterior brick and stone.
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Repairing and restoring the internal church structure, including cleaning and repointing the ceiling vaults and masonry walls, utilizing the space in the undercroft to create a new meeting hall and columbarium, and repairing structural cracking in the chapel.
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Preserving the artistic and architectural treasures of the Church, including the
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bronze doors
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portal columns, sculptures and bas reliefs
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limestone sculptures and capitals
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mosaics and stained glass windows
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organ
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Renovating the community house, including updating and replacing mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems and renovating the building to address our current spatial deficit.
16. When we will take care of those projects?
Once the first phase of this campaign is complete, we will begin a second phase, securing funds for the projects listed above.
17. Will the church remain open during the restoration?
During all of this work, our church will remain open, as the visible expression of the presence of God.
18. What will happen to the organ during the restoration of the dome?
The celestial division of the pipe organ, located in the dome, will be removed, cleaned and stored offsite during the restoration of the dome. Once the dome has been restored, this division of the pipe organ will be reinstalled.
19. Since a new entrance is being created, will I still be able to enter through the main church entrance?
Yes, the church entrance on Park Avenue will remain open after the new main entrance is created.
This new entrance will not replace the church entrance, but will replace the community house entrance on 50th Street. It will offer visitors a way to connect to the secular and sacred spaces in the building and, without a doubt, give St. Bartholomew’s a new public face in New York City.
20. How can I take a tour to learn more about the buildings?
Please contact Sontaia Briggs, Capital Campaign Assistant, at (212) 378-0207 or briggs@stbarts.org.
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