FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 21, 2008

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Joseph Zwilling

(w) 212-371-1011 ext. 2997

SAINT BRIGID’S TO BE RESTORED AND REOPENED AS A PARISH CHURCH

Generous benefactor donates $20 million to the Parish and Parish School

Saint Brigid’s Church, 119 Avenue B, Manhattan, will be repaired and will reopen as a Parish Church following the donation of $10 million to restore the building and an additional donation of $2 million to establish an endowment for the parish so that it might best meet the religious and spiritual needs of the people living in the community. The donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, made the offer to Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, who accepted the unexpected but very welcome gift following a private meeting at the Cardinal’s Residence.

The donor has also made a separate gift of $8 million to support Saint Brigid’s School, and other Catholic schools in need. The Archdiocese has been supporting and maintaining the parish school in order to provide quality education for the elementary school children in the East Village.

The renovation and restoration of this parish church and the establishment of the education endowment fit in well with the ongoing efforts of the Archdiocese to better serve the Catholic community of the Lower East Side.

Cardinal Egan expressed his deep gratitude for the extraordinary generosity of the donor. In a statement released on May 19, 2008, he said: “This magnificent gift will make it possible for Saint Brigid’s Church to be fittingly restored with its significant structural problems properly addressed. The two additional gifts, to create an endowment for the parish and to support the parish school, are a powerful testament to the donor’s goodness and understanding. He has my heartfelt gratitude, as I recently told him at a meeting in my residence.”