Fr. Pat Moloney of the East Village pt.1

I know Father Pat though my involvement with the effort to save St. Brigid's Church on Ave B. He has a history with that Church and the neighborhood dating to the mid-1950s, Fr. Pat has seen it all. This is the first 10 minutes of an hour long interview where (after some introduction) he describes his earliest days on E. 9th St, in what would be later called Alphabet City. This interview conducted at Bonitas House that he founded more than 40 years ago on East Ninth Street, near Avenue B.

Father Pat is delightful and quite the story teller. He is by turns a rebel and quite orthodox, best known outside the neighborhood for a controversy involving the IRA. From the NY Times... "A man with a slight build, sparse sandy hair turning grey and a cropped white beard, Father Moloney was ordained in the Melkite order, a branch of the Roman Catholic Church that follows an ancient Eastern Rite but is obedient to the Pope."


This from the Villager
"Father Pat Moloney, a Catholic priest of the Melkite Eastern Rite who runs Lazarus House, a drop-in center on E. Ninth St. for illegal aliens, homeless youth and just about anyone else, told the gathering last Sunday to keep faith and forgive those who have taken their parish away. However, he said the archdiocese was insensitive because it did not send someone to introduce St. Brigid parishioners to other parishes in the neighborhood. The good shepherd looks after his sheep, he said, adding, Not to have done that is unacceptable.