The economic crisis is boosting business for at least one institution – the Catholic Church
“I haven’t been to church in a long time, but I’m here today,” financial analyst Frank Keller, 22, said at St. Patrick’s Cathedral as he waited for the Ash Wednesday ritual that marks the start of Lent. “I feel very fortunate to still have a job.”
Keller, part of the largest Ash Wednesday congregation in recent memory, had been working for the doomed Lehman Brothers, but his job was saved when his unit was taken over by Barclays Bank.
“I’m here because of the way things are economically,” he said.
Another visitor, Kathleen Harrell, 23, said, “It’s time now to be more involved in your faith. I think people should be happy with what they’ve still got, but everybody has to pray for those who have lost their jobs and homes.”
Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the incoming head of the New York archdiocese, led bittersweet Ash Wednesday services at a Catholic high school.
Students did the “wave” and hugged the cleric as they snapped his photo on their cellphones.
“He’s a rock star,” said Pius XI HS Principal Melinda Skrade. “In six short years, he came to [the archdiocese] and we saw a transformation.”
Dolan told students, “I feel somber and sad about leaving you . . . I love you and you have a friend in New York.”
He recounted his visit Monday to St. Patrick’s, where he asked Edward Cardinal Egan to show him the crypt below the altar where eight New York archbishops are interred.
Asked why, Dolan replied, “One, is so I could pray for my predecessors. And two, was to ask for their help. And, I want to see where I’ll be buried.”
“Why would [I] want to do something so morose?” said Dolan. “I want to keep my eyes on the prize. It’s not about being archbishop of Milwaukee, or the archbishop of New York. It’s about living with God in heaven.”
At St. Pat’s, the Rev. Joe Tyrrell said as many as 60,000 people were expected yesterday and noted, “I heard a lot of people say they hadn’t been here in a while.”
“I’ve been seeing a lot of people at confession who say they’ve been away for a long time, and people saying, ‘Please pray for me,’ ” he said.