St. Patrick’s Cathedral holds first Motorcycle Blessing in its 145-year history: ‘Means a lot’
They have God on their side as they ride.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral hosted the first Motorcycle Blessing ever in its 145-year history on Saturday.
“We basically shut down six highways, three bridges and Midtown Manhattan and we arrived on a long train of motorcycles,” retired NYPD Sgt. Steve Cataneo, who teamed up with Joseph Imperatrice, co-founder of Blue Lives Matter NYC, to organize the event.
The morning began with a charity motorbike run for the families of fallen officers, which started at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ and ended at St. Pats, and was fully police escorted from beginning to end.
Participants gathered inside St. Pats for a prayer service for active and retired police officers and first responders and then headed outside for the blessings of their bikes.
Father Andrew King blessed the crowd lined up on West 51st Street and their motorcycles parked beside them with holy water, and some bikers did the sign of the cross in reverence.
The money raised from the riders’ registration fee along with any donations they received, went towards Blue Lives Matter, a nonprofit organization created to help law enforcement officers and their families, and a portion was also donated to St. Patrick’s.
“I’m a retired police sergeant, so I know what cops go through and their families,” said Cataneo, a member of a New Jersey chapter of the Punishers Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club.
“So it means a lot.”
