You won't believe this church is here

Saint Mary's in Mid-town.

Right off Times Square is a church that partly emulates Saint Sulpice in Paris next to the Palais de Justice called Saint Mary's. You won't believe it's there- across the street is a seedy looking Irish Pub and a theatre. A mere few blocks away you could have seen the naked cowboy when he wasn't running for Mayor (not kidding.)
Inside the dimly lit expanse you are met with tall royal blue Gothic vaulted ceilings speckled with gold stars-very French. It has a wedding chapel with a large round Italian ceramic medallion of Mary marrying Joseph circled with Mediterranean lemons and foliage and a painted wooden ceiling that evokes an Edwardian library feeling. It has another chapel with an enormous statue of Mary. One is greeted at the door with a row of candles and an enormous crucifix next to a potted hydrangea.
I was almost fooled- I sat from 5:00 until about 5:30 praying in the wedding chapel thinking 5:30 mass must be starting soon. I was hiding from the rain that deluged manhattan that evening. 5:30 approached and the one person crouched at the back and
other soul deep in prayer under the Mary statue were the only two people still to be found in the church. I wondered if they would give a mass for only 3 people in a dark stone gothic church castle or whether I should make my way to Starbucks to wait for my sister. they were saving electricity so only the faces of statues and Jesus was lit giving it a rather eerie ambiance-like glow in the dark Apostles.
Just then the organ blasted loudly something out of a horror movie as if Vincent Price was going to peer behind a stone column in a black crepe cape. It was loud horrible organ music- not lovely, sweet Mozart, Bach or anything really recognizable. OK - a bit of a zealot music major rehearsing for Lincoln Hall or something, cut him a break. Creative. Yes, that's what it was-loudly creative. Still no Mass. Just the Fuge in Mortisha Minor. I started to wonder what kind of church this was.
Then I read the fine print of the flier I picked up at the back. "The Episcopalian Diocese welcomes you to the Catholic experience in the Episcopalian church." It was like the Queen of England wearing a Milanese designer dress --not quite Italian but very nice try. Especially the wedding chapel. Hydrangeas were lovely also this time of year. Still, there's something really real about a real Mass. You know it when you see it.

http://www.stmvirgin.org/

Worth a visit for the Architecture and the prayer cards with the Angelus and Magnificat on them.