An off-Broadway theater in Manhattan has closed down after its landlord — the Archdiocese of New York — began exercising greater scrutiny over the plays performed there to ensure they were in line with Catholic teaching.
The New York-based art group SheNYC said in a press release on Tuesday that the archdiocese had recently imposed “strict content guidelines” on the plays performed at the Connelly Theater in Manhattan’s East Village.
The Connelly Theater is housed within the Cornelia Connelly Center, a Catholic girls school. SheNYC said in its release that the archdiocese “has directed the theater to deny the space to any shows or companies that would be seen as inappropriate by the Catholic Church,” including shows about abortion and transgenderism.
“The priest in charge of the jurisdiction is personally screening scripts to ensure they fit within strictly Catholic doctrines,” the group said.
The New York Times on Wednesday reported that theater manager Josh Luxenberg resigned from his post last week amid the dispute. The Connelly Center, meanwhile, reportedly announced on Tuesday that it was “suspending all operations of its theater.”
New York Archdiocese spokesman Joe Zwilling told CNA in a statement on Wednesday: “It is the standard practice of the archdiocese that nothing should take place on Church-owned property that is contrary to the teaching of the Church.”
“That applies to plays, television shows or movies being shot, music videos being recorded, or other performances,” Zwilling said.
Neither the Catholic school nor the theater responded to queries from CNA regarding the dispute and the shutdown.
But Brianne Wetzel, the school’s executive director, told the New York Times that the archdiocese “has sole control over the approval process of the productions that are performed there.” Income from the theater has been used to offset operating costs at the school, Wetzel told the paper.
School officials did not know when the theater would reopen, Wetzel said.
Asked via email if the archdiocese had mandated the theater’s closure, meanwhile, Zwilling on Wednesday said: “We did not order it to be closed.”
The theater was recently scheduled to host a performance of “Becoming Eve,” a play based on the eponymous memoir by Abby Stein, a man who was ordained a Hasidic rabbi before he began to identify as a woman.
SheNYC, meanwhile, said the archdiocese “specifically [called] out shows we’ve done in the past at the theater.” The art group has previously performed plays featuring lesbian romances and “transgender” characters.
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Saint Peter’s Chapel and Native American Museum at Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site in Fonda, New York. / Photo courtesy of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site
Chicago, Ill., Jul 13, 2023 / 12:00 pm (CNA).
Shrines to various saints can be found in every part of the world, including every state in the U.S. Each one is dedicated to faith and prayer, but one shrine in the northeastern United States also has a distinct mission of connecting pilgrims with Native American culture and sharing the fascinating history of Kateri Tekakwitha, the first American Indian to be canonized a saint.
The Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site in Fonda, New York, honors not only the life of St. Kateri, whose feast day is July 14, but also the life and history of the local Indigenous people to whom she belonged.
“We have cultivated strong ties to both the Catholic Mohawk community and the traditional Mohawk community,” said Melissa Miscevic Bramble, director of operations at the St. Kateri Shrine, in an interview with CNA. “We see it as our mission to educate about her Mohawk culture as well as her Catholic faith.”
Who was St. Kateri?
Called the Lily of the Mohawks, Kateri Tekakwitha was the child of a Mohawk father and a Christian Algonquin mother but was orphaned at age 4 when the rest of her family died of smallpox. Her own early bout with the illness left lasting scars and poor vision.
She went to live with an anti-Christian uncle and aunt, but at age 11 she encountered Jesuit missionaries and recognized their teaching as the beliefs of her beloved mother. Desiring to become a Christian, she began to privately practice Christianity.
Beginning at about age 13, she experienced pressure from her family to marry, but she wanted to give her life to Jesus instead. A priest who knew her recorded her words: “I have deliberated enough. For a long time, my decision on what I will do has been made. I have consecrated myself entirely to Jesus, son of Mary, I have chosen him for husband, and he alone will take me for wife.”
At last, she was baptized at about age 19, and her baptism made public her beliefs, which had been kept private up until then. The event was the catalyst for her ostracism from her village. Some members of her people believed that her beliefs were sorcery, and she was harassed, stoned, and threatened with torture in her home village.
Tekakwitha fled 200 miles to Kahnawake, a Jesuit mission village for Native Amerian converts to Christianity to live together in community. There, she found her mother’s close friend, Anastasia Tegonhatsiongo, who was a clan matron of a Kahnawake longhouse. Anastasia and other Mohawk women took Kateri under their wings and taught her about Christianity, and she lived there happily for several years until her death around age 23 or 24.
Although she never took formal vows, Tekakwitha is considered a consecrated virgin, and the United States Association of Consecrated Virgins took her as its patron. She is also the patron saint of traditional ecology, Indigenous peoples, and care for creation.
A shrine with a special mission
The Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site has a unique mission of archaeological and historical research related to Kateri Tekakwitha and her people. Welcoming several thousand visitors per year, the shrine ministers not only to Christians but also to all American Indians.
According to its website, the shrine and historic site “promotes healing, encourages environmental stewardship, and facilitates peace for all people by offering the natural, cultural, and spiritual resources at this sacred site.” Describing itself as a sacred place of peace and healing with a Catholic identity, its ministry and site are intended to be ecumenical and welcome people of all faiths.
In keeping with this mission, the shrine’s grounds include an archaeological site, the village of Caughnawaga, which is the only fully excavated Iroquois/Haudenosaunee village in the world. St. Kateri lived in this village, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors can also visit the Kateri Spring, where Kateri Tekakwitha was baptized.
“The water from the Kateri Spring is considered holy water by the Catholic Church,” Bramble said. “People are welcome to come take the waters, and we regularly get reports of healing. We’ve sent that water all over North America to folks who have requested it.”
Besides the archaeological site, the main grounds of the shrine include St. Peter’s Chapel, housed in a former Dutch barn built in 1782; museum exhibits of Native American culture and history; St. Maximilian Kolbe Pavilion; a Candle Chapel dedicated to St. Kateri; Grassmann Hall and the Shrine office; a friary; a gift shop; an outdoor sanctuary; and maintenance facilities. The 150-acre property includes hiking trails that are open to the public year-round from sunrise to sunset.
Peace Grove at Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine and Historic Site in Fonda, New York. Photo courtesy of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine and Historic Site
Outside the Candle Chapel, which is always open for prayer, visitors can participate in a ministry of “Kateri crosses.”
“St. Kateri was known for going into the forest, gathering sticks, binding them into crosses, and then spending hours in prayer in front of crosses she created,” Bramble said. Sticks are gathered from the shrine grounds and visitors are invited to make their own “Kateri crosses” and take them home to use as a prayer aid. Bramble shared that the shrine sends materials for Kateri crosses to those who aren’t able to visit, including recently to a confirmation group.
The feast day weekend
The Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine has a schedule of special events planned for St. Kateri’s feast day on July 14. Bramble said they anticipate several hundred visitors for the feast day events this year, which include Masses, a healing prayer service, and talks. (A listing of the full schedule can be found here.)
The weekend Masses, which include special blessings and the music of the Akwesasne Mohawk Choir, “incorporate American Indian spiritual practices in keeping with the Catholic Church,” Bramble said. “The Akwesasne Mohawk Choir is made up of descendants of St. Kateri’s community who lived in the area historically.”
Bramble described numerous events each year that partner with the local American Indian community, such as the fun-filled “Three Sisters Festival” in May (celebrating corn, beans, and squash — the “three sisters” that were staples of Native cuisine), healing Masses during Indigenous Peoples’ Week in October, and a recent interfaith prayer service with Mohawk elders.
“There is a reestablished traditional Mohawk community a few miles west of the shrine, and we feel very blessed that we’ve been able to cultivate a very cooperative and mutually respectful relationship with the folks there,” Bramble said.
The Saint Kateri Shrine is also a great place for families. Events often include activities and crafts for children, there is an all-ages scavenger hunt available at the site, and the shrine’s museum is “a phenomenal educational opportunity.”
Bringing together American Indian archaeology and history with the story of St. Kateri, the shrine and its programs shed light on the saint’s story and keep alive the traditions and history of her people.
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 28, 2025 / 16:45 pm (CNA).
Republican members of Congress have introduced a bill to protect parental rights “to direct the upbringing, education, and health care of the… […]
Washington D.C., Mar 27, 2020 / 09:00 am (CNA).- The pro-life ministry 40 Days for Life may have ended its public vigils outside abortion clinics, but it is urging its members to still pray and fast for an end to abortion.
Good for them!! No doubt the excrement will hit the air circulator in great profusion in all the right-thinking circles, aka what else is new, but they are right doing what they are doing.
This reminds me of the late 20h century early 21st tradition of the play ‘The Vagina Monologues’ being a winter fixture @ Notre Dame, especially the year that opening night was Ash Wednesday – THAT went on. Perhaps it is still a fixture there, I wouldn’t know.
This piece of news combined with Kamala Harris’ stating that abortion is absolutely a NON-negotiable issue if she is elected (God help us!!) makes things pretty plain, as in CLEAR AS A BELL.
There are so many plays and musicals that are wholesome that could be presented. There are also plays and musicals that raise questions, but still present religion (including Catholicism) in a truthful way. And of course, there are always cabarets (big bands, niche musicians; e.g., Cajun musicians, musical revues (always fun!), light operas, one-act-plays, one-person plays (Actor Jonathan Frid, R.I.P. wrote and performed marvelous one-act shows like “Fools and Fiends,” featuring depictions and commentary on various famous fools and fiends throughout history, and of course staple like Christmas Carol, or get the rights to do Duke Ellington’s Jazz Nutcracker (a play, not a ballet). I hope they re-group and start over.
Excellent. Hopefully they will reopen soon with a manager that can find moral performances.
For the record, Cornelia Connelly Center is a *Middle* school.
Good for them!! No doubt the excrement will hit the air circulator in great profusion in all the right-thinking circles, aka what else is new, but they are right doing what they are doing.
This reminds me of the late 20h century early 21st tradition of the play ‘The Vagina Monologues’ being a winter fixture @ Notre Dame, especially the year that opening night was Ash Wednesday – THAT went on. Perhaps it is still a fixture there, I wouldn’t know.
This piece of news combined with Kamala Harris’ stating that abortion is absolutely a NON-negotiable issue if she is elected (God help us!!) makes things pretty plain, as in CLEAR AS A BELL.
Satan and his imps can be quite the whiners when confronted with pushback.
That ought to tell people what the “arts” community is mostly about these days. Creativity and beauty are not all that high on the list.
Well shake my boots! The Catholic Church actually standing up for what the Catholic Church stands for! Could you imagine that!
There are so many plays and musicals that are wholesome that could be presented. There are also plays and musicals that raise questions, but still present religion (including Catholicism) in a truthful way. And of course, there are always cabarets (big bands, niche musicians; e.g., Cajun musicians, musical revues (always fun!), light operas, one-act-plays, one-person plays (Actor Jonathan Frid, R.I.P. wrote and performed marvelous one-act shows like “Fools and Fiends,” featuring depictions and commentary on various famous fools and fiends throughout history, and of course staple like Christmas Carol, or get the rights to do Duke Ellington’s Jazz Nutcracker (a play, not a ballet). I hope they re-group and start over.
Good show Cdl Dolan [pun intended].