It's a rainy day here in the Ridge and what better day to muse on the impending destruction of the Green Church.
I don't know Pastor Robert Emerick, pastor of the Methodist "Green" Church. I've never met him and know very little about him. What I do know of him is from the press. I could be angry with him but I think I'm mostly disappointed in him.
Pastor Emerick is a spiritual leader and a leader of the community, but from what I've witnessed he's been more divisive than a leader.
The battle for the Green Church has been particularly nasty. The preservationists and the congregants both must shoulder the blame. But I'm disappointed that a spiritual leader couldn't rise above it all. Emerick couldn't bring the two sides together peacefully. I'm sure he would say that he did try but the preservationists wouldn't cooperate. But being a leader isn't easy. If it was, everyone would be a leader. But I haven't seen Emerick possess any leadership qualities.
“It is none of your business, or anyone else’s” said Pastor Robert Emerick.
While technically this may be true, what we're talking about is a building that has been a part of this community for 108 years. Perhaps turning the church into a town hall or performing arts center would be for the greater good and not just the Methodists good.
“I have decided that I am not going to dignify this process with a response any longer,” Emerick said. “I am not happy with how the media has handled this, so I am not going to answer any more questions.”
Yeah, that's good leadership. Just shut down when things don't go your way.
Emerick was later quoted as referring to the remains as “only dust."
How very sensitive.
“The group is thinking of Bay Ridge in the golden age of its past. They’re appealing to emotions,” he said. “This is a small group of people who think of the old church in terms of the old little red schoolhouse.”
No, the people are thinking of it as a part of the fabric of the neighborhood.
“The building can’t be saved. The old stones can’t be restored. Saving it just won’t work,” said Rev. Emerick. “It would take millions of dollars to do the job. Even if that was successful, in a few decades we’d be raising funds again to save it.”
Actually, in the late 1990s, the church itself approached the Landmarks Preservation Committee for designation. A structural analysis was done and it was determined that the stone was the problem.
Serpentine stone is porous and flaky. A firm came in and offered a few suggestions.
1. Replace the stone with a like stone. Replacing it with serpentine or a similar stone would be costly and in years we'd be right back to where we are now.
2. Replace it with some kind of tinted concrete or pre-cast stone. While this would structurally sound, the church would be ineligible for landmark designation.
When the church showed up recently on a realtor's website, listing the property for sale, this is what Emerick had to say.
"The preservationists are behind this buzz," said Pastor Emerick. "People have a tendency to see an assumption as a fact. The assumption is wrong, and so, then of course, is the so-called fact."
The ad was on Dakota Realty's website. When a reporter called, he was told the seller was Betesh, the man who purchased the property from the church. "Assumption?"
Councilman Gentile tried for a win-win situation. Not only was his offer turned down but Emerick demonstrated outside Gentile's officer, holding a sign that said
“Please Stop Hurting Bay Ridge United Methodist Church.”
It will be sad to see the Green Church destroyed. But what's sadder is the faith in Pastor Robert Emerick, a community leader, has been destroyed.
