Manhattan parish revives Broadway Mass for theater community

Published: 2007-12-13

NEW YORK (CNS) -- A late-night, post-theater Mass -- a Manhattan tradition that had gone dark for many years -- has been resumed at St. Malachy's Church in the heart of New York City's theater district. The decision to bring back the Mass came just as the Broadway stagehands' strike was settled, though the two events were not related. The Mass aims to draw performers and other theater workers whose job schedules -- which include nightly performances and Sunday matinees -- make it difficult for them to go to Sunday Mass. Dubbed the "Broadway revival" by St. Malachy's pastor, Father Richard Baker, the first Mass was celebrated Dec. 1. The Mass is scheduled for every Saturday at 11 p.m. and will fulfill Massgoers' Sunday obligation. The stagehands' strike shut down all but a handful of Broadway plays and musicals Nov. 10-28. When a tentative settlement was announced between the stagehands' union and the management arm of Broadway's theaters, the shows resumed Nov. 29. Two days later St. Malachy's resumed celebration of its late-Saturday-night Mass.

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