by Richard Khavkine

For 15 hours beginning Thursday evening, congregants of the church of Our Lady of Peace commemorated nearly 100 years of history. Following a noontime Solemn Mass on Friday, there would be no more. The red brick church with neat white stone trim on a tidy Upper East Side block of three- and four-story brownstones was to close its doors for good.

The Catholic parish, established in 1919 by a growing population of Italian immigrants to the city and the neighborhood, is one of dozens that are being shuttered by the Archdiocese of New York, which cited declining attendance, shifting demographics and a shortage of priests among other factors when it announced the closings late last year. Officially, the parish will merge with that of Saint John the Evangelist, seven blocks to the south.

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Source: http://www.nypress.com/