Home Delivery

Wyandanch church rebuilds after blaze

Flames shoot through the roof of the rectory of Our Lady of Miraculous Medal Church in Wyandanch late Sunday night, December, 30, 2007, as firefighters try to prevent the blaze from spreading to the church sanctuary. (photo by Paul Mazza / December 30, 2007)

BY BART JONES | bart.jones@newsday.com

9:24 PM EDT, March 12, 2008

Article tools

E-mail

Share
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- Facebook
- Fark
- Google
- Newsvine
- Reddit
- Yahoo

Two months after a devastating fire at one of the poorest Catholic parishes on Long Island, Our Lady of Miraculous Medal in Wyandanch is on the road to recovery -- but not without major obstacles.

Two portable trailers are set to open for business in the next few days so the outreach program that provides food and clothes to the needy can get back into full swing.

Plans also are under way to rebuild the badly damaged rectory. Beyond that, parish workers are dreaming of constructing a building so the outreach program and other activities can have a permanent home. The price tag: $3 million to $4 million, said the Rev. Bill Brisotti, the parish's pastor.

"It's not going to be cheap," Brisotti said. But the trailers where the outreach program had been operating and that were destroyed in the Dec. 30 fire were always meant to be temporary -- and had been used for 20 years, he said.

The fire also tore through the rectory and damaged part of the church, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and spoiling large supplies of food.

In early January, Suffolk County police labeled the fire arson, and said they had videotape of the suspect setting the fire, but no arrests have been made. Crime Stoppers has offered a reward up to $5,000 for information that helps solve it.

Brisotti, who is well-known for his social activism on causes ranging from the Vietnam War to the Central America refugee movement in the 1980s, has moved into a parish-owned house near the rectory. Workers installed rubber hoses rather than copper pipes in the house since it had been burglarized recently by thieves who stole the pipes.

Brisotti and Noelle Campbell, head of the outreach program, said the response to the fire by Long Islanders has been overwhelming. "It's awesome, absolutely awesome," Campbell said.

Brisotti estimated that between $400,000 and $500,000 has been raised in donations, including from one boy who emptied his piggy bank and delivered $2.

Teenagers in Amityville held a dance-a-thon to raise money, while Girl Scout, Boy Scout and Cub Scout troops, along with students from local Catholic high schools including St. Anthony's, St. John the Baptist and St. Mary's have donated funds. At one fundraiser at the Nag's Head in Huntington, where Brisotti and other banjo aficionados often play, $10,000 was raised.

Still, Brisotti said the parish will need several million to build the new center and then to keep it running.

"I'm very optimistic," he said, adding, "I'm humbled by the response of the people."

Campbell added: "It's still miracles as far as I'm concerned." The new parish building they hope to build is "where we need to go -- it's where we needed to go a long time ago," but never had the money.