In the shadow of the efforts to rebuild the World Trade Center in New York City, another house of worship has sought to be built.  The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was originally across the street from the World Trade Center when Tower two collapsed, resulting in its destruction.  Despite many years of negotiations with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church still reportedly has not yet been rebuilt.

For years, news media have been reporting that the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have been negotiating over an appropriate parcel of land and subsidy to allow the rebuilding of the church.  While agreement seemed to be reached in March 2009, according to New Jersey conservative columnist, Mark Impomeni,”The deal fell apart for good in March 2009, when the Port Authority abruptly ended the talks after refusing to allow church officials to review plans for the garage and screening area underneath. Sixteen months later, the two sides have still not met to resume negotiations.”

In March 2009, the New York Times had reported that Port Authority and the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church had reached an agreement.

The March 2009 New York Times report stated that: “The tiny St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church is once again at the forefront of the myriad disputes that plague the rebuilding effort at ground zero. The fate of the church, a narrow whitewashed building that was crushed in the attack on the World Trade Center, was supposed to have been settled eight months ago, with a tentative agreement in which the church would swap its land for a grander church building on a larger parcel nearby, with a $20 million subsidy from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. This would have allowed work to begin at the south end of the site. But the two sides never came to final terms. After months of negotiations, the Port Authority, which is overseeing reconstruction at ground zero, ended its talks with the church on Monday, saying that the church had sought increasingly costly concessions. Complaints, of course, abound on both sides. The authority now says that St. Nicholas is free to rebuild the church on its own parcel at 155 Cedar Street, just east of West Street. The authority will, in turn, use eminent domain to get control of the land beneath that parcel so it can move ahead with building foundation walls and a bomb-screening center for trucks, buses and cars entering the area.”

The report concluded that “One person who was involved in the negotiations on behalf of the church, and who insisted on anonymity so as not to inflame the situation, criticized the Port Authority, saying it had made constantly shifting demands on St. Nicholas. Still, he said, the remaining issues were relatively small.”

Apparently, however, the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church still has not yet been rebuilt.

The website for the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church continues to call for donations for the rebuilding of the church.

We urge Americans to help this worthy cause.

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