By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BAY RIDGE -- As Pastor Robert Emerick presided in his spiritual duties over the removal of 211 long-buried remains of Bay Ridge United Methodist Church parishioners from a large underground crypt, neighborhood residents and “green church� preservationists expressed shock and dismay over the sudden action on a warm spring morning Thursday.

As shovels and a bulldozer did their work, and a cloth wrapped over the church's front iron-gate blocked the scene from public view, like the ringing down of the final curtain, people gathered at the site at Fourth and Ovington avenues. Many saw this as “the death knell� of the beloved and historic 1899 church, its church clock silent and still.

The pending demolition of the green serpentine stone church has been the subject of Brooklyn's biggest preservationist struggle in many years, on the eve of the Brooklyn Preservation Council's first meeting at Borough Hall this coming Tuesday. It also is a struggle between church and state, say church leaders, reaffirming their constitutional rights.

Compares It to Crucifixion

“This is just like Jesus after the crucifixion, when people said, ‘Where have they taken the body?’ This is sacrilege. There is something terribly wrong in all this,� said Kathy Walker, co-chair of the Committee to Save the Bay Ridge Methodist Church at the site with her “watchdog group.� “The history of Bay Ridge is being altered as we speak. This is a sad event. It’s all about money and greed.�

“The remains are being removed to a cemetery in Cypress Hills, Queens,� said Pastor Emerick as he closed the parking lot gate to the public and press. “Sorry, but I have a responsibility here for respect and honor for our dead.�

Before he closed the lot gates, civic leaders Ralph Perfetto, formerly of the city’s Cemetery Commission and now with the Public Advocate's Office, and J. Peter Clavin, owner of Joseph Clavin and Sons Funeral Homes, were seen leaving. After them were church Board of Trustees leaders Chair John Donlon and Treasurer Marjorie Sullivan.

Soon after an aide from Councilman Vincent Gentile's office came to look at the activity at the site as coffins were unearthed, climbing a ladder provided by David Kimball, who lives next to the parsonage building at 362 Ovington Ave. Passers-by and media people climbed the ladder to take a peek and photos.

“It’s a sad day for all those ancestors of the church whose bodies were at rest, to have been uprooted, disturbing their eternal peace in the name of residential development,� said Gentile. He referred to plans by Brooklyn developer Abe Betesh who entered into a contract to purchase the church property, remove the three buildings at the site and build a 50-unit condo and a new, smaller church.

“Furthermore,� Gentile continued, “it's a shame that this developer is moving ahead at the same time we’re still searching for an alternative buyer who will preserve the facility.� At a Bay Ridge Community Council meeting on Tuesday evening, preservationist leader Victorio Hofmo said, “A developer from Red Hook may be interested.� She refused to elaborate.

At that same meeting, Sullivan, whose church is a member of the 100-plus member council, said of the 109-year-old church building, “The building is still ours. We have not sold it yet.� She warned about “the law that separates church and state.�

Many local residents stopping by, noticing the shrouded iron fence, expressed concern. “This is horrific,� said one, speaking as “a concerned Christian and neighbor. To destroy in God’s name is wrong." A man shook is head, saying, “People must do something to help.�

Hung from the shrouded metal fence was the "Committee to Save the Bay Ridge United Church" banner, below which were 15 lit colored candles in tall glass containers. Next to them was a sign: “Of all the options for a new church, you chose the most destructive one."

The remains in the vault, unearthed Thursday, were buried in 1901, removed and relocated from the site of Grace Methodist Church at Sixth Avenue and 67th Street in Bay Ridge to make room for road expansion. The 1901 relocation was the third time they had been removed, and 2008 marks the fourth time. A large stone monument to them was later placed above the burial spot, facing Fourth Avenue.

`Here’s Looking at You, Kid’

Among those buried was Andrian Bogart, who died in 1849 and was an ancestor of actor Humphrey Bogart (who uttered the quote above). A descendent of Sarah Stillwell, who died in 1842, came forward last year to protest the destruction of the church.

A letter written on December 31, 1909 by an elder of the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Jamaica, Queens about the monument that would be built over the crypt in Bay Ridge, said that "such a symbol of remembrance was not forgotten," said Walker, reading from the old letter.

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