NEW YORK – While the dollar amount of the pledges to the St. Nicholas National Greek Orthodox Shrine is impressive – $35.76 million to date – communities rooted in humble origins in homelands like Greece are still touched by in-kind contributions, and on December 21 the principals and families of the Group Titan and Corona Ready Mix received a special tour of the construction site at Ground Zero in appreciation of their donating all the concrete for the new Church.
Father Alex Karloutsos, Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Archdiocese’s Executive Director of Administration Jerry Dimitriou led the tour on a crisp winter’s day and St. Nicholas project assistant Andrew Veniopoulos was also present to answer questions.
Fr. Karloutsos noted that since the new church will rise from ground 25 feet above the rest of Ground Zero, it can be properly called an acropolis, which brought to mind another noble donation. The Venus Marble Group is providing the Church with its translucent outer skin, marble from Mount Pentelikon, the source of the Parthenon’s marble.
Chairman P.J. Mechanical Corp. Peter J. Pappas Sr. can be said to have provided the guts of the building, all the heating and ventilation systems.
“This will be one of the most unique churches in the Archdiocese and it will become a national shrine,” Fr. Karloutsos said, because it will be a symbol of religious freedom, tolerance, righteousness and reconciliation. There will be a bereavement center…and there will be interactive technology that will give people the opportunity to learn about our Church history and the legacy of the Greeks in America.”
He noted that Ellis Island was nearby and that for decades when Greek immigrants arrived, crying at the sight of the Statue of Liberty, the first place they went to was St. Nicholas to light a candle. “We are carrying on a great legacy,” he said, and turning to the guests he told them “you are literally building the foundation with your concrete, and I want to express the gratitude of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios and all the faithful.”
FLOOR TO BE LAID IN JANUARY
Dimitriou told TNH the concrete for the Church’s floor will be poured in second week of January and explained that the delay was due to the decision to take extra care with and build some redundancy into the HVAC systems and add pipes for possible future wiring needs since the interstitial space housing them between the floor and roof of the VSC will be difficult to access once the concrete is poured.
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