From New York-
In a tower above Malcolm X Boulevard in
Harlem are more than 40 large bells that were fabricated in the
Netherlands — they form the carillon of a once-proud church, St. Martin’s,
and are one of only three carillons in New York City. The queen mother
of the Netherlands attended a dedication ceremony in the 1950s. The
current Episcopal bishop of New York says it was “a giant big deal” that
she was there.
The bells were last
played in July, and then only briefly during an inspection by a carillon
expert. The last time they were heard regularly was in 2013 because the
carillon has been “deemed structurally unsound,” said Malcolm J. Merriweather, a member of the congregation. He is also a conductor and an assistant professor of music at Brooklyn College.
The carillon has become a flash point in a dispute among some members of St. Martin’s and the Episcopal Diocese of New York
over how to repair the instrument and the rest of the decaying church
building. In August, the bishop replaced the congregation’s lay leaders
after failing to come to terms on $2.4 million that he offered to
advance for the repair work. He wanted St. Martin’s to repay the money
to the diocese by selling one of three nearby brownstones that it owns.
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