Harvesting churches

"It's like Pompeii. It's like life just stopped," says the foundation's executive director, Susan Holland, leading the way through the empty rooms where red vestments of altar boys still hang in a closet and a booklet of Christmas carols, published in 1960, gathers dust.

And yet, much has changed in the church. In worship space that seated 1,000-plus, pews have been ripped up and piled to the side. The walnut confessional was taken out with a chainsaw.

A few years ago, the Rev. Butler — helping design his new church, Christ the King, in suburban Guilderland, N.Y. — expressed interest in St. Joseph's fixtures after learning that the diocese couldn't afford to remove them.

Now, some former parishioners of St. Joseph's who worship at Christ the King notice familiar details from the old downtown church, including marble statues, Gothic arched doors and a 1913 wooden pulpit.

"They're like our family pictures," the Rev. Butler said. "When you move, you take the pictures off the wall and move to the next place."

An appraisal of the items the Rev. Butler salvaged and worked into the design came to $900,000. And he got them all for free.