“Cyclists in New York Get Blessed in Church for Protection from Accidents”

Lined up with their bikes under the nave of New York Cathedral, hundreds of followers of the little queen are blessed in this Anglican church, a ritual for 25 years supposed to protect them from accidents in the city.

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“Let the paths come your way. May the wind always be at your back. May your journeys always be joyful. May the Lord protect you and your bikes in the palm of his hand”proclaimed the Rev. Patrick Malloy, dean of the Episcopalian Cathedral of St. John the Theologian in northwest Manhattan, one of the largest churches in the world.

Greeting a particularly large crowd this year, after the COVID-19 pandemic, Reverend Malloy crossed the entire nave, sprinkling holy water on his faithful on bicycles, after reading an extract from the Gospel and delivering a homily. .

“May God be with you”

“Nothing will happen to your bike today (…) May the God of the Universe be with you and always be with you”, assured the high Protestant dignitary of the Episcopalian Church, a branch of Anglicanism in the United States. Reverend Malloy even mentioned in a word the coronation of King Charles III on May 6 in London.

Once “blessed”, the cyclists applauded and rang their bells, then toured the nave and the transept of this neo-Gothic building from the end of the 19th century.^e century, copied from the architecture of French cathedrals, and whose latest works date from the 1990s.

Open to all religions and non-believers, “the blessing of bicycles” has existed for 25 years in this “Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine”, which sits enthroned in the airy district of Morningside Heights known to house Columbia University.

New York cyclists have their bikes blessed at the church.

Photo: AFP/VNA/CVN

This religious, community and ecumenical ritual – typical of the unique multicultural mosaic that is New York – has gained momentum as cycling and cycling, a “soft” sport and mode of transport, have developed in the American cities and their residential and green suburbs.

Cycling encouraged in New York

As in Europe, cycling is encouraged by the Democratic municipal authorities of New York, for environmental and public health reasons.

But the city of 8.5 million souls, sprawling and chaotic, urban monster and kingdom of cars and trucks, is ultra dangerous for bikes and scooters. Its cycle paths are too few and poorly protected.

According to the New York Transportation Department, 17 people died on bicycles in 2022 in the five boroughs of the city and, during the ceremony on May 6, worshipers listed the names of 13 killed already this year in the streets. They also gathered for the 132 pedestrians killed in accidents in the city last year.

“It’s so dangerous to be a cyclist in New York!”, reacted to the exit of the church, Allison Considine, environmental activist of 28 years. The young woman also denounced, especially since the end of the pandemic, the “number of motorists who drive more aggressively, faster and really dangerous”.

Precisely, on May 7, the five boroughs of the megalopolis (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island) are for one day reserved only for 32,000 “cyclists of all abilities and from all over the world on totally car-free streets”according to a press release from the Five Boro Bike Tour, a sports and charity event that this year celebrates its 45^e anniversary.

AFP/VNA/CVN