The Breezy Point Madonna - a symbol of suffering and resurrection

Image source: cph926 on Instagram

The NY Times has a piece on the Breezy Point Madonna, the only thing left that is recognizable from the neighborhood before Hurricane Sandy; the rest is charred remnants of over 100 homes. This fire was one of the most devastating results of an overall devastating experience on the Rockaway peninsula, and was the largest of three fires that broke out in the Rockaways during the hurricane.

The Madonna, located at the corner of Oceanside and Gotham (GMAP), has become a shrine that has brought people there from as close as the surrounding neighborhood to the far reaches of the world. “Pilgrims have come to leave offerings: a bouquet of yellow roses, four quarters, a votive candle, a memorial card for the victims of Sept. 11, a written admonition that healing begins with acceptance.”

Frank Franklin II of The Associated Press was one of the first photographers at the scene, and was “transfixed” by the Madonna, (he was raised a Protestant but attended Catholic school as a young person). He said, “I’m not the most religious person in the world, but I know what those images are. When I made that frame, I knew it would resonate with people. What I couldn’t imagine was how much.” He has received countless messages of thanks for his photo of the Madonna.

Timothy Matovina, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, sees the surviving Madonna as “there’s a sense you’ve been crushed, but not abandoned.” Monsignor Michael J. Curran, the pastor of the local parish church St. Thomas More, looks at it this way, “It will be a reminder that for all the property we lost, God never left.”

Amid the Ashes, a Statue of Mary Stands as a Symbol of Survival [NYT]
The continuing woes in Breezy Point [QNYC]