"[6] The second pastor of the church, the Reverend Thomas Mooney, also served as chaplain to the nearby 69th New York State Militia.

Mooney was conspicuously present at all future Irish Brigade functions and was much beloved by the men who survived to remember him.

[9] During the 1988 Tompkins Square Park Riot, the church allowed homeless advocates and protesters of the police action to mobilize under its roof.

George Kuhn led a group of parishioners taking food to protesters and homeless people holed up in an abandoned school on East 4th Street.

"[11] St. Brigid's Church served as a place for protesters to organize and receive medical attention during the riot.

Mass was then held in the adjoining school while the parishioners rallied to raise money to save the church.

"[13] At that time, the spokesperson further stated that the property would not be turned into condominiums or apartments, (as nearby St. Ann's Church had been when it was converted into a dormitory for New York University).

"It will be used for some other form of ministry, whether for educational or charitable or healthcare purposes, possibly senior housing," said a spokesperson for the archdiocese.

[13] Some criticized the Archdiocese for what New York Times columnist Dan Barry called its "tone-deaf" handling of parishioner and community concern.

[14] Earlier in 2006, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kapnick ruled against the Committee to Save St. Brigid's (CSSB) and allowed plans for demolition to proceed.

In June, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division upheld that decision, Then in August Kapnick agreed to hear a separate suit in which the CSSB asserted that ownership and right to demolish are invalid due to the lack of a five-person board of trustees (including two parishioners) governing the church as required by New York law.

The archdiocese also pointed out that the city did not question the church's ownership when they filed the building permits for demolition.

On July 26, 2006, Judge Barbara Kapnick declined to halt demolition plans, but asked lawyers on both sides to appear in her courtroom to hear arguments on the building's ownership.

Community leaders, among them St. Brigid's parishioner and City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, then-Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, State Senator Martin Connor, and Assemblywoman Sylvia Friedman, who made statements denouncing the demolition and accusing the Archdiocese of greed during an overheated real estate market.

Cardinal Egan further said in a statement: "This magnificent gift will make it possible for Saint Brigid’s Church to be fittingly restored with its significant structural problems properly addressed.

"[18][19] On January 27, 2013, worshipers, including descendants of some of the original Irish parishioners, gathered as Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan consecrated and dedicated the newly renovated building.

[3] St. Brigid's was built in 1848 to a Carpenter Gothic design by twenty-five year old Patrick Keely, who carved the five-pinnacle reredos, organ case, and wooden altar himself.

[6] The brownstone church of St. Brigid’s has a tripartite front façade flanked by bell towers, which once supported spires.

[20] The wide center nave is vaulted with an unusual ceiling resembling an upside-down ship’s hull, a nod to the shipwright carpenters whose memory is preserved in corbels decorated with their sculpted faces.

Stucco was removed from the stone façade, the building's foundations stabilized, and the remaining stained glass windows returned from storage.

Thomas Mooney, pastor of St. Brigid's, founded the school in 1856 in the mostly Irish immigrant section of what was then called the Lower East Side.

Mooney asked the Sisters of Charity to open St. Brigid's Academy on 10th Street, an "excellent select school" with an average enrollment of 200 students.