Lifting 4 Tons For God. Italian Catholics Fight To Survive In Gentrified Brooklyn

For 137 years, Italian Catholics in Brooklyn have carried on a powerful tradition: lifting a 4-ton statue of Saint Paulinus and parading it through the neighborhood. Through heatwaves, rainstorms, wars, and pandemics, this community has kept the Giglio Feast alive across generations. Now, the tradition faces its greatest threat yet—corporate condo takeovers. Sky-high apartments and soaring rents have transformed this once predominantly Italian, working-class neighborhood into a desolate landscape of chain stores, matcha lattes, and barre studios. Can this last remnant of true street festival culture survive the wave of corporate development? Can the new transplants embrace the culture of their new neighborhood? They say we’ve never been lonelier, and society is circling the drain of toxic individualism. We are told nothing can bring us together, but some events are still worth coming together for. In our series GATHERINGS, we explore the communities and events that make people feel like they belong. Click here to subscribe to VICE: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE About VICE: The Definitive Guide To Enlightening Information. From every corner of the planet, our immersive, caustic, ground-breaking and often bizarre stories have changed the way people think about culture, crime, art, parties, fashion, protest, the internet and other subjects that don't even have names yet. Browse the growing library and discover corners of the world you never knew existed. Welcome to VICE. Connect with VICE: Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/VICE-Videos Videos, daily editorial and more: http://vice.com Like VICE on Facebook: http://fb.com/vice Follow VICE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vice Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/vice Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vice?lang=en The VICE YouTube Network: VICE: https://www.youtube.com/VICE MUNCHIES: https://www.youtube.com/MUNCHIES VICE News: https://www.youtube.com/VICENews VICE TV: https://www.youtube.com/@VICE-TV/featured Noisey: https://www.youtube.com/Noisey Motherboard: https://www.youtube.com/MotherboardTV https://www.youtube.com/@VICESports Waypoint: https://www.youtube.com/WaypointVICE