From the Catholic Courier:
“This month Providence Housing Development Corp., an affiliate of diocesan Catholic Charities, submitted an application to New York State’s Homes and Community Renewal agency and its Housing Trust Fund Corp. for affordable-housing funds for a project at the Holy Rosary campus in Rochester, said Monica McCullough, Providence’s executive director.
The agency also is mulling an affordable-housing project at the St. Vincent de Paul campus in Corning, McCullough said.
Providence has entered into purchase offers to buy both the Holy Rosary and the St. Vincent de Paul campuses, but both sales are contingent on Providence receiving affordable-housing financing, McCullough said.
Under Providence’s plan, the school, convent and rectory on the Holy Rosary campus would be converted into affordable-housing apartments, and the church — which closed as a worship site in 2008 — would be reused as a community space, she said [Not exciting news at all, to see a Catholic church become a community center. Still, better that than a mosque]. The plan also would add new three- and four-bedroom units of affordable housing on scattered sites in the neighborhood around the Holy Rosary campus. The entire project would add about 60 units of affordable housing to the neighborhood.
McCullough said Providence is in the process of drafting concepts for the Corning site, and details of how buildings would be used have not been finalized [The parishioners are currently fighting efforts to sell their church. Read here and here for more details]. An application for affordable-housing funding for the St. Vincent de Paul project is still in development and will not be submitted this month, which is the deadline for applications for the most recent round of affordable-housing funding, she said.
Parish officials have said that the sale would take several years to close [The longer it takes, the better the chance it can be avoided].
“(The sale) will substantially reduce expenses, move the parish towards one quality worship site, and strengthen the Catholic community in our area [Evidence of this is lacking from other DoR consolidations],” stated an Oct. 30 letter to parishioners from parish leaders. “It is one big step toward averting financial collapse.””
Tags: Church Closings, News and Media
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Thanks for the heads up. I posted about this and linked back to you.
So does the DoR gain financially other than the sale of the property when they sell to Providence Housing? Just what is the financial relationship between the two organizations? Does anyone know?
Anon. 9:16,
“Better that than a mosque” is the equivalent of “preaching hatred”???
Sorry, Anon., but that’s by far from the only possibility. “Better than a mosque” can also refer to the destruction (some would say ‘desecration’) a Catholic church building must undergo in order for Muslims to find it suitable to serve as a mosque.
For instance, in order for the old St. Francis Xavier Church on Bay St. to be used as a mosque, the following first had to take place:
– The murals of the saints had to be painted over.
– The heads of the angels had to have their faces smashed off.
– The organ needed to be removed.
– The stained glass windows – with their crosses – had to be replaced.
– The inscription “Hic Domus Dei, Porta Coeli” (“This is the House of God, the Gate of Heaven”) over the door had to be smashed/defaced.
– The stone carving of St. Francis Xavier above the front door also had to be smashed/defaced.
– Etc., etc.
Almost any other conceivable usage of that building would most likely have preserved some or all of those Catholic architectural elements that Muslims deem contrary to their faith. Almost any other conceivable usage would have been “better than a mosque.”
For those who appreciate their Catholic patrimony, that’s not hatred.
That’s simply reality.
I stand by my comment, Anon 9:16. I personally do not enjoy seeing the “competition” for souls thrive in our former Catholic churches. I’m sorry that you don’t understand what’s at stake.
I’d love to hear why it’s “preaching hatred” anon. Please enlighten us ignorant peons.
I’m not a Christian to begin with,but I can certainly expect that any sincere Christian would feel that it would be better that any building not be a mosque.
Wow, another Gretchen! From now on I’ll self-identify as Gretchen G.
Mike, another travesty that occurred at St. Francis Xavier was the destruction of a marble statue of Mary and baby Jesus. An acquaintance found the demolished statue in the trash outside the church-becoming-mosque and rescued the head of the decapitated baby Jesus.
Gretchen, I happen to be a Gretchen G, too!