Some of you may have seen what recently transpired in my native place. A Catholic Church, where a friend of mine had been pastor, was closed and then sold to Muslims. It will soon be a mosque.
This is seriously galling.
St. John’s church finds new owner
Will be an Islamic faith center
The altars are gone, and the cross has been pulled off the top of the building.
It’s official — St. John’s Catholic Church has been decommissioned by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and sold off by St. Pascal Baylon Catholic Church, which owned the buildings.
The sale to the new owners, the Darul-Uloom Islamic Center, closed on Friday, June 20. The sale included the church building, the empty school, and the attached rectory, which was used as rental housing. [ What a grand place that rectory was. ]
The St. Pascal Baylon parish took over care of St. John’s as part of a directive from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis — with the merger, St. John’s was effectively closed.
The Roman Catholic church held its last Mass on Sunday, June 30, 2013 and was vacant for a year until it was purchased.
The sale will help relieve St. Pascal Baylon of its outstanding $900,000 debt to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, according to the Rev. Mike Byron, the St. Pascal Baylon priest.
Though the church, rectory and school were listed for $927,000, the Archdiocese did not reveal the amount they sold for.
Decommissioning process [ I think the word is "desecration". ]
A few weeks ago, former St. John’s Catholic Church parishioner Greg Cosimini passed by the old vacant church, and noticed a large lift in the parking lot.
Cosimini looked over and saw that the giant cross from the top of the building had been placed in a large dumpster. Cosimini said workers had tried to save the cross, but it was broken while being removed.
Byron said that though St. Pascal Baylon didn’t have any specific hopes of what the new use of the building might be, the outcome “an opportunity to welcome a new faith community into the East Side.”
He said that the St. Pascal’s parish would look to ways to cooperate on “some ventures of mutual interest.”
“It’s good that it’s going to continue to be used as a sacred space,” he added.
“We’re happy with the transaction, and I hope the buyers will be happy with it, too,” Byron said.
I want to remind you all of something important.
Our Lord promised that Hell would not prevail against the Church. He did not promise that Hell wouldn’t prevail in these USA, or where you live.
Don’t assume that any of the structures of the Church are safe and will just automatically always be there for you without you having to lift your pinky finger to do your part.