The Church of St. John was a home to Catholics in St. Paul, Minnesota since 1886. The present church structure, school and rectory were constructed in the 1920s.
It was jolting to drive by and to see the cross had been knocked down from the front facade. It really does hit home. I last attended Holy Mass here in 2009. The church looked full on that day.
In 2013 the church was closed and it was sold to the religion of Islam June 20 of this year.
I had relatives who were parishioners here. What next is what many are asking. Many are fearful the Archdiocese will do the same thing in Minneapolis with St. Boniface.
You can see the demolition of the Christian interior here:
http://www.lostchurchesofstpaul.com/stjstp/TheEndOfStJohnsAsACatholicChurch.html
Matthew 26:15
ReplyDeleteWould the diocese sell it to the SSPX?.. It is not necessary to answer; we already know it.
ReplyDeleteThe SSPX already has a chapel here. So does the FSSP which got the communion rail from this Church. And there are three other TLM's in the Archdiocese each Sunday. What was your question again?
DeleteYou don't get the nuance. The Archdiocese would not have thought for a minute to sell this to the SSPX.
DeleteWhy would or should they?
DeleteYou still don't get the nuance.
DeleteI got it. You don't.
DeleteIF this is true, the Archbishop needs to resign.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been better to destroy it than to allow the Mohammedans to desecrate the sacred space. Shame on the Archbishop! Shame!
ReplyDeleteEverything that could have been desecrated was removed prior to the sale.
DeleteOnce consecrated after a mortgage has been paid in full, any Catholic church can be desecrated regardless of the inside contents. It is sacred ground. Blessed objects remain in the corner stone. God's blessings are forever. It is the site of Calvary. 100 years of sacraments celebrated in this sanctuary. This is a "sacred space." The neo-Gothic rail was saved, thank heavens, but not sure how well it works in a Romanesque church.
DeleteIn Obama's America this stuff happens.
ReplyDeleteThe renewal! Vatican II says that we worship the same God with them (nobiscum) so who cares!
ReplyDeleteDisgusting. Brings to mind the Witches' Sabbath...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVUAR8Nk8xQ
ReplyDeleteI'm truly repulsed by this.
ReplyDeleteAnybody question what goes on inside a mosque????
ReplyDeletehttp://www.israelvideonetwork.com/the-film-that-uncovers-what-is-really-happening-in-mosques-across-the-uk/
"It has always seemed to me possible, and even probable, that there would be a resurrection of Islam and that our sons or our grandsons would see the renewal of that tremendous struggle between the Christian culture and what has been for more than a thousand years its greatest opponent." -Hilaire Belloc
ReplyDeleteThings are quickly unraveling in the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis. The notably stupid or foolish actions from the chancery have been on the rise. Years of muddled theology at St. Paul Seminary are adding up. Rotten professors = rotten fruits. Some call it modernism. We call it insanity.
ReplyDeleteHas nothing to do with the sale of this church property.
DeleteIn the spirit of full disclosure some background helps: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/catholic-church/
ReplyDeleteWhen you sell property you can't not sell it to someone because you don't want them to buy it.
ReplyDeleteNot according to Canon Law. It you know the church will be desecrated. Reason today is everywhere decried. The ancient process of conviction by argument and proof is replaced by reiterated affirmation. How many times have we been told all religions are the same? What does it matter? Who cares? I can think of 5 options that could have been exhausted...this church a. could have been kept open; b. been at least offered to the SSPX; c. sold to Byzantine Catholics, d. sold to the Orthodox; e. sold to a developer and demolished for raw land value. Eritrea Christians have been looking for a worthy worship space in the Cities for years. I am sure it went to the highest bidder.
DeleteKeeping the church open was not a financially viable option. 2,3,4 are the same option and any one of them could have purchased the property, it was on the market for some time. A developer if they were interested could also have bought the property.
DeleteAt least they were each morally viable. A worse case scenario could have been avoided here with a little leadership. There are many Copts, Melchites, Chaldeans and other Byzantines searching for more fitting worship space in the Cities. Arab governments finance these mosque purchases with oil money. The Turkish government even financed the construction of the Washington, D.C. mosque. I would not recommend selling a Catholic church to a religion that was founded by a man who married a 7-year-old girl and then "entered" her at 9.
DeleteHave you been in St. John's Byzantine Church in NE Minneapolis? They could put 3 of those in St. John's in St Paul and they don't need the size of the Curch they have now.
DeleteThe situation at St Boniface is representative of other local churches which have become the new home of recent immigrants. They use the church and often have large numbers but unfortunately do not financially support those parishes. St's Cyril and Methodius is another example. The only reason they are able to stay open is because of the charter school that uses the old school building. Fact is there are just not enough Catholics living near these inner city churches to keep them open.
ReplyDeleteOne-alarm, two-alarm, three-alarm fires, or higher, are categories of fires indicating the level of response by local authorities. When you have the highest level of fire what to do? Ergo, that's when you declare a code red and get out and re-evangelize the neighborhood. One or two of the 170 salaried employees in the chancery can get out and earn their money going door to door to reach out to these immigrant populations, which is exactly what JWs and Mormons do with high levels of success. Catholics are being punished for their own sins - 50 years of contraception and abortion have given us no vocations, closed Catholic schools, empty convents, ad infinitum.
DeleteYou obviously have no clue how much work the people in the chancery do.
DeleteCanon 1187 (1883 CIC 1222, 1238) Cross-Ref: 1917 CIC 1170. Nefarious, indeed. "If a church in no way can be used for divine cult and its repairs entirely ruled out, it can be put to profane BUT NOT SORDID USE by the local Ordinary, and the duties, along with the income of the parish, if the church was parochial, are transferred by the same Ordinary to another church." Definition of sordid: "involving ignoble actions and motives; arousing moral distaste and contempt." First recourse must always be to the Code. And to common sense. East St. Paul was the blue collar home for St. Paul Catholics. St. Ambrose (was sold to Protestants), Blessed Sacrament (recently closed and empty, merged with a local ugly parish, will likely be sold to anyone at this point), Sacred Heart (now Latino is safe for the moment), St. Casmir (in its terminal stage, OMI, heretical, check out the spooky pastor's page: http://www.harrywinter.org/), St. Pascal Baylon (on life support with one geriatric Mass each Sunday, less than 200 kids in the school, a new church they can't pay for thanks to Rev. Dale Korogi), and St. John's (sold to what is by all accounts the sworn enemy of Western culture thanks to Rev. Michael Byron). There is still hope. I would offer St. Casmir to the ICKSP (they saved a similar parish in Chicago: http://www.institute-christ-king.org/chicago/). If any church should have been sold to the religion of peace it was St. Pascal Baylon, crushed by a dept with a new church they could not afford, knew they could never afford, and still built anyhow knowing that the two nearest Catholic churches, Blessed Sacrament and St. Thomas the Apostle, respectively, were 3 and 5 minute car drives away according to Google Maps! How is that for insanity from the St. Paul chancery? Spotless Bride by David Pence fills in some of the character backgrounds.
ReplyDeleteIN USUM PROFANUM NON SORDIDUM AB ORDINARIO LOCI REDIGI POTEST.
DeleteAnd then the bishop of this diocese wonders why people do not go to Mass any more. Pray for the conversion of the Roman Catholic hierarchy!
ReplyDeleteIgnorance of the Code is common among Latins. Maybe the most looked down upon seminary class is Introductio in Codicem. Maybe it is considered too rigid at SPS? Lol.
ReplyDeleteThis conversion had happen years ago before church to mosque, mosque to church. Did you want to convert church to disco/pub? it is better to mosque right.
ReplyDeleteThe question of giving over a church to profane purposes is outlined in Canon 1187: "If a church cannot at all be used for divine worship and all the means to repair it are lacking, it may be turned over by the Ordinary to some DECENT profane purpose."
ReplyDelete