Catholic Groups Seek To Rent Shuttered Parishes

Dozens of Catholic organizations could soon set up offices in recently shuttered parishes or churches slated to close as part of the Archdiocese of New York's reorganization, which was announced last month.

More than 30 Catholic nonprofits have expressed interest in renting out space in the 10 houses of worship ordered closed or the 11 churches scheduled to be merged with nearby parishes, an archdiocese spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, said yesterday. He said the archdiocese is in the process of "making matches," but that no leases have been signed.

Mr. Zwilling would not name the groups expressing interest in the church properties, but said they represent a range of Catholic educational, health, and social service organizations.

"It's certainly very much on the minds of Catholic nonprofits," the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, William Donohue, said.

Mr. Donohue said tax-exempt Catholic groups leasing space from the archdiocese can pay rents that are about 50% below market rate.

Although some members of soon-to-be shut parishes have said they believe the archdiocese will sell the vacated churches to real estate developers, church officials have denied repeatedly that they plan to unload the properties. They said they hoped the buildings could be used by the diocese or rented out by Catholic nonprofit organizations.

Archdiocese officials said that at least some of the newly available properties were likely to house new education centers, where Catholic children not attending parochial schools could receive after-school religious education.

In recent years, the number of Catholic schoolchildren attending supplementary religious schools in the archdiocese has grown by 2,000 to 3,000 students annually — to about 108,000 throughout the archdiocese. That rise has necessitated more Catechetical programs be opened, the director of the Archdiocesan Catechetical Office, Sister Joan Curtin, said. The need is especially pronounced in Lower Manhattan and in several rural communities upstate, Sister Curtin said. She attributed the numbers to a decline in Catholic school enrollment, and an influx of Catholic immigrant populations in the sprawling 10-county archdiocese.

Earlier this week, the archdiocese locked Our Lady of Vilnius, while Edward Cardinal Egan was informing its pastor that the church would be closed, effective immediately. The decision to shut the 102-year-old Lithuanian Catholic parish, which is near Manhattan's Holland Tunnel entrance, was not officially part of the church's realignment effort.

After parishioners staged a protest vigil at one of the parishes marked for closing, Our Lady Queen of Angels in Harlem, the archdiocese shuttered it on February 12 — more than two weeks ahead of schedule.

In recent weeks, the archdiocese has also closed Our Lady of the Rosary in Yonkers, St. John the Baptist in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and the Church of the Most Sacred Heart in Port Jervis, Mr. Zwilling said. He said Mary Help of Christians in the East Village could close as early as May, but he did not yet know when other churches would be closed or merged.

The Archdiocese of New York is composed of Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx, in addition to seven suburban and upstate counties.