Hattip to commenter Mike Petrik. Mary Our Queen parish in Norcross, Georgia is growing. Good. They need a new church to accomodate their growth. Rather than building a new church the parish has hit upon a novel idea. There is a beautiful church in Buffalo, Saint Gerard’s. Saint Gerard’s has been closed for two years. The Mary Our Queen parish proposes to buy Saint Gerard’s, disassemble it, move it 1000 miles, and reassemble it. Estimated cost: $16,000,000.00. Time to complete: two years.
My hat is off to Mary Our Queen parish. This proposal shows imagination and the desire to rescue a lovely church that has been put out to pasture. May God aid their project. Here is the parish website for this monumental undertaking.
Thanks, Don. We are plainly reaching for the stars on this one, but it is worth a shot. The bottom line is that if St. Gerard’s is not moved, it will be razed. The estimated cost of building a church like St. Gerard is over $40MM. The economic and aesthetic cases are compelling, but the parish does not have the wherewithall to raise this kind of money. We are praying that publicity will induce gifts from unconventional sources, especially some very big ones.
Really cool story!