(By PETER JESSERER SMITH – NCR)
A long-shot appeal to the Vatican has given a small band of parishioners in Buffalo, N.Y., a chance to save their church as a worship site, after it had been closed by the local diocese.
The Jan. 7 decree handed down from the Congregation of Clergy states that St. Ann’s Church and Shrine, located on Broadway Avenue in Buffalo, cannot be sold or repurposed for profane use. The Buffalo Diocese had closed St. Ann’s as part of a parish consolidation process and was seeking to sell the church, convent and school complex to a private developer for secular uses, after judging that an estimated $8 million-12 million price tag to repair and restore it was something the diocese could not afford.
Read full story—> http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/st.-anns-still-stands-vatican-rules-u.s.-diocese-cant-close-inner-city-chur/#ixzz2u1cnI2pE
