Historic church to become a mosque

[cindy25]

note: the article below does not say the word mosque but 3 Muslim men buying a building for religious purposes? common sense it will be a mosque. I wonder what the reaction will be.

https://buffalonews.com/2017/01/17/s...-heading-sale/

The St. Gerard church and rectory on Buffalo's East Side will soon have a new owner, as long as a State Supreme Court justice does not object.

The buildings – which have been owned by St. Gerard’s Roman Catholic Church Society of Buffalo – would stay in place at the corner of Bailey and East Delavan avenues.

[Gallery: Buffalo's St. Gerard Catholic Church]

The buildings would be sold for $120,000 in cash to Alawi Abdulla, Ammar Shaibi and Sadi Mohamed, according to a signed contract. They are identified as representatives of a “to-be-formed religious corporation,” meaning the church building would continue to be used for religious purposes.

[asurfaholic]

Well they bought it, so property rights and all.

[Zippyjuan]

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

http://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment1.html

[Jamesiv1]

Why would this be a problem?

[enhanced_deficit]

Church-Mosque transition sounds religiously noteworthy but there are much more significant political changes taking place in America since Iraqi Feeedom spread fallout (or from root cause analysis standpoint, following US taxpayers Palestine-Israel conflict finaccing / 9/11).
Barack Hussein Obama being the most noteworthy manifestation.


Call to prayer as a group of Muslim people and their supporters prepare to say the Friday prayers outside the White House in Washington, Friday



Muslim Prayer Room at the White House

From:
Debunked: Trump cancels Obama's muslim rituals in the White House

[juleswin]

Why would this be a problem?

It shows that Christians are leaving the church. And that is not good. This thread should have had a poll asking how many times did you GO to church(not watch on TV) in the last year?

0
0-6 (Only holy days)
6-20
20 - 30
30 +(religiously)

[heavenlyboy34]

It doesn't say "muslim" in the article. For all we know it could be Antiochian Orthodox or Byzantine Catholic. SMH @ religious ignorance.

[juleswin]

It doesn't say "muslim" in the article. For all we know it could be Antiochian Orthodox or Byzantine Catholic. SMH @ religious ignorance.

Yea but this

The buildings would be sold for $120,000 in cash to Alawi Abdulla, Ammar Shaibi and Sadi Mohamed, according to a signed contract. They are identified as representatives of a “to-be-formed religious corporation,” meaning the church building would continue to be used for religious purposes.

You don't need to be a detective to figure out which religious purposes they plan on continuing at the facility.

[Ender]

Yea but this


You don't need to be a detective to figure out which religious purposes they plan on continuing at the facility.

You do know there's Christians with Arab names, right? And Jews and Hindus, etc.

It also says that they are representatives of a “to-be-formed religious corporation,” so who knows?

This "historic" building has probably been sitting in wasteland for a while and someone finally bought it and will upgrade.

Good on them.

[juleswin]

You do know there's Christians with Arab names, right? And Jews and Hindus, etc.

It also says that they are representatives of a “to-be-formed religious corporation,” so who knows?

This "historic" building has probably been sitting in wasteland for a while and someone finally bought it and will upgrade.

Good on them.

I dont have a problem with the sale but I think it is absurd to think a person with a name like Mohammed is not muslim. There are Arabic names and then there are Muslim names. Mohammed is indeed a muslim name.

[Ender]

I dont have a problem with the sale but I think it is absurd to think a person with a name like Mohammed is not muslim. There are Arabic names and then there are Muslim names. Mohammed is indeed a muslim name.

It is also a very common name in the Arab world- like Joshua is here, which was Jesus' real name, BTW. (Yeshua in Aramaic)

[CPUd]

If we had extreme vetting, we would know for sure.

[Jamesiv1]

note: the article below does not say the word mosque but 3 Muslim men buying a building for religious purposes? common sense it will be a mosque. I wonder what the reaction will be.

https://buffalonews.com/2017/01/17/s...-heading-sale/

The St. Gerard church and rectory on Buffalo's East Side will soon have a new owner, as long as a State Supreme Court justice does not object.

The buildings – which have been owned by St. Gerard’s Roman Catholic Church Society of Buffalo – would stay in place at the corner of Bailey and East Delavan avenues.

[Gallery: Buffalo's St. Gerard Catholic Church]

The buildings would be sold for $120,000 in cash to Alawi Abdulla, Ammar Shaibi and Sadi Mohamed, according to a signed contract. They are identified as representatives of a “to-be-formed religious corporation,” meaning the church building would continue to be used for religious purposes.

dumb thread is dumb

The article does not say the buyers are Muslim, and does not say it will be a mosque.

Your religious prejudice is showing.

[sam1952]

Historic Mosque becomes a church!

When I visited Seville Spain the Seville Cathedral was the most spectacular religious structure I've even seen. Far superior to Notre Dame.

Giralda Tower, part of the Mosque, was converted to the bell tower. The whole cathedral is truly a work of art.

[Jamesiv1]

I dont have a problem with the sale but I think it is absurd to think a person with a name like Mohammed is not muslim. There are Arabic names and then there are Muslim names. Mohammed is indeed a muslim name.

The fact that the article doesn't mention Muslim or mosque makes me think the guys are Muslim - but it's still a dumb thread title.

In my home town the Hare Krishna's bought an old church and made a Krishna temple out of it. Same thing.

[euphemia]

I dont have a problem with the sale but I think it is absurd to think a person with a name like Mohammed is not muslim. There are Arabic names and then there are Muslim names. Mohammed is indeed a muslim name.

Don't you think you are jumping to conclusions? It might be a Muslim name, but it's not always the name of a Muslim. Many people arrive in the United States because they flee the religious oppression abroad. Some people adopt new names when they come here, but not all of them do.

[heavenlyboy34]

I dont have a problem with the sale but I think it is absurd to think a person with a name like Mohammed is not muslim. There are Arabic names and then there are Muslim names. Mohammed is indeed a muslim name.

As a surname, it's not necessarily muslim, AFAIK.

[Zippyjuan]

\double

[Zippyjuan]

It has been on the market for over two years. and vacant since 2008.
https://www.buffalorising.com/2014/1...tory-for-130k/

Pick up St. Gerard’s Church and Rectory for 130K



Have you ever contemplated what it would be like to own a historic church? Maybe for adaptive reuse purposes – residential, educational, town hall, or event space? Well, Preservation Buffalo Niagara (PBN) is looking for a responsible buyer for St. Gerard’s Church located at Bailey and East Delavan in Buffalo. The church is currently being listed at $130,000, and according to PBN the purchase price includes the rectory, which has a ton of potential for housing.

“St. Gerard’s was built in 1911 and designed by Schmil and Gould who modeled it after St. Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome. More information, as well as additional photos, can be found in Preservation Buffalo Niagara’s Buildings Catalog under St. Gerard’s (see here).” – PBN

Now that the church is apparently remaining in Buffalo (see story), it’s time to get the church into safe hands that will be responsible for its future moving forward.

Interested parties should contact PBN’s Director of Operations, Christina Lincoln, at ....

Stained glass window and fixtures including altar sold and shipped to church in Georgia: http://buffalonews.com/2016/08/20/st...ch-in-georgia/

But the church’s magnificent stained glass windows, along with the altar, pews and other interior furnishings, have been sold and removed from the landmark Buffalo structure. The buyer is the Catholic congregation in Georgia that had proposed taking down the hulking limestone church and then reassembling it piece by piece in suburban Atlanta.

“All of it will be integrated into a new church in Georgia, where the congregation is growing, not shrinking,” said George Richert, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo. “Anything relevant to a church that they could take with them, they did and were allowed to do.”

They were considering moving the entire church:

Mary Our Queen parish in Norcross, Ga., about 20 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta, originally approached the Buffalo diocese in 2008 with a highly unusual plan to preserve the vacant church by relocating it in its entirety 900 miles away from the corner of Bailey and E. Delavan avenues, where it has stood for 105 years. The plan, while derided by some area lawmakers and preservationists, garnered national attention. Ultimately, though, the parish never was able to raise the estimated $14 to $16 million needed to make it happen. Parish leaders decided about a year ago to move forward with an alternative plan – building a new church at roughly half the cost. St. Gerard will stay where it is.

“It was just too expensive. We had to reduce our expectations,” said the Rev. Darragh Griffith, pastor of Mary Our Queen parish. “We cut back. We’re looking at about $8 million to build a church.”

Griffith said the recession in 2008 hindered the parish’s efforts to fundraise on a more national level, but he also acknowledged that opposition in Buffalo to moving the church would have made it difficult. Griffith succeeded the Rev. David M. Dye, who had spearheaded the congregation’s efforts in 2008 to relocate St. Gerard. Dye retired a few months ago.

The parish spent $30,000 to $40,000 on the 41 stained glass windows and other items, including the hiring of a firm to remove and ship them to Georgia, said Griffith.

From the OP article:

There were several reasons for the difficulty in finding a buyer. In recent years both the diocese and other denominations have been closing churches in the city as their congregations shrunk and moved to the suburbs, putting many religious properties on the market.

Also, several restrictions are in place for future uses of the St. Gerard property, to protect its historically sacred purpose. Included in the contract are the conditions that the purchaser “be mindful and respectful of the religious and historical tradition and significance of the buildings ... and shall not use or permit the buildings to be used for any purposes either by speech or action which would bring discredit, ridicule, criticism and/or scandal upon said history and tradition or upon the Roman Catholic Church.” Among the specific uses that are prohibited: putting a bar or restaurant in the building that serves alcohol, using it “for any obscene or pornographic purposes, including as a topless bar or X-rated movie theater,” or for anything affiliated with abortion-related services, family planning or euthanasia. The new owners also can’t put in a charter school or fortune telling parlor.

[KrokHead]

Well they bought it, so property rights and all.

I agree. What's wrong with a mosque?

[phill4paul]

I dont have a problem with the sale but I think it is absurd to think a person with a name like Mohammed is not muslim. There are Arabic names and then there are Muslim names. Mohammed is indeed a muslim name.

Really? Quit being an idiot on a social forum. I have a friend named Christian that is a Buddhist. Go figure.

[PaleoPaul]

I dont have a problem with the sale but I think it is absurd to think a person with a name like Mohammed is not muslim. There are Arabic names and then there are Muslim names. Mohammed is indeed a muslim name.

Kasim Reed, Mayor of Atlanta, is actually named Mohammed. He's the grandson of a Methodist minister and is a Methodist himself. So, what you say is not always the case.

[juleswin]

Kasim Reed, Mayor of Atlanta, is actually named Mohammed. He's the grandson of a Methodist minister and is a Methodist himself. So, what you say is not always the case.

This was because his father was probably going through what he thought was a transitional period.

M. Kasim Reed was born in 1969 and raised in pre*dominantly black southwest Atlanta during the infancy of desegregation. His full name is Mohammed Kasim Reed.
“[At the time] my father considered converting to Islam, but he never did,” says Reed, who does not believe his Islamic name will be a detriment to his political career. “My grandfather was a United Methodist minister and he almost collapsed when my dad named me Mohammed. I was born and baptized and still am a member of the United Methodist Church, but the story of my name has become family legend.

http://www.ajc.com/news/things-you-n...1imDBcA5BvPHP/

Seeing as how he now goes by Kasim Reed not Mohammed Kasim Reed, we can tell that he has somewhat fixed the mistake his father made. Again, I am not saying that everybody in the world named Mohammed is a musilm. Ofc not, there are always exceptions to every rule. But reading about the other circumstances about the story, we can tell that they are indeed Muslims.

I will keep an eye on this story and I would guarantee you that in time this church would be turned into some Islamic center or mosque.

[cindy25]

Why would this be a problem?

I don't have an opinion on it, but would expect some protest. people protested the move to Georgia.

one interesting point, the Catholic church is ok with the church becoming a mosque, but not a Charter school.

also, judges in NY are elected, and that judge should expect blow back should it be approved.

[Jamesiv1]

I don't have an opinion on it, but would expect some protest. one interesting point, the Catholic church is ok with the church becoming a mosque, but not a Charter school.

Intolerant people will protest anything that threatens their worldview.

[oyarde]

Looks like a pretty good deal for the price .

[cindy25]

I agree. What's wrong with a mosque?

nothing, but they should be transparent and say that is the purpose.

[pcosmar]

Well they bought it, so property rights and all.

was my first thought.

[oyarde]

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

http://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment1.html

That did not stop the Democrats from burning women and children at Waco .

[oyarde]

Moving a church from buffalo to georgia sounds crazy . Almost like govt spending other peoples money .LOL