this hurts, boy does this hurt, I really feel for those parishioners in closed parishes watching the infrastructure they built with their nickels and dimes. Most of them were built by working class, often 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants, communities that were the background of what was once a much larger more populous city. It is not the first time however, there was an earlier wave of church closings closer to the inner city in the 70s early 80s, some buildings had to be razed because of age and poor condition, but many more became churches of African-American communities, and others were put to use as community centers and HQs for clinics, private social service agencies and the like.
I used to work at the Western Reserve Historical Society and during my tenure helped acquire and process church records. Church history is Cleveland history, just as immigrant history, labor history etc are Cleveland history.
That’s why its better to give them away – you can control how they are subsequently used.
if it is legal, and apparently it is in Ohio, deed restrictions can be put in place at resale to prevent the properties from being put to sordid use. To my recollection we never had a Newman Center at Cleveland state in the 70s, maybe later, but there were several downtown churches easy to get to for holy days, and most of those are long gone except St John Cathedral.
Newman Center at Case Western, our first parish home in the city, is one on the block, I am sure the growing university covets that land, but I hope it does not mean there is no longer a Catholic presence on campus.
