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Detroit church to be reborn as a mosque
As a child, Mary Ann Rice considered Our Lady Help of Christians Church a second home. A daughter of Polish immigrants, she attended its elementary school and worshipped there in Masses said in her native tongue. After 83 years, the church will celebrate its final Mass on Sunday and become the first church in the Archdiocese of Detroit sold to a mosque. It will cater to a new crop of immigrants -- from Bangladesh, primarily. "It's going to hurt," said Rice, 68. "There are a lot of memories there. But you've got to go with the times." The Islamic Center of North Detroit has a purchase agreement with the Archdiocese of Detroit for Our Lady Help of Christians' five buildings, which tentatively are planned to be used for an Islamic community center, larger worship space and possibly a school. The conversion of the Detroit buildings, on the Hamtramck border, from church to Muslim center underscores how much the community's makeup has changed. Long-entrenched Catholic churches have had to downsize as their congregations moved to the suburbs and other immigrant groups moved in. The pending sale of the building to a mosque is a first for the Archdiocese of Detroit, though it has already leased one of its properties to Muslims. Officials declined to say where. More at the link. Posted by: Ulolush Phetle1960 2006-11-07 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=171203 |