the church just before demolitionYou don't often see one church tearing down another church to make room for parking these days.....houses, yes, but not typically churches. But this happened recently in river city and it got me thinking. Now, first, I want to preface my comments with establishing my solid commitment to historic preservation...and that likely it will influence these further thoughts.
The Catholic church in town felt they needed expansion for parking and playground space for their school. Within the last few years they purchased one house on main street which was moved. The final building on the block which anchored a corner on main street was recently purchased and within the last week, demolished. It housed the Assemblies of God church since at least the 1950's-in fact, my great grandmother and her brother attended there. I vaguely remember my grandparent's taking me along with them to pick her up-mostly because we stopped at the root beer stand along the way.
the church with my great grandmother and her brotherTo me, the demolition seemed unnecessary. It was a grand building, possibly one of the finest in the residential area of river city's main street. It had a great deal of potential. The Catholic church promised nice landscaping and a fence to help soften the hole in the fabric of the neighborhood, which they have so far lived up to, but how much can the fabric of main street be compromised before the charm is gone? This was a significant infraction!
But let me say this about our Catholic friends. They have shown great commitment to staying in our inner city by both extensive restoration on their church and expansion to their school. They help to anchor that neighborhood. Herein lies the dilemma facing many cities and towns. Viable and healthy churches, who wish to remain "in town" rather than building un-inspiring pole buildings in the suburbs, are going to need room to expand. This may require not-so-preservation friendly decisions. But thank God they've made the commitment to stay in town!
I landed on the blog of a pastor on South Bend's old south side. He mentioned that he took his staff on a driving tour of their south side neighborhood to get a fresh perspective of the problems that were there. Crime, vacant houses, trash & debris, the elderly overlooked and the unemployed. Then I thought to myself, what would our -I don't even know if I can call it suburban- church staff see if they drove around the neighborhood. Not at all the same things the South Bend pastor saw, or for that matter our Catholic church staff would see, because we're not there.....maybe where we need to be.
Looking up and down main street in river city reveals a number of times churches have swung the wrecking ball, mostly for parking. I was involved with one house rescue 10 years ago...which was taxing. There was no option in moving the Assemblies of God, and I struggle with whether or not demolition was necessary. But I think of the opportunities that these churches have for good in their neighborhoods and it makes me more comfortable with the tear-downs.
Unfortunately, what I more typically see is a white middle/upper middle class driving in from the suburbs to park in a freshly paved lot without getting the perspective of where they, as a church, are actually planted. Believe me, I'm not singling out my Catholic friends...they probably do a better job than most....but by and large our churches are not meeting the needs of their own neighborhoods. Maybe it's time to take a driving tour? What would it look like if our churches actually sought to make an impact in their neighborhoods?
12 comments:
Now this makes me sad. This was a wonderful building of some character. I get your point about the Catholic church making a serious go of serving the neighborhoods of River City, but daaaaang it's sad that there wasn't some other way.
Your words about a church serving its neighborhood are kind of a poke in my ribs. My church attracts nobody from the neighborhood surrounding us! Drive through and there are kids playing everywhere. Life is really happening around our building and we can't attract it.
That church in South Bend is within line of sight of my parents' front door.
Makes me squirm to see again how utterly dependent we are on the automobile.
Full disclosure: I attend Trinity UMC and belong to the paved-paradise-and-put-up-a-parking-lot club.
Jim,
It was difficult to see happen...but was inevitable I guess. Did your folks live on Woodside? I've got friends who live in a little white house on the north side of Woodside just east of Fellows St.
Ish,
Yes, I had to save that house from you terrible Methodists! At least the Catholics put up a nicer fence! lol. You could always run into church on Sunday mornings too ya know.
Well I see from todays local town "cryer" that people are writing to complain about the house being torn down. Why didn't WVPC step up and have it moved? It is just amazing to me how all of the second guessing "brain surgeons" come out of the woodwork after the fact!
There was no financially feasible way to move it...the Bremen depot cost about $130k to move due to its brick construction. I would guess the A of G would easily cost quadruple that if not more. Add the price of a lot, foundation and you have over a half-million. Chump change for WVPC I am sure!
Preservation and progress - are they always in opposition to one another? My garden used to be Farmer McQueen's field. And who walked that land before Mr. McQueen plowed it? I am aware of my own link in the chain.
At Trinity (even though we expanded our parking lot!), we've been bending over backwards to reach out to our neighborhood. A few years ago we had a leadership retreat, asked ourselves some hard questions, and realized that we were largely serving ourselves. Ouch! Since we've focused more on reaching out, rather than just building ourselves up all the time, we've become a more joyful place. And I think we've been able to help some folks who live nearby. What a steep learning curve, though!
Greengirl,
Preservation & progress...sounds like a great post idea. No, in fact, preservation is sound progress and the ultimate in "reduce, reuse, recycle"!
I know Trinity has made an effort to connect to the neighborhood. There is so much more we are all called to do. I'm going to do a post on Crazy Love by Francis Chan..if you haven't read it-you must. It is one of those books that sticks with you.
Lets take a quick look at the history of the neighborhood that you are discussing. Back in the 60's there were several small homes along Center Street south of St Michaels School and at the corner of Center and Michigan there was a small restaurant/candy store. Well along comes an attorney who buys up those houses and in turn it is announced that the county is going to build the county building there. Hummmm! Some now county chairman was in the money!!! Then later the county buyers the former McKesson Abstract and Title Company house and tears it down for a parking lot. Now this year the county tears down the old jail and paves it as a parking lot and does absolutely nothing to beautify the darn thing...some good neighbor they are. Now along comes St. Michaels who is building first class fence frankly overkill to satisfy the town fathers...how about a post about the graft and cheap ways of our local county government!!!!
oh, wait here a minute. Do you mean to tell me that the COUNTY didn't follow the city's new ordinances?....well, now, that's just not like them at all!
So, I wonder, why is it I've never heard about this? why is it we're not enforcing our ordinance? If the county doesn't comply, why should the private developer?
Well you need to read the paper! They were allowed to wiggle out of any enforcement....the city was just asking too much for the county to have to landscape the lot once the old jail was torn down so they worked their way around the ordinance and we have what we have new paving only.Keep in mind also that for years in the summer the county employees were allowed to freeload on the schools playground because the county was too cheap to provide enough parking when it built that darn county building anyway. Who is the good citizen the county or St.Mikes?
I can't believe that you would suggest we expect competency from incompentent city and county administrations. How foolish!
I vote we plant wildflowers!
why you pablum eating liberal pinko! Wildflowers, we can't spray those with herbicides and mow them flat with the Big John Deere. You need a good dunking in the Roundup tank! In fact, to really set you straight you need to watch the county drainage board straighten a river and the county highway department swing that tree shredder on a hydraulic arm into anything that grows along side the road, maybe then you will have a little respect for our county fathers! Hey have you seen the scout project that was destroyed by crazy county commissioner???
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