Morning Headlines: Archdiocese Auctions Off Buildings, Makes Almost $1M
When Pope Benedict announced that the World Meeting of Families would come to Philadelphia in 2015, Vatican expert Rocco Palmo spoke to the Daily News about the Philly Church’s past few years: “It’s the darkest hour the Philadelphia Archdiocese has gone through in 200 years.”
Much of the darkness results from financial problems, including a hefty deficit as a result of legal cases involving pedophile priests. Given that attendance at churches are down and that one in 10 Catholics now identifies as an ex-Catholic, the Archdiocese has been merging parishes and decommissioning churches.
On Wednesday, at auction, the Archdiocese sold off four properties:
- St. Michael School, 1445 N. Second Street: $330,000
- Our Lady of Hope Convent, 3500 block of N. 19th Street: $118,000
- St. Bartholomew Convent, 5500 Harbison Avenue: $220,000
- 1 acre lot, Mill Road Circle, Rydal, Montgomery County: $325,000
The auction total was $995,000. And just prior to the auction:
- 48 acres, Plumstead, Bucks County: $850,000
• <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20130725_Archdiocese_real_estate_sale_raises__995_000.html#USz1GBZZEpPUcZvI.99” target=”_blank”>Archdiocese to auction off eight sites July 24
And more, more, more!
• Craig LaBan talks about the pop-up planning success of beer gardens, from Morgan’s Pier to the PHS Pop-Up across from the Kimmel.
• Building collapse news: Controller Butkovitz gets into the act with his own investigation of L&I. For those keeping score, that means there are now four official investigations going on.
• New U.S. home sales hit a five-year high last month, raising high hopes for the third quarter
• New “better burger” spot is coming to Radnor. Take that, Shake Shack.
