Boston archdiocese drops restrictions on parish property sale after ACLU objects
May 31, 2012
The Archdiocese of Boston has agreed to go forward with the sale of a parish property without legal guarantees that the property will not be used to house clinics or laboratories engaging in abortion, euthanasia, or embryonic stem-cell research.
The restrictions had originally been written into a purchase agreement for the sale of St. James Church in Wellesley, an affluent suburb of Boston. The archdiocese had reached an agreement to sell the property to the town of Wellesley, but sought assurances that the parish land would not be used for immoral purposes. Those legal restrictions drew protests from the American Civil Liberties Union, which charged that the purchase agreement gave the Church power over the use of town property.
With the archdiocese withdrawing its demand for the restrictions, the sale will now apparently go forward. Town officials in Wellesley have agreed only that the land will be used for “municipal purposes” for the next 40 years.
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Posted by: TheAntiModernist -
Jun. 01, 2012 8:35 AM ET USA
I simply do not understand why the Archdiocese is so fearful of the challenge. It need not be a challenge to the separation of Church and State, but simple condition to the sale. As a private citizen, could I not also make a stipulation on the sale of my property? This is just disappointing. Between this and failure to join the other dioceses in the challenging of Obamacare, I am seriously disappointed.
