Not in My Back Yard

This week's award for outstanding achievement in the field of extreme emotional hyberbole is:

"It was as if I had given my baby up for adoption and found out it had been murdered by its new parents," she says. "I was sick."

This from a woman who is relating her reaction when found out she sold her house to an organization that was planning to do some things of which she vehemently disapproved. Given her metaphor, you might guess it was an abortion clinic or something. No, ironically, it's a Catholic Church.

Not just any Catholic Church, but the finest one in the west metro, Holy Family in St. Louis Park. Because of the efforts of the priests there and the olde tyme Catholic values they are endorsing, the Sunday masses are packed, the school is exceeding capacity (at a per pupil cost about half what the public schools spend), and more and more souls are no doubt on the way to be saved. They need more room and are looking to buy out some adjoining properties, by offering the owners prices well above market rate. The bastards!

The preceding sentence, an emotional response in concert with the tone of this City Pages article on the subject. In fact, the editorial decision to run this article is the runner up for outstanding acheivement in hyperbole. Not sure what the point of it is. Something about how Catholic Churches shouldn't try to expand. Maybe market research shows this topic resonates with their core readership demographics.

I did get a kick out of their reports from disgruntled "former parishioners" of what really goes on during a homily at Holy Family. Such nefarious things as the importance of Catholics marrying Catholics and not getting divorced. It seems the priests at Holy Family have the unmitigated gall to advocate Catholic teaching in this Catholic Church. Shut 'em down!

Sorry, lapsed into City Pages mindset again.

It looks like the stand off will continue, with the Church wanting the room for expansion and some homeowners holding out at even 60K above the market price. Of course, everyone has their price. Maybe those savvy dissidents around the Church think there is more largesse to be had from a parish with the popular appeal, and resulting financial support, of Holy Family.

But if their faith in constricting this Church is stronger than their financial judgment, Holy Family may have no choice but to rely on the wisdom of people like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens. Yes, the Kelo decision, legitmizing the forced transfer of property from one private party to another. They would have to get the city on board, that whole "for the purposes of economic development" thing would have to worked out, as well as the yowls of protest about separation of church and state. But once those sticky wickets are traversed, Holy Family might as well take the whole block and the two adjoining ones as well. It appears business will be booming there for quite some time.

BTW, if you suspect that City Pages characterizations of the homilies at Holy Family might not be entirely objective, this link provides the real deal, unfiltered.

The Elder Amens: Speaking as someone who is now trying to sell a house literally just down the street from these maroons, their refusal to consider offers $60K over the appraised (good luck getting anywhere near that in today's market) value is pure insanity. I also wonder what angle the City Pages would have taken on this story if the religious institution that was seeking to expand was a mosque. I gotta hunch that the homeowners would not be portrayed as victims, but rather as narrow-minded bigots. Just a hunch.