A Catholic church in St. Paul, Minnesota, that closed last year
has reopened its doors as a mosque.
The 127-year-old Church of St. John closed in 2013 when it
merged with another church due to declining membership. Last
Friday the building reopened as Darul-Uloom Islamic Center.
"There are a lot of East Africans in the area, and we want to give
them a place to worship, a place to be educated, a community
space," center spokesman Feisal M. Elmi told The Associated
Press .
According to a Pioneer Press story detailing the church's closure
last year, "St. John once had 1,400 members. It now has 152
families, or about 400 members, [the Rev. George Welzbacher,
86] said."
The elderly Welzbacher said last year that logistically, the end of
St. John's was inevitable.
"The number of priests active ... is limited," said Welzbacher.
"Some of the big parishes have thousands of families and need
that manpower."
Former church member Charles Lake described feeling "sick"
when he heard the news that his former church, empty since last
summer, was being sold, but noted that he was not relieved that
another religious community would be able to use it.
"There's clearly a need in the neighborhood to acknowledge a
significantly Muslim population that's been living here. I look
forward to collaborating with them on matters of mutual concern.
They're our neighbors," he said.
Thousands of Somalis live in Minnesota and St. Paul, the highest
concentration in the United States.
Earlier this year, the first Somali-American woman joined the St.
Paul Police Department, amidst controversy over the
department's decision to allow her wear a police-issued hijab.
In April, The Christian Post also reported that six crosses were
being removed from the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in
Syracuse, New York, as part of a reconstruction effort to convert
the building into a mosque. The former church was once given
landmark status because it was built by German immigrants over
a century ago.
The Syracuse Historic Preservation Board voted to give the North
Side Learning Center, an organization largely comprised of
Muslims, permission to remove the crosses.
Yusuf Soule, volunteer executive director with the North Side
Learning Center, told CP in a previous interview that their
intention is to turn the former church into a "masjid" or mosque.
"As it is going to become a masjid, crosses are not an
appropriate representation of the religion of Islam," said Soule.

Alhamdullilah

lirusehn: so??

So now the muslims in the area have a masjid

lirusehn: terrorism on the go

think it however you like