Archdiocese of Philadelphia plans to sell Jersey Shore villa
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The sight of elderly Catholic priests rocking in wicker chairs outside the grand oceanfront home on Princeton Avenue has been a familiar part of this seaside town for nearly a half-century.
But that era is about to come to an abrupt close after an order by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput to shut the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s 19-room vacation home at the Shore by Saturday and put it up for sale.
“It’s not listed with a broker yet, but will be soon,” archdiocesan spokesman Kenneth Gavin said of the property at 114 S. Princeton, which stretches a full block along the Boardwalk and is assessed at $6.2 million.
The retired priests who had planned a stay at Villa St. Joseph by the Sea were recently told that their reservations would be canceled as of Saturday, the end of the archdiocese’s fiscal year. Facing a $17 million operating deficit and a price tag of at least $11.6 million for its response to the 2011 Philadelphia grand jury report on clergy sex abuse, the archdiocese has been engaged in massive restructuring, cost-cutting, and selling of assets.
The 21,875-square-foot villa, which last year cost the archdiocese $114,562 in property taxes, was acquired by then-Archbishop John Krol in 1963 from Hannah G. Hogan, a real estate investor and owner of a plumbing supply company. Hogan wanted the home used for elderly and ill priests in memory of her brother, the Rev. Edward Hogan.
Though the property – which Hogan bought for $55,000 in 1961 – was said to have been donated to the archdiocese, its June 2, 1963, deed shows tax stamps indicating a sale price of $100,000, according to the Atlantic County Clerk’s Office. It is now one of the highest-assessed homes in Ventnor.
Local Realtors said the property could command in the area of $5 million and would likely attract the interest of investors looking to raze the century-old Tudor residence with a gabled roof and build homes on single lots.
Neighbors used to the sight of priests strolling in white T-shirts and khaki shorts or gazing at the ocean from the villa’s second-story deck were surprised and saddened by the news.
“They’ve been the most wonderful neighbors you could have,” said Charles Fischer, 85, who lives directly across Princeton. He said he often heard the men singing at the dining room table, “almost like a fraternity.”
“Every year when Cardinal Krol was here, I said to him, ‘Are we winning or losing?’ – meaning in life, in the condition of our people,” Fischer said. “He was always upbeat.”
Many in town believed that the church was forbidden to sell the property – that attempting to do so would have caused it to revert to its original owner. The deed, however, reflects no such restrictions.
The archdiocese has sold other property it acquired from Hogan. In 1980, it razed a beachfront home on Oxford Avenue and auctioned the lot a year later for $545,000 to a business partnership. The lot remains vacant. [More]
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14 Comments
Christ said to the Apostles, “Come to a far away place and refresh yourselves.” I admire Archbishop Chaput, but is selling this property really necessary? Priests who have served us so faithfully all their lives should have a place like this to rest themselves from their long labors. Selling it would be diservice to them. Christ also said, “A laborer is worth his wages.”
This has NOTHING – I REPEAT – NOTHING – to do with the sex abuse issue. If some people would actually bother to inform themselves before commenting they would know two things about this issue. The property was DONATED many, many years ago for the specific purpose of having a place for retired priests. 2. Because of the significant operating deficit which the good Archbishop is trying to repair, the property which over a long period of time has increased in value and is now worth millions. It will be sold to close the operating deficit. The Archdiocese does much to care for the disadvantaged in Philadelphia. Uninformed comments only point to a lack of information and displays nothing more than someone’s disdain for the Catholic Church and having an agenda.
The archdiocese is hurting financially from the sex abuse scandal,
To close an operating deficit the Archdioces is selling a donated building which was used to house older priests.
Therefore, it follows that the sale has a lot to do with the sex abuse issue.
Dear Mary — I entirely agree with your asserion that many posts here display “nothing more than someone’s disdain for the Catholic Church and having an agenda.” I think these posters are absolutely unfair, and they are trying to work through their anger with the Church by trashing here on this and other blogs. I keep advising them to get into therapy with a therapist that values the power of forgiveness — such therapy will be much more beneficial to them than for them to continue their venomous posts. In sum, here is what I am saying to such posters: GET OVER IT. NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR YOUR GARBAGE. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE.
I wonder if perhaps it isn’t out of intense love for the Church that people express their anger and frustration on web pages like this one.
The priest and bishops have caused tremendous harm through the sex abuse scandal, the Holy Father himself has expressed his own frustration and horror admitting that tha whole thing is a mystery to him.
Surely no one can suggest that the Holy Father enter into therapy too.
No, Tony, I’m not suggesting the Holy Father get into therapy — but I’m sure you’ll agree that his comments about the Church are in no way like the comments I read on this website. And, I think you raise a good point — perhaps for people like yourself, that you are horrified by what a few clergy have done. I too share that dismay — I am convinced injury by Catholic clergy easily has the ability to make the injured reject the Church forever — although it by no means needs to result in that; but, combined with the sinful nature of the person who is injured, and facilitated by Satan’s temptations, many become hostile to the Church. Benedict XVI is not hostile to the Church — he simply (and very appropriately) wants to do what he can to ensure any abuse never happens again.
Jim, I am sure that like the Holy Father MOST of those who post on this website do it out of love and concern for tha church and would want to adopt a war cry of NEVER AGAIN.
Tony — I hope you’re right. But, the absolute venom I see in my comments makes me think otherwise. There is no charity in the comments, no willingness to assume the best when all the facts are not known. You may not represent most of the posters here — you very well may love the Church more than most of the others here.
Oops! That should have read, “the absolute venom I see in THE comments HERE …”
I am reminded of thses recent words of the Holy Father:”“The Church is not a community of the perfect, but a community of sinners, obliged to recognize their need for God’s love, their need to be purified through the Cross of Jesus Christ”
Freudian slip?
Freud would agree, Recovering — but I don’t, and he’s dead, and I’m alive.
Lovely Indeed! Wonder what the inner city kids are doing?
The priests played, the bishops covered it up and now the people of the diocese have to pay. Too bad..