Editorial: The Archdiocese moves to St. Paul’s East Side

Pioneer Press
March 19, 2017

http://www.twincities.com/2017/03/19/editorial-the-archdiocese-moves-to-st-pauls-east-side/

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has completed a move to our East Side, one that brings both welcome influence and an infusion of vitality to its new neighborhood.

In a city where connections between church and community run deep, the transition — church offices and about 120 staff members now occupy leased space in the historic former 3M headquarters in St. Paul — is significant.

It’s so for many reasons. Among them: Vicar General Father Charles Lachowitzer, who grew up on the East Side, remembers the days when the area was a jobs engine, with manufacturing activity at Whirlpool, Hamm’s Brewery and 3M. Folks tell him “how good it is to see the lights on” again in what was a long-vacant building.

For the church — shedding properties on Cathedral Hill as part of the bankruptcy filing stemming from clergy-sexual-abuse cases — the move is “an opportunity to open a new chapter in our history,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda told us.

For the neighborhood, the arrival of new workers “will hopefully have a multiplier effect on the businesses there,” as staff members get to know area shops, restaurants and services, said Lee Krueger, president of the St. Paul Port Authority.

The Port Authority redeveloped the former 3M campus after the company completed the relocation of operations on the East Side to its Maplewood headquarters. The church’s new home at 777 Forest St. once was hidden by the industrial buildings that surrounded it.

And it remains on our local landscape because, to its “great credit,” City Council Member Jane Prince, told us, the Port Authority set up a community advisory process that heard the perspectives of neighborhood advocates. They considered the building historically significant and believed in its potential for re-use.

When Prince, who was part of the effort, learned about the church’s move, “I thought it really is perfect,” she said. “It’s such an iconic building and such and important site in our community.”

Developer Jim Stolpestad of Exeter Realty, from whom the church is leasing the building, observes that its new location is a good fit for the church’s mission.

As the archdiocese evaluated options for its move, there was interest, the archbishop told us, in “the possibility of being part of a neighborhood like the East Side, where we have the opportunity to make a positive impact” on an area working on revitalization.

The archbishop reminded us that Sunday is the fourth anniversary of the first Mass said by Pope Francis, one in which he “called for us to be a poor church for the poor.”

The pope, Hebda said, also has called on the church to be mindful of the “peripheries,” a directive with many applications and one that’s especially fitting as the offices move from near the downtown core to a St. Paul neighborhood.

“We’re happy to be here,” Hebda told us, noting that the move brings under one roof employees who had been scattered among three buildings, including the former chancery and archbishop’s residence on Summit Avenue.

The new site, a 1940s-era building on the National Register of Historic Places, includes the former office of 3M legend William McKnight. Artifacts in the office — used now for meetings with the archbishop — include a rocking chair that belonged to Archbishop John Ireland, the visionary cleric whose tenure included overseeing construction of the St. Paul Cathedral.

But the location has a unique meaning for those who work there, Lachowizter says. “We’re reminded every day as we come up to this building why it is that we’re here.”

The move and the sale of church assets, Hebda explains, show “that there are consequences to our decisions and that we really are interested in doing the most for the most.”

Part of that “was being willing to let go of those things that were certainly dear to some,” he said. It showed the “commitment to building up that pool of assets in a way that might actually help to build some trust with those who have been hurt by the church in the past.”

Assessing what’s transpired, City Council Member Dan Bostrom, who represents the area, observes that, in fact, “a couple of restorations” have taken place.

“One of them is that the building itself is being restored and brought to life,” Bostrom said. The other restoration involves the church, as it begins a new era.

It’s likely, he says, that the move will be a good one for both church and neighborhood.

We think so, too.