VENTNOR (NJ)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Amy S. Rosenberg
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

VENTNOR, N.J. _ A seashore villa owned by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that played host to decades of vacationing and elderly priests will go to auction Saturday afternoon.

The winning bid will be subject to final approvals, but real estate and Archdiocese officials have indicated that the cash-strapped Church, led by a cost-cutting Archbishop Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, will be inclined to accept any reasonable bid to unload the historic and tradition-laden property known as St. Joseph’s Villa by the Sea. The property is assessed at $6.2 million.

The auction will be conducted at 1:15 p.m. by the Max Spann agency in the spacious brick-wall surrounded yard of Boardwalk property at 114 S. Princeton Ave. in Ventnor, in a yard that featured religious shrines at either end and a lily pond in the middle. It could easily…