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Residential developer buys former church in Oak Square

Our Lady of the Presentation rectory and church.

A West Roxbury developer has paid St. John's Seminary $4 million for the former Presentation Church and its rectory and parking lot on Washington Street in Brighton's Oak Square.

Peter Davos, who grew up in Brighton, has yet to say publicly what he plans for the 2.9 acres of land - roughly 1.8 acres for the former church and rectory grounds and 1.1 acres down a half block towards Newton for the parking lot, on a side of the street lined with large single-family homes.

Over the weekend, his West Brighton Acquisitions wrapped the two parcels with green fencing and put a sign in front of the church: "Please pardon our appearance while we work on our concept design and architectural plans."

However, one thing he can't put on the land is an abortion clinic. As a condition of the sale, the seminary attached a covenant to the deeds for the two parcels saying that for the next 99 years, the company.

[S]hall not use or permit the use of the Premises for (a) a church, chapel or other house of religious worship; (b) a facility at which abortions are performed;(c) the operations of professional counseling services which advocate abortion, euthanasia or suicide; (d) the operations of any embryonic stem cell research facility or services implementing embryonic stem cell research or (e) a school or educational facility serving children in grades K-12.

The archdiocese also prohibited a school when it sold the church's shuttered elementary school to a community group in 2007.

Davos is currently building a residential complex in West Roxbury that will include a 70-unit apartment building and 18 townhouses.

Construction of Our Lady of the Presentation parish began in 1913, designed by church architects Maginnis and Walsh and was completed in 1921. The archdiocese shut it in 2004 in the wake of the priest sex-abuse scandal .

In 2011, the archdiocese sold it for $1 to St. John's Seminary, which began work to turn it into a lecture hall and a library, in part with a $200,000 grant from Carolyn and Peter Lynch .

In 2013, the seminary formally dedicated the new St. John's Seminary Our Lady of the Presentation Lecture Hall and Library. At the time, the Boston Pilot reported , St. John's Seminary rector Msgr. James P. Moroney said it was good to be back in Oak Square and that the new building would help the seminary continue to "form" priests "for decades to come."

But the seminary only continued using the buildings for a few more years.

The church tower could use some work:

Granite ashlar

I wonder if and how they'll recuperate and reuse that nice stone when they tear the whole thing down to build rows of ticky-tack condos.

Or, put differently, this currently vacant unused large property in a desirable part of the city can be repurposed to house hundreds of people in dozens of families. City regulation will ensure a significant amount of these homes will be set apart for affordable housing.

But, of course your snarky sentiment is correct. Masshole NIMBY asshats would rather have the decaying church standing as a testament to the horror inflicted on children which caused the church to close it in the first place.

One could question if your sense of style is just that important.

When the catholics sold the

When the catholics sold the Blessed Sacrament Church campus in JP they also forbade using the building as a church. Why on earth would the catholics be opposed to a church building being used as a church? The result is that this building has sat derelict and unused for over 15 years, and has started to deteriorate to the extent that it’s now fenced off so no one is killed by falling stones.

Profanation.

If there's only one true church, then repurposing it as one of the others is profanation.

They’re just being shitty people.

(Expletive) their mythology.

Not bitter, are you?

These jerkoffs

Shut down an orphanage because civilized people told them that they had to let homosexuals adopt kids. Also, the decades of documented actual child abuse.

My mind is not for rent to any God or government. I'll take a swipe at that hateful, dominionist pedo ring every damn chance I get. I'm eternally thankful that my mother and father never once sent or otherwise dragged me to an organized religious service.

My mind is not for rent to

My mind is not for rent to any God or government. I'll take a swipe at that hateful, dominionist pedo ring every damn chance I get.

Ironically, you just let them live rent-free in your head. ...and yes, it is hateful of you to call them a pedo ring. Criticize justly all they did wrong and/or didn't do right regarding sex abuse, but lay off the tiresome slurs, willya?

Live rent-free?

Yeah, they're squatting, and there's an eviction moratorium.

Try again, hun.

You’re delusional if you actually think the homophobic filth that continues to be uttered by the catholics, from the pope on down to the lowest of lows has made me bitter, any more than the hypocrisy of a tax exempt business that sits on trillions of dollars while people die of starvation and sickness has made me bitter. Like I said, I just think you’re shitty people.

It's not a universal prohibition

Over the other side of Jamaica Plain, St. Andrews is now the Bethel AME .

It does seem like an odd thing to prohibit.

My parish, St. Sava's Serbian Orthodox, is in a former Catholic Church. So glad they sold to us. We love our church!

Other former Catholic churches still used as churches

I know of at least two near me: Reservoir Church on Rindge Avenue in North Cambridge (formerly Our Lady of Pity, a French-language parish) and Missionary Church of the Haitian Community on Winter Hill in Somerville (formerly St. Polycarp's parish)

evolves to Gyardos right?

Over the years, Archdiocese

Over the years, Archdiocese of Boston has been more relaxed about end use of buildings by other religions than some other conservative dioceses would. Some places would restrict to closely-aligned denominations. Boston has gone further over the years - Saint Andrew and Saint Polycarp (as a couple of the others mentioned), also Saint Leo's (now Pentecostal) and Saint William's (SDA) come to mind. Other buildings have been converted to or replaced with shelters or housing (or bulldozed by urban renewal). ...and they got embarrassed on end-use a couple of times (didn't somebody flip a conversion in E Boston?). ... On the flip side, there's a couple of Catholic church buildings in Boston that were conversions from other religions, so it actually does work both ways.

I don't remember what use

I don't remember what use restrictions the Archdiocese put on use of the Blessed Sacrament church building. It's certainly possible that there were some. I do remember that there were contending ideas for use of the property. Somebody in the Archdiocese administration was in favor of working with the individual parcels (church, rectory, school, convent - whatever different things were part of it) to separate redevelopment (housing, community services...). I forget if any form of that included keeping the church building open as a Catholic church. Unfortunately, one of the other voices in the official mix (supposedly with real estate background) pushed for making it one big parcel, which contributes to the continued unused state. Said person was reputed to have had clumsy results in a couple of other redevelopment/reuse cases and I think has been eased out of the picture since then.

"Advocating"

Does this only prohibit strawman providers who are like "yeah! get an abortion! they're cool!" or would this prohibit professionals who follow mainstream ethical guidelines and let people know that abortions are a safe and legal option?

Is it just me, or does $4m seem a little low?

Looking at the size of the lost, and the $1m+ houses on relatively small lots, seems like the developer got himself a bargain. Whether or not the existing buildings can/will be repurposed into condos-- with 1beds over its back fence selling for north of $600K-- the parking lot is a blank slate. Maybe it'll be turned into big single families? Or affordable housing? Ha, just kidding. We know that won't happen.

Getting divorced, fornicating, adultery -all fine because the church is just a political organization without any real beliefs I guess.

What isn't allowed in a deed

What isn't allowed in a deed restriction?

I know there can't be any racial restrictions. What about religious restrictions? Shouldn't that be protected by the first amendment?

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Seminary dedicates new lecture hall and library in Brighton

BRIGHTON -- The former Our Lady of the Presentation Church building in Brighton officially returned to the service of the local Church at a Sept. 16 ribbon-cutting ceremony dedicating the new St. John's Seminary Our Lady of the Presentation Lecture Hall and Library. St. John's Seminary rector Msgr. James P. Moroney greeted guests who filled the steps and lawn outside the new library and lecture hall, before they crowded into the pews at the newly renovated church building. "The Catholic Church is back on Oak Square and what a glorious day it is," he said. Bishop Arthur L. Kennedy, a former rector of the seminary, gave a blessing for the new library, and guests heard remarks from Katie Everett of the Lynch Foundation; Ann Larosee, a Brighton local who advocated with local groups for the church building over the years, and former parishioner Secretary of State William F. Galvin. After inviting guests inside, Msgr. Moroney gave a talk about the history of the property as the Catholic community in Brighton developed into the modern day. Builders completed construction of the church in 1921 under Cardinal William H. O'Connell -- around the same time as construction at the seminary finished, according to Msgr. Moroney.

"Who would have guessed, a hundred years ago, as Cardinal O'Connell was completing the building of Saint John's Seminary and Our Lady of the Presentation in the same year, that God would will that these two great ecclesial institutions would be joined as one?" Msgr. Moroney asked. The church and parish school closed in 2005. The school reopened as a community center in 2012 and Msgr. Moroney said the former church will now have a continuing legacy as well. "Having formed more than three thousand priests since the days those front doors first opened, under the patronage of Our Lady of the Presentation, we will continue this good work for the Church for decades to come," Msgr. Moroney told guests. The ribbon-cutting marked the completion of the first phase of renovation plans for the seminary, which welcomed a capacity enrollment in 2013. In two subsequent phases of construction the new facility will become more fully integrated into the seminary community. After the second-phase construction restores the rectory, prepares the building to act as a conference center, and installs equipment to safely house seminary books, the collection of books held by the seminary will be moved into the new facility. The final phase will include external restorations of the church, landscaping and improved parking facilities. Father John P. Culloty, pastor of St. Timothy Parish in Norwood was on hand for the ribbon cutting. He grew up as a member of the parish, discerned, served and lived in the community there for years. "I know the neighbors were concerned to see the building sit here year after year, and they are delighted to see that there is some use to it and that they will be able to enjoy it for a long time to come," Father Culloty told The Pilot. Following a presentation of gifts to Everett, Larosee and state representative Michael J. Moran, guests heard additional remarks from Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino. "Let me just say monsignor, this is what we should be doing, helping people, helping our Church especially in these very difficult times," the mayor said. The seminary also presented the mayor and his wife Angela with flowers and an original copy of the history of the seminary. Chris Peschel, a seminarian for the diocese of Fall River, said he noticed that on his walk over from the seminary grounds on Lake Street that people noticed him -- a 25-year-old in a Roman collar. He said seminarians walking to the new library and lecture hall will give a kind of public witness, merely by passing through Oak Square. "People are going to realize not only that St. John's Seminary is still open, but that we're here. And now we're not only in Brighton Center, we're in Oak Square as well," he said. "If it raises awareness of the seminary, at the very least, hopefully it will remind people to say a prayer for us here and there." As part of the St. John's Seminary Year of Faith Forum, the new lecture hall and library will host the presentation "Lumen Gentium and Episcopal Governance" by Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago, on Oct. 15. For more information about the free lecture visit the St. John's Seminary website, www.SJS.edu .

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Our Lady of Presentation School/The Presentation School Foundation Community Center

640 washington street, brighton.

Graduation ceremonies for Our Lady of Presentation School normally took place inside the Catholic elementary school. On June 9, 2005, however, the one for the kindergarten was held across the street in Brighton’s Oak Square Common. The ceremony was one of both celebration and protest—protest against the Archdiocese of Boston’s abrupt closure of the school the previous day. The Archdiocese had made the move out of fear that parents would occupy the building in order to prevent the shutting down of the school, scheduled for two days later.

The early 2000s was a challenging time for the Catholic Church in Boston.  Growing out-migration of Catholics of European descent to Boston’s suburbs and broader changes in churchgoing among Catholics (decades-long processes) brought about a dramatic decline in church attendance within the city. These factors, combined with the revelations of sexual abuse in 2002, led to a sharp decrease in financial support for the Church from area Catholics. Meanwhile, the sexual abuse scandal itself exacted high financial costs: About two years after the revelations, the Archdiocese of Boston had paid $85 million in a settlement involving 500 victims.* In this context, the Archdiocese announced in mid-2004 that it would close 82 parishes (out of a total of 357) in the coming months. It also announced the closure of Our Lady of Presentation School.

Given the strong identification of Boston’s Catholics with their parishes and the associated institutions, parishioners often resisted the closures, and, in some instances, successfully. In the case of Our Lady of Presentation, parents, students and community members occupied and camped out in Oak Square in protest of the lockout, attracting national and international media attention and strong support across Boston in the process. Eventually, in 2006, the Archdiocese agreed to sell the property to the Presentation School Foundation, an organization of parents and community members.

Today, the former school is the home of the multi-service Presentation School Foundation Community Center , which opened in 2012. It houses a range of non-profit organizations that serve children, families, and recent immigrants.

Getting there :

Various MBTA bus lines pass through Oak Square.

To learn more :

“A Community Center Rises from A Closed Catholic School,” WBUR , May 18, 2012 .

Brian MacQuarrie, “Once Embattled Brighton School Reborn as Community Center,” The Boston Globe , May 11, 2012 .

Michael Paulson, “Catholic School Lockout Angers Parents, Officials,” The Boston Globe , June 10, 2005 .

John C. Seitz, No Closure: Catholic Practice and Boston’s Parish Shutdowns , Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011.

“History,” Presentation School Foundation Community Center website .

* See also the entry on the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in A People’s Guide to Greater Boston .

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West Brighton Acquisitions

West Brighton Acquisitions (WBA) is a full-service real estate company with expertise in acquisition, development, and construction. Its principal has an exceptional 30-year track record of investing, managing, and developing real estate for his own account and alongside partners. As a local firm with a focus on the Greater Boston area, West Brighton Acquisitions prides itself on its community-centric approach to projects and high-quality construction.

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West Brighton Acquisitions’ primary principal, Peter Davos, is a native of Boston and a fourth-generation builder. Mr. Davos has developed in excess of 250 residential rental and for-sale units across his distinguished 30-year career in the Boston area. He has extensive experience in the acquisition, development, and management of real estate assets across a multitude of product types including land acquisition and subsequent zoning, approval, and permitting processes, single-family homes, multifamily, retail, and office. Throughout his career, Mr. Davos has developed deep-rooted relationships with numerous key stakeholders including a wide breadth of trusted subcontractors, lawyers, consultants, and financial institutions which have helped him deliver continued successful results for himself and his partners.

As a local Boston firm, WBA takes pride in its dedication to understanding and honoring the values of the neighborhood and surrounding communities in which it operates. Rigorous and thorough consideration of the effects of any development or asset repositioning is of significant importance when navigating the acquisition, approval, and permitting processes. The WBA team prioritizes community engagement and an inclusive approach to permitting and design.

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The Presentation School Foundation (PSF) Community Center is a welcoming space that has grown to become an anchor institution in the Oak Square neighborhood of Brighton, providing access to essential services to low-income community members and a gathering space for all. The PSF Community Center is a 501(c)3 Massachusetts nonprofit corporation with a volunteer Board of Directors.

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