Preservationists and former parishioners want sale of Nashua church stopped

Foster’s Daily Democrat, NH

Sunday, April 3, 2005

NASHUA, N.H. (AP) – Preservationists and the former parishioners of
a Catholic church want the New Hampshire Supreme Court to stop the
church’s sale to another religious group.

A developer hopes to buy St. Francis Xavier Church in Nashua for $1
million and donate it to the Armenian Orthodox Church.

The case’s core legal issue involves interpreting a trust that governs
the church’s stewardship. It requires the Catholic diocese to act
in parishioners’ best interests and forward money from the sale to
their new parish. Lower court judges have said the diocese is so far
meeting those re-quirements and the sale should go forward.

An attorney representing the sale’s opponents said asking the Supreme
Court to hear the case is “the last hurrah.”

The Catholic Diocese of Manchester closed the church in 2003.