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Politics : Support the French! Viva Democracy! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (7765)	7/16/2025 5:13:36 AM
From: Tom Clarke	1 Recommendation Recommended By Maple MAGA Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7814

Comment to this article on Free Republic: In 1976, during a visit to Texas, Archbishop Lefebvre requested that a house for the Society of St. Pius X be established in the area. The purpose of such a house would be to provide a permanent base from which priests of the Society would serve the needs of the faithful in the southern and central United States. Acting on His Grace's request, we found only one Catholic Church for sale in the Galveston-Houston Diocese—the old Shrine of the True Cross. However, the last thing the diocese wanted to do was sell it to the Society of St. Pius X! Rather than have traditional Catholics in abandoned churches, they preferred to see them destroyed. We contacted a non-Catholic attorney to buy the beautiful three-acre property for us. At the time it seemed more than we could ever need with its large mission-style church which seats 500, a large convent where many nuns could live (we only had one nun at the time!), just as large a rectory, two school buildings complete with its own library room, a large parish hall! But to go on with our story, this attorney represented a corporation by the name of Gibraltar Motor Leasing and it was arranged that this corporation would buy the property but turn it over to the Society immediately thereafter. When the diocese thought that an auto leasing company was going to be the purchaser and tear the church and grotto down, they were delighted! One man, a truly good and holy Catholic man from out of state, put up the $300,000 purchase price in cash. As negotiations proceeded, the diocese became suspicious—they wanted to be absolutely sure that an auto leasing firm was indeed going to take over. First, they called and asked to remove the confessionals. After all, what does an auto leasing firm need with confessionals? "Take them," was the response. Then, a few days later, they wanted the bell. Father was called. "Give it to them," he answered, "we'll get another." Finally, a week later, the diocese called and said, "We want to chisel the crucifix out of the front facade of the Church." This time, our answer was, "No, but when we begin to demolish the church, we'll call you." This was accepted and the closing was scheduled. On November 18, 1976, the property formerly known as Shrine of the True Cross was purchased for the Society of St. Pius X and became known as Queen of Angels. When the diocese found out who had taken possession of the church they were furious. In late November, the former pastor of the place arrived at the convent, went into their small chapel and proceeded to smash the altar to bits with an axe. Their caretaker, who was still living on the property, tried to stop him, pleading with his boss not to destroy the altar. To those in the new Church, anything is better than the old Church. When a similar purchase was made in Kansas City a few years later (St. Vincent de Paul was purchased through a black Protestant minister), the bishop of Kansas City called this minister in and let him have it for selling the church to the Society of St. Pius X. "Those people aren't even Catholic!" he yelled. To which the minister drawled, "I'm not Catholic, and you sold it to me!" Queen of Angels Church