MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
Editorial
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.
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