TOLEDO, Ohio — An historic east Toledo church, special to generations of Catholics and neighbors of the church, will not be sold to an outside investor, according to an op-ed released on Sunday by Diocese of Toledo Bishop Daniel Thomas.
Sacred Heart Church was first marked for demolition by the Diocese in 2020.
According to the Bishop, the Epiphany of the Lord Parish, which is comprised of three traditional east Toledo parishes including Sacred Heart, decided the best course of action to deal with the aging buildings on the Sacred Heart campus was to relegate the building.
According to the Bishop, church law dictates that relegating a former church building limits the way in which it can be used. Those uses include “other Catholic apostolates or ministries, some other purpose which would be in keeping with the inherent dignity of a former church, or demolition.”
Armed with that knowledge, the community group, One Voice for East Toledo, held a series of meetings to find a way to save the church from the wrecking ball.
In January, those meetings seemed to bear fruit when an outside real estate investor, CJ Estel, stepped up and offered to buy the church for one dollar, telling WTOL 11 that he intended to fix up the property.
Estel said at the time that he had no definitive plans for the property, but was hopeful the offer would open the door for another entity to step up with an appropriate use for the buildings.
"My preference really is it's something that benefits the community," said Estel. "I don't know what that is. I don't know if it ultimately ends up being a non-profit business or a for-profit that rents out to non-profits,” said Estel.
According to the diocese, Estel’s offer to save the building just wasn’t good enough for them to accept, however.
“They were given thirty days to make a proposed offer which was to include the purpose for which the building would be used and the source of the funding to repair and maintain the building. The singular offer mentioned above was received without any of the necessary criteria included,” said Bishop Thomas.
Unfortunately, it was past experience with former church buildings that seems to have ultimately decided against the saving of Sacred Heart.
The Bishop brought up what happened to different parish buildings that were sold to outside interests in the past, all of which remain standing, but deteriorating.
“The former church buildings of Holy Rosary, Saint Hedwig, and Saint Anthony stand as daily reminders of perhaps well-intentioned yet failed preservation efforts within the City of Toledo. These buildings continue to be a blight for the community at large and do not reflect their inherent dignity as former churches,” said Bishop Thomas.
Bishop Thomas did not specify a timeline for what comes next for the property, only saying the Diocese intends to “move forward with the original plan.”
MORE FROM WTOL 11:
MORE FROM WTOL 11: