Latest news with #ImmaculateConceptionChurch
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pope Leo XIV's former St. Louis residence is on the market for $1.8M
ST. LOUIS — Robert Prevost, now known to the world as Pope Leo XIV, made an early stop in his career of becoming a priest in St. Louis during the 1970s. Prevost, a Chicago native and the first American pope in history, spent his early years studying to become a priest in St. Louis in 1977 and 1978. The now 69-year-old lived at the Immaculate Conception Church in the city's The Gate District neighborhood. The church was built in 1890 by the creators of the Cathedral Basilica and was listed in February for $1.8 million. Why Burger King can't use its name – or open – in one small Illinois town The former Immaculate Conception Church, a massive 15,750-square-foot property, is stretched on 1.26 acres, including two buildings, the church and a rectory. The church includes three rose windows, a 60-foot ceiling, and seating for over 1000 people. The property has the potential of turning into an event space, restaurant, or creative space, according to the listing. Across from the church, a 9,324-square-foot rectory hosts seven bedrooms on the second floor and six more on the third floor, where priests, including Prevost, would previously stay while serving at the church. The rectory also includes a kitchen and living spaces. The owner of the building, Patrick Schuchard, president of Schuchard Projects, purchased the building and has worked to restore the historic building. Schuchard said at one point the church was one of the largest in the St. Louis region. Before Schuchard purchased the building, the Compton Heights Concert Band purchased the building 20 years from the Archdiocese to use as a concert and practice space. Schuchard said the property is on the National Register of Historic Places for the church itself and the additional rectory. 'We've been giving it a lot of tender loving care, and we're thrilled to be able to find properties like this in St. Louis and work on them,' Schuchard told FOX 2 in March. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Nonprofit hospice home offers free, 24/7 end-of-life care to unhoused, low income
May 12—Dorothy Marquez has spent the last month with her brother Gerald Moya in a Downtown Albuquerque hospice home, reminiscing about their childhoods or his lime green 1964 Chevrolet Impala lowrider he loved to show off. Moya, 59, is battling stage 4 lung cancer and has days to live. "I tell him he could let go. He could go now," Marquez said. "But the thing is, he's worried about me. 'What am I going to do? How are they going to help me?' he asks. "I tell him, 'Hey, I'll be OK.'" Inhora is doing its best to ensure Moya feels comfortable. "I'm very happy because he's not in pain and he's not out there just laying on the road because that's what he'd probably be doing because we don't have a place to go," Marquez said. "We're both homeless." Since April, the hospice home on Tijeras NW, near Seventh Street, has served as a place for people who are unhoused or have low incomes to spend their final days with loved ones. "Our culture throws dying people away and hides them behind closed doors," said Miles Gloetzner, Inhora's founder and executive director. "And they deserve better. They deserve dignity and compassion, not an easy pill to just end it all." 'It's not just a place to die' Gloetzner, who served as a registered nurse at the Raymond G. Murphy Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center for 11 years, said he came up with the idea to open Inhora in 2022. "Life at the end requires 24/7 caregiving, you know, a lot of presence, a lot of work, a lot of effort, a lot of support," he said. "And everyday people like me can't afford that and make that possible, but you know, it's just sad that we have to have wealth in order to have a good death. "So, we're the only solution for those that can't afford it." Inhora is Latin for "at the hour," or as the group explains on its website, "We journey with persons who are 'at the hour of death' and with their families." It's a nonprofit "social model hospice home" that offers person-centered care in a non-institutionalized setting — homes that are designed to feel like a home away from home. "(A hospice) provides each of our guests with the important medical side of care while we offer the home and caregiving," Gloetzner said. Inhora rents the house from Immaculate Conception Church and can have up to three patients at a time. The nonprofit prioritizes unhoused or low-income people, veterans and those with disabilities. "If we have space and there isn't a waiting list, we'll care for anyone who needs it," he said. "We envision a future in which there is a home like ours available for every person in each community — regardless of income or otherwise." A patient's family, friends or a hospice can contact Inhora and request a room. "Ultimately, we need hospice to make the official referral and it's simplest if they are the first to contact us," he said. The service is free, though the home costs $150,000 a year to run, according to Inhora's website. "We don't have government funding," Gloetzner said. "We're just powered by volunteers and donors, people who believe in it. And part of the value of all this is we feed not only the patients, but the guests themselves. Everybody is a family here. Everybody is taken care of. It's not just a place to die." Guests stay in rooms furnished with a bed and couch and adorned with artwork. Common areas include a living room, kitchen, chapel and backyard. It is all about the families and patients being comfortable, Inhora Board Chairwoman Victoria Pruitt said. 'Not letting people die alone' Inhora has several volunteers, like Susan Burgener, who said it is a calling. "Back when COVID was happening and people were dying by themselves — because everybody was afraid to go talk to them or be with them, or let them in the hospitals and families couldn't visit — I started praying that no one would die alone," Burgener said. "When this came up and we toured this (place) as part of their open house, I realized what this is about: not letting people die alone. "I was like, 'Oh, that's an answer to my prayer.'" Along with a hospice staff and volunteers is an end-of-life doula who provides non-medical support to dying patients and their families, such as planning a funeral and doing chores. Death has been described as the veil between heaven and Earth, Gloetzner said. "And I've got to say, I believe that is true," he said. "It's the climax of our humanity. The climax is the peak of our existence in life. So being there when that last breath is taken is very powerful."
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Clarksburg Catholic church reacts to passing of Pope Francis
CLARKSBURG, (WBOY) — As news of Pope Francis's passing ripples around the world, West Virginians mourn his death and reflect on his legacy. On Monday, 12 News spoke to leadership at Immaculate Conception Church in Clarksburg, who said Pope Francis brought a global perspective to the papacy as well as an emphasis on lifting up the marginalized, and that he will be missed. Sister Maria Rukwishuro is the Director of Religious Education at Immaculate Conception Church. She said learning about Pope Francis's passing this morning made her reflect on the man. She said, 'I realized that he is a man who came into this leadership with everyone in mind.' Father Casey B. Mahones is a Pastor at Immaculate Conception Church and said that he remembers when Pope Francis selected to take up the name of Francis. He explained that Saint Francis of Assisi was a reformer, known for his humility and his dedication to the poor and those living on the fringes of society. Pope Francis seemed to try to live up to that name and was known for his progressive bent through things like his outreach to the LGBTQ community, speaking out for illegal immigrants and greater inclusion of women in leadership of the Church. When asked about whether Pope Francis was a progressive, Father Mahones said that 'people who are political in the first place are going to interpret the Popes in a political way.' WV Supreme Court Justice Walker announces retirement Father Mahones added he was impressed by Pope Francis's global perspective, saying that 'he has a pastoral approach so that he knows people's situations, and that the situation of people in Zimbabwe or Papua New Guinea is not the same situation as people living in Rome or in West Virginia. […] He gives a lot more leeway for pastors, I think, to do with situations in the church.' Rukwishuro, who is originally from Zimbabwe, spoke about the concern Pope Francis showed in a global context. She remembered the Pope's visit to South Sudan, saying that 'we felt it as Africans, too.' As the Catholic Church's presence grows worldwide, Father Mahones said that there is speculation on whether the next pope will be from Africa or Asia. Rukwishuro said that regardless, 'our Catholic Church has a future. Popes come, they die, they retire, but the church goes on. So we're praying for whoever is coming to take up the church and lead it forward.' The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston hosted and live-streamed a memorial mass for Pope Francis, which started at 6 p.m. Monday night. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
16-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Former congregation in Bloomfield fighting to save historic church grounds
Pittsburgh has long had a deep history of celebrating Holy Week in its churches, but this week hits particularly hard for one former Catholic church in Bloomfield . Immaculate Conception Church and school closed in May 2022. That closing came after a back-and-forth with the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh and the Pope and the Vatican. The church lost all fights, but now there is a new one. Church officials are fighting for their building, which they consider a historical staple of the Bloomfield community and its Italian Heritage. KDKA spoke to Rita Turnpin-Porterfield, one of many community members fighting to save the church. "This is Bloomfield," Porterfield said. "This is that location. This is the pinpoint. It centers us as a community, as a meeting space, and it brings all corners of the neighborhood together." The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has listed the church complex for $3.5 million. Porterfield and other members of the community worry the church will be torn down and replaced with something like, for example, apartments. "It's meant so much for decades," Porterfield said. "I think there's a lot of anger, mostly because there hasn't been honesty or forthrightness or open communication." Joe Posteraro is the owner of Angelo's Pizzeria. He and his family attended that church, as did many members of the business community there. "There's a lot of history with those of us that few up here. We went to school here. We don't want to see it ripped down. I mean I know the church is not gonna be there anymore, but something like a community center, which would be awesome." Porterfield said an Italian day care and preschool offered $3 million of the $3.5 million to the diocese. She says the day care would keep the site intact. Porterfield said the diocese rejected the offer. KDKA reached out to the diocese on Wednesday but did not hear back. "It does feel particularly spiteful that the Italian church could be lost when we know there are Italian community-focused buyers involved," Porterfield said.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This historic $1.8 million church is for sale in St. Louis
ST. LOUIS — A piece of St. Louis history built in 1890 by the creators of the Cathedral Basilica is on the market for $1.8 million in the city's The Gate District. The former Immaculate Conception Church, a massive 15,750-square-foot property, is stretched on 1.26 acres, including two buildings, the church and a rectory. This is the most charming restaurant in Missouri, according to food writers The church includes three rose windows, a 60-foot ceiling, and seating for over 1000 people. The property has the potential of turning into an event space, restaurant, or creative space, according to the listing. Across from the church, a 9,324 square foot rectory hosts seven bedrooms on the second floor and six more on the third floor where priests would previously stay while serving at the church. The rectory also includes a kitchen and living spaces. The owner of the building, Patrick Schuchard, president of Schuchard Projects, purchased the building and has worked to restore the historic building. Schuchard said at one point the church was one of the largest in the St. Louis region. Before Schuchard purchased the building, the Compton Heights Concert Band purchased the building 20 years from the Archdiocese to use as a concert and practice space. Schuchard said the property is on the National Register of Historic Places for the church itself and the additional rectory. 'We've been giving it a lot of tender loving care, and we're thrilled to be able to find properties like this in St. Louis and work on them,' Schuchard said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
