Atlanta, Ga., Feb 6, 2010 / 15:51 pm
A thriving parish in Georgia is relocating an entire historic church over 900 miles south from Buffalo, New York, rather than construct a new building for their community.
With over 750 families and counting, Mary Our Queen in Norcross, Georgia recently outgrew its current building and is in dire need of additional facilities.
On the other hand, St. Gerard Church in Buffalo, N.Y. was forced to close in early 2008 after the number of parishioners dropped to an unsustainable level. The parish was built in 1911 and modeled after the famous Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.
When asked what sparked the notion to transport an entire church, the pastor of Mary Our Queen, Fr. David Dye, said that the concept “sort of developed from the idea using statues, altars, stations of the cross etc. from closed churches.”