St. John's Windish Responding to Eminent Domain Threat With Prayer

St. John’s Windish Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has issued a news releaase responding to reports of a threatened condemnation and seizure, via eminent domain, of the Church’s parking lot at 616 East Fourth Street, Bethlehem. That threat was first reported here.

The city block-sized lot has been owned by the Church since 2002. The Church was founded in 1910, and has been “a South Side community anchor for over 100 years”, in the words of Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds. The Church’s parking lot is not only used for parking for church services and events, but also for community events such as Lehigh University’s Spring Sale event. Several organizations, including St. Luke’s Hospital and the Bethlehem Parking Authority, lease spaces on the lot. The BPA has leased portions of the lot for 20 years.

“For the past three years,” said St. John’s Council President Ken Remaly, “St. John’s has been worshipping with two other churches, and working with them toward joining together as one congregation.” According to Remaly, one of the last steps in this process has been the sale of the four church properties: three churches and the parking lot.

“We received three bids for purchase of the properties, one of which was from the City of Bethlehem. When the individual Church Councils met on December 7, 2022, we chose only one of those offers, and it was not the City’s, to forward to our congregations for review and vote.”

After the City’s bid was not moved forward for consideration, the Church received a draft letter, of a “Condemnation Resolution … which will allow the Authority to legally condemn the surface parking lot so that it can continue to be used for public parking.” The letter also warned of seizure of the property by eminent domain. The BPA notice of condemnation and seizure was sent to the church on December 20, 2022, five days before Christmas.

The proposed sale of the church properties – three churches and the parking lot – came to a standstill when the BPA notice was received.

“Our coming together as one congregation has also been halted,” said Remaly. “It is our understanding that, if we proceeded to blend, to come together to create our new church, already named Blessed Trinity, the City or the BPA could condemn and seize all the properties.”

Carol Henn, a media spokesperson for St. John’s, said that media contacts would now begin, as will special prayer vigils. “We did not want to jeopardize the pending sale in any way,” she said, “but, unfortunately, our hoped-for sale is now on hold. In addition, there has been much public and social media commentary, much of it inaccurate, from people who are not members of the church and who cannot speak for St. John’s.”

Henn confirmed that the prayer vigils will be held at St. John’s on January 16, 18, and 20, from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

“The prayer time will be informal,” Henn noted, “with people welcome to come and to leave whenever they wish. They will be welcome to offer their own prayers, for their own lives and needs, while together we pray for nothing less than God’s powerful intervention in this David and Goliath battle.”

“People have inundated us with their ideas about to whom the lot should be sold and what it should be used for,” said Remaly, “but we know we can’t please everyone. What we are necessarily focused on now is seeking a withdrawal of this threatened condemnation and seizure of our property, and the assurance that we can proceed with our plans for sale of our properties and our coming together as Blessed Trinity, without coercion or threats from any entity. If this can happen to our church,” said Remaly, “it can happen to other churches. If it happens to non-profits, it can happen to individual property owners.”

Blogger's Note: I understand the Bethlehem Parking Authority plans to conduct an "emergency meeting" today at 4 pm. Will it vote to condemn? Stay tuned.