Coaster Photos
These are renderings of two proposals suggested by a developer for property where Holy Spirit Church in Asbury Park is now located. One includes residential units with the church intact (left) and the other without the church.
Thomas De Seno, who grew up in Asbury Park and was a parishioner of Holy Spirit Church, has filed a lawsuit to stop the destruction of the 100-year-old Roman Catholic church on Second Avenue in Asbury Park.
He is seeking a restraining order to stop the diocese, the parish and the developer from selling, damaging, destroying or altering the church.
Named in the suit is Bishop David O’Connell and the Trenton Diocese, Father Miguel Virella of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and the Mother of Mercy Parish, Asbury Park as well as the developer JLD Investors, who have proposed to build condominiums at the site.
Parishioners have said they are deeply hurt by the decision to sell the church which came as a surprise. Other buyers who would maintain the structure have been ignored by the bishop, De Seno said.
The history of the demolition of the church began several years ago when the diocese announced it was closing the church because of declining attendance and the increasing expense of maintaining the site. The purchase price was to go to repair and maintenance at the former Our Lady of Mount Carmel church and parochial school.The diocese desanctified the church and listed the church and property for $2.75 million but ultimately sold it for much less because of damages to the church incurred by the removal of the main altar and two side altars to St. Dominic’s in Brick Township.
Last year the Asbury Park Planning Board denied the developer’s application to subdivide the property and replace the existing church, after four days of hearings. De Seno was sworn in as an expert witness on Asbury Park History at the hearings.
The developer filed suit to overturn the Planning Board. De Seno has moved to intervene in that suit to protect the Planning Board’s decision. He has also filed new claims.
The new claims indicate that Bishop O’Connell and Father Virella had no legal authority from the Vatican to make a contract, he said. In order to have that authority, Canon Law requires a bishop must first have hearings with aggrieved parishioners, which he failed to do, the lawsuit said. He must then issue a formal decree delineating his reasonings and the results of his meeting with the parishioners. No such decree was everissued, De Seno said, denying the bishop and Father Virella the legal capacity to enter the contract.
The contract being illegal, JLD Investors had no standing to make an application before the Planning Board, so the denial of their application was legal, the lawsuit said.
A second legal pleading has been filed by De Seno, which is an Emergent application seeking a temporary restraining order stopping the diocese, the parish and the developer from selling, damaging, destroying or altering the church. He said is awaiting a court decision on hearing that application, which he hopes will be this week.
A petition has been filed with the Catholic Dicastery in Rome, which is essentially a Canon Law court. That complaint seeks a ruling that Bishop O’Connell and Father Virella did not have the contractual authority from the Vatican to sell the church.
De Seno said that shortly after the Planning Board ruled against the developer last year, the parish ripped out the entire, marble altar as seen in the attached picture. They did that knowing the community was still actively seeking a resolution to save the church, he said.
De Seno said that “it felt like an act of revenge on the part of the bishop and priest.”
“It was wholly unnecessary and could have awaited the resolution of the matter,” he said.
Elizabeth Wendel, who was the listing agent for the church, said the developer is gathering more support once people understand it is their goal to save the church..
