Former Catholic churches being used by evangelicals
Jay Lindsay - Associated Press Writer
OneNewsNow.com
March 18, 2007

WALTHAM, Mass. - His church started in his living room, growing steadily as it moved wherever it found space, from public parks, to a YMCA to a former woodworking shop.

But by 2002, the New Covenant Christian Church of Cambridge was straining the old shop's walls, and Rev. Thomas St. Louis knew more room was badly needed. Then, the financial stress on the Boston Archdiocese provided an opportunity for St. Louis' Haitian-American congregation.

St. Louis' church now meets at the former St. Joseph Church in Waltham, which was among 44 church buildings shut down as 62 Roman Catholic parishes were dissolved in a broad consolidation in the Boston Archdiocese that began in 2004.

About half of the 26 church properties that have been sold are being used for new housing, while eight were purchased by other churches, including New Covenant, a 400-member evangelical Protestant church. the rest