Plege Drive Begins to Support an Open St. Michael's Church

St. Michael's Church is scheduled to close for good on September 27. The Curch has been the anchor of this neighborhood for over 100 years and it was built with the hard earned dollars of the immigrant Italian community. We are fighting a battle to keep the church open for several reasons. It is a 112 year old church that has been and still is an integral part of the religious and cultural life of the residents of the neighborhood and the city. It is an historic part of the history of the Italian community as well as the the city as a whole. The city has preserved other buildings such as the Carnegie library and St. Michael's is no less important. It should be easy to see by the pictures above that St. Michaels is a work of art, beauty and an example of the type of architecture that we will not see again. The community spent over seven million dollars in 2000-2003 to renovate the church and the parish hall, Dante Hall, and we now risk of losing all of that. I will not beat around the bush! We feel strongly that if we allow the church to close the temptation to sell the property for possibly millions is, despite the tepid denial of the diocese, a realistic possibility. I am sending an appeal to all of you who know me personally and those of you that are on my Facebook list because we need your help. We ask you to send us a pledge of any amount you choose. Make a one-time pledge or make a contribution to keep St. Michael’s Church open for the long term with a regular annual contribution to a fund. This fund will insure that St. Michaels Church will continue to serve the people and visitors to Atlantic City for another 100 years. Please note that your pledge will only take effect, IF and only IF, the Diocese allows the church to continue to serve the parishioners on Sundays and Holydays on a permanent basis. These pledges, no matter how small or large, will help us to show the Diocese that St. Michaels is more important not only to the community as a whole but to many people around the country that appreciate it's religious, cultural, artistic, and historic significance. If you have history at St, Mikes this should be a no brainier. If you are Catholic, again this should be easy to see that this church epitomizes the history of our religion and another example of contributions that the Catholic Faith has made in art, architecture and many other areas that we enjoy here and all over the world. We are aware that some of you are of different faiths and we also know that all faiths realize the importance of our houses of worship and the contributions they give to us both morally and esthetically. We ask you to join us in preserving this important aspect that represents the importance of all of our faiths. To those who just appreciate historical buildings and great art please pledge to preserve the art and beauty of this building as you might any other secular building that celebrates the beauty and skill of humanity. All pledges will be kept confidential at your request and all contributions when they are needed will go to a restricted St. Michael's fund to be used for the church only and will not be subject to any sharing with other Churches or the Diocese. To donate send your pledges to me Anthony Venafro at:_ducktown1946@yahoo.com. If you have any questions call me Anthony Venafro at: 865-694-9252 For more details about Saving St. Michaels Church go to Savestmikes on Facebook