How would you feel if you saw your parish church listed in the real estate ads?

Some parishioners in Cleveland weren’t exactly pleased:

The members of St. Stanislaus parish will hold their final Mass this Sunday at 8:30 a.m. But even before the doors are closed for good, parishioners were shocked to see the real estate listing for their church already posted online.

Price tag for the big church, rectory, school and convent: $525,000.

Carmella Wakelee has been a church member since she was a child.

“I am furious that our family and our friends put so much of our money and our lives into that church for years,” said Wakelee, “and we get nothing back. The diocese keeps everything.”

Wakelee added, “I am going to miss hearing those church bells ringing at 6 p.m. in this neighborhood. When you hear the bells ringing, you hear God ringing in your heart. Soon it’s going to be gone.”

Patricia Schulte-Singleton, leader of the group called the Endangered Catholics Coalition, has been getting plenty of angry feedback from members of St. Stanislaus.

“I share their outrage,” said Schulte-Singleton. “I would feel that I am not even out of there and you are selling my home and I’m not even gone yet.”

“I just wish the Bishop would slow down and listen to the people on this issue,” added Schulte-Singleton.

If you scroll down the real estate listings on the Grubb and Ellis website, you’ll find several Catholic churches on the sales block.

Sacred Heart in Elyria is listed at $199,000 for the church and rectory.

Holy Cross Church has a price tag of $299,000. However, the Cleveland Catholic Diocese promises they won’t sell to just anyone.

Diocese spokesman Bob Tayek said, “They have to be very careful, want to be very careful, and are being very careful about who would be the potential buyer.”

Added Tayek, “The sooner you can move real estate property, the better it is for everyone. Because then, it will not more likely fall into disrepair or suffer vandalism. That’s why we’re up and going with these sales, in hopes that we can find those potential good buyers for the locations.”

In Elyria, a local church group called the House of Healing has approached the diocese about purchasing Holy Cross Church. James Knight and his wife, Keymasha, feel their congregation could fully utilize the bigger space.

Keymasha Knight stood outside the boarded up big brick church building and said, “We want this place to bring life back into this community and serve this neighborhood.”

Pastor James Knight added, “We’re negotiating with the diocese. We’re hoping they can give us a really good price that we can afford.”

Keymasha said, “We don’t have the cash yet. We are in the process of fund-raising right now. But we believe God has called us to do good with this property.”