Dublin Core
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
WASHINGTON POST
October 27, 1967
Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle
urged creation yesterday of a
Washington urban coalition to
meet the challenge of the ur-
ban crisis.
At a press conference, the
Cardinal:
® Pledged the support of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese
to a soon-to-be-launched drive
to raise a°$2 million Housing
Development Fund.
® Said that church officials
are planning a 1150-unit hous-
ing project on a 15-acre tract
at 4th and Edgewood Streets
ne., the site now occupied by
St. Vincent’s Home and School.
® Announced that the Arch-
diocesan Office of Urban Af-
fairs, headed by the Rev. Geno
Baroni, will back two rehabili-
tation projects for low-income
housing. é
® Said that the Archdiocese
and the Presbytery of Wash-
ington City (United Presby-
terian) will pool funds to re-
model a building at 1419 V st.
nw. for use as an urban af-
fairs office. The Presbyterian
body will provide $55,000 for
the job, which Cardinal!
O’Boyle estimates will c.st
$100,000.
e Announced the launching
of an extensive educational
program designed to make city
and suburban Catholics sen-
sitive to each others’ needs.
Chureh Plans Housing
Cardinal Urges Coalition
To Meet D.C. Urban Ills
By William R. MacKaye
Washington Post Staff Writer
Cardinal O’Boyle expanded
by saying that area clergy
would exchange pulpit visits,
followed by special seminars
and meetings for laymen “to
promote a better understand-
ing of urban affairs and com-
munity relations.”
“The aim of the church and
therefore of the Washington
Archdiocese,” said the Cardi-
nal, “must be to build a soci-
ety which will afford the ordi-
nary citizen and every citizen
the opportunity to pursue his
salvation in conditions of life
that are not debasing and ex-
plosive, but human and en-
couraging.”
At ene point, he observed,
“We're not playing Lady Boun-
tiful ... We’ve got an obliga-
tion to do this.” 1
The Archdiocese’s efforts in
terms of housing will include
an unspecified contribution to
the Housing Development
Fund.
Such a fund is necessary
to finance Government - subsi-
dized housing projects here. A
fund of $2 million might pro-
vide the basis for 40,000 new
low - and moderate - income
housing units in the area.
One group already pursu-
ing Federal aid is the Housing
Development Corp., headed by
the Rev. Channing Phillips of
the United Church of Christ.
Mr. Phillips’ group, which
has access to $100,000 in capi-
tal, currently is sponsoring
construction or rehabilitation
of 2000 housing units.
Mr. Phillips was at the press
conference yesterday, as were
two officials of the proposed
Fund. They are John Nevius,
a lawyer who is one of the ap-
pointees to the new City Coun-
cil, and Reuben Clark, also a.
lawyer.
Clark pointed out that the
shortage of equity capital —
“front money”—now in the
hands of the Housing Develop-
ment Corp. and similar groups
has limited the area’s ability
to take advantage of the low
cost loans available under the
loans to nonprofit corporations
geoton of the Federal Housing
Act.
The proposed housing at the
St. Vincent’s site would be
financed under that rent sub-
sidy section—Section 221 (D)
3 and would provide a mix of
apartments for the elderly,
public housing units and non-
profit dwellings for families
of low and moderate income.
The Archdiocese is involving
itself in three other housing
programs.
A group. of laymen organ-
ized in a group known as Sur-
sum Corda, Inc., working with
St. Aloysius Church and Gon-
zaga High School, already has
secured Federal support for
a $3.7 million, 199-unit hous-
ing development off North
Capitol Street in the North-
west One urban renewal area.
The other two projects in-
clude one elsewhere in North-
east One and the other—in
cooperation with five non-
Catholic churches and three
synagogues—on Capitol Hill.
The Urban Affairs office
will be part of the plant of
SS. Paul and Augustine Par-
ish, The first two floors of
the building wiil be converted
into a community center.
Upper floors are expected
to provide space for such oper-
ations as Father Baroni's of-
fice, the Metropolitan Ecu-
menical Training Center and
the Presbytery’s office of
urban mission.