REV. WRIGHT'S HEAVENLY REWARD A $1M PAD

The New York Post reports:

When the Rev. Jeremiah Wright stops sermonizing, he'll retire to a luxurious $1 million mansion nestled next to a golf course in an upscale Chicago suburb - all paid for by his former church.

Wright, who spent 36 years as a fiery preacher on Chicago's South Side and officiated at Barack Obama's wedding and kids' baptisms, has the four-bedroom house being built in Tinley Park.



The 10,400-square-foot brick-and-stone residence will be quite a retirement home when finished.

It will have a butler's pantry, four-car garage, elevator, rubberized exercise room, whirlpool, large family room with fireplace and bar, and circular driveway, according to building plans reviewed by Chicago newspapers.

The property also has a spare room that can be converted to a theater or swimming pool. It lies next to the Odyssey Country Club in a town that has a black population of less than 2 percent.

The financial arrangements for the property were termed unusual but not unethical by real-estate and tax experts when the details surfaced last month.

Wright bought the land in 2004 for $345,000, according to property records.

He sold the land for $308,000 to his Trinity United Church of Christ in 2006, after the church applied for a building permit. The proceeds of the sale went to a living trust Wright shares with his wife, Ramah.

The church took out a $1.6 million mortgage on the property and is currently listed as the land owner.

The church also attached an unexplained $10 million line of credit.

Wright, 66, who announced last month he was retiring, and the church have refused comment on the house.

Nothing like a black preacher preaching revolutionary theology and then retiring to a million dollar mansion in an all white neighborhood.