When the Archdiocese of Baltimore sold two buildings that belonged to one of its parishes in April, the move didn’t just signal a new chapter in the church’s plan to realign its operations in the city. It reflected an emerging trend in real estate that shows no signs of abating.
America’s oldest Catholic diocese sold one administration and one school building at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Bolton Hill to a charter school in April. It marked the first time the archdiocese had sold properties as part of Seek the City to Come, the consolidation plan by which it slashed the number of parishes in, and near, the city from 61 to 23 last year.
With commitment to organized religion still in decline in the United States, the transaction was no rarity.
About 4,500 of the country’s 350,000 Christian congregations close every year, while roughly 3,000 open, according to Lifeway Research, a nonprofit that tracks patterns in the church. An estimated 100,000 are expected to be shuttered within a generation. The trend is making countless religious buildings obsolete. And faith leaders are increasingly faced with the question of what to do with them.
A real real estate trend.
