By Marilyn Stewart
The 20-member congregation of Carrollton Presbyterian Church took down its Christmas tree and turned off the lights at its 2032 S. Carrollton Ave. New Orleans location for the last time on Dec. 22 when members said goodbye to the sanctuary that had been their home for 91 years.
The move to a facility to be shared with another congregation was emotional, but not without blessing: much of the sale proceeds – $200,000 worth – went to local, national and international charities.
Mary Koss, clerk of sessions, said the congregation had remained true to the spirit of those who had built the church.
“We’ve always been a mission-minded church,” Koss said. “The value of the building came from people who were mission-minded.”
Donations of $10,000 each were made to Children’s Hospital, Volunteers of America of Greater New Orleans, Start the Adventure in Reading, Project Homecoming, Bridge House/Grace House, Covenant House, Trinity Christian Community, New Orleans Mission, Baptist Friendship House, and the associate and baccalaureate programs sponsored by New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, in Angola.
Read more at http://blog.nola.com/new_orleans/2013/12/carrollton_presbyterian_church.html
Additional links
Presbytery sanctioned by civil court in ‘scheme’ over church property
Presbyterians conspiring to act in ‘bad faith’
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It reflects the Christian beliefs of the Congregation that even though the Presbytery of South Louisiana hounded the congregation through court after court trying to prevent the sale of the building, that they donated part of the proceeds to a program of that same presbytery that helps to rebuild New Orleans.