TABLE OF CONTENTS
Update
3 Successon Partners: New Dollars/New Partners
Story; Exemplars Profile; Texas Sacred
FROM THE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Places Project
14
One year ago, Andrew Edwards, the
energetic and entrepreneurial director
of the National Churches Trust (NCT)
in Great Britain, came to America to
see how Partners encourages the care
and active use of historic religious
properties. Edwards spent a day in
Philadelphia to meet our staff and see
some of the congregations we serve,
and spoke to a gathering of Partners’
friends and supporters.
FEATURE STORY:
Interview with Cardinal George
17 Building Brief: Bell Maintenance
19 Funding Brief: Staying the Course with Capital
Campaign Consultants
Spotlight:
20 Professional Alliance Sons Steeplejack
Francis J. Atkinson &
21 Professional Alliance Directory
ABOUT PARTNERS
Partners for Sacred Places is the only national,
nonsectarian, non-profit organization
dedicated to the sound stewardship and active
community use of America’s older religious
properties. Founded in 1989 by religious,
historic preservation and philanthropic leaders,
Partners provides assistance to the people who
care for sacred places and promotes a greater
understanding of how these places sustain
communities.
Partners’ Programs and Services
Include:
•
Training. New Dollars/New Partners for Your
Sacred Place is an intensive program that gives
congregations with older buildings the skills and
resources to broaden their base of support.
•
Regional Offices. Partners offers training,
technical assistance and capital improvement
grants through its Pennsylvania, Texas, and
Chicago Offices.
•
Workshops and Conferences. Partners’ staff
speaks on a variety of topics at national and
regional conferences.
•
Publications. Some of Partners’ books include:
- Your Sacred Place Is a Community
Asset: A Tool Kit to Attract New Resources
and Partners
- The Complete Guide to Capital
Campaigns for Historic Churches
and Synagogues
•
Information Clearinghouse. This webbased resource provides information related
to the care and use of older sacred places.
(www.sacredplaces.org/information_center.htm)
•
Advocacy Initiatives. Partners works with civic
leaders, funders and policymakers, urging them
to adopt policies and practices that provide new
resources to older religious properties.
COVER: Gianfranco Grande and Archbishop of
Chicago Francis Cardinal George share a laugh.
Photo by Brian Morowczynski.
Copyright 2009 VIAphotos.com
He left with a very favorable
impression of Partners’ innovative
approach to helping congregations
sustain their “public value,” i.e., their
outreach programs and cultural significance. And we, in turn,
were struck by NCT’s work on several fronts. The Trust encourages
congregations to undertake repair and maintenance planning, and
makes capital grants to some of Britain’s most significant sacred
places. NCT also encourages churches to find creative ways to keep
their doors open during the week, knowing that when visitors
and neighbors gain ready access to historic worship spaces, they
become advocates for the preservation of those sacred places.
Of course NCT does so much more than I can summarize here, as
does Partners. So we are very pleased to announce that Edwards has
invited a delegation from Partners to travel to London to compare
notes with leaders in the field, and see the results of NCT’s work
with historic sacred places. We’ll also be meeting with Canon Reiss
at Westminster Abbey, who spent time with Partners’ staff during a
recent visit to America. We hope and trust that an enduring crossAtlantic collaboration will emerge from this trip.
We have another example of international exchange and learning
that is closer at hand: a growing relationship with preservation
groups in Canada, including the Ontario Heritage Trust (OHT),
Conseil du patrimoine religieux du Québec, Heritage Foundation
of Newfoundland & Labrador and the Heritage Canada Foundation.
Our connection grows out of conferences held in Toronto, Montreal
and Newfoundland over the last several years, where we were
invited to present our training approach and other outreach. We, in
turn, have been very impressed by their work to inventory sacred
places and support the reuse of vacant church properties. We have
invited their staff members to “audit” New Dollars, and expect that
we will compare notes and learn from each other in the years to
come.
These new relationships are suggesting that all national
organizations with a commitment to helping older religious
properties need to find ways to confer from time to time. We have
much to share, and much to learn.
BOB JAEGER
Sacred Places • Fall 2009 • 2