Buddhists eye church property

Leaders in Lowell's burgeoning Southeast Asian community are planning to ask the Archdiocese of Boston to sell them the Notre Dame de Lourdes Church on Smith Street for less than half its assessed value so they can convert it into a Buddhist temple.

"We are hoping they will hear the programs we offer and consider us," said Samkhann C. Khoeun, a spokesman for the Glory Buddhist Temple Development project. "It's located in the center of the Cambodian-American community and we could really use the space. We just can't afford it yet."

The church and rectory are assessed at $2.3 million, according to Michael Harkins of Andover, the listing agent for the property. Khoeun said his organization can afford to offer only $1 million but hopes the archdiocese will take into account that the building will remain a house of worship and will consider the future of the community when they select a buyer.

Bids for the property are due on Friday and Khoeun said officials from the Buddhist temple are expecting to offer a formal proposal for the church by then.

Harkins said about a half dozen developers, churches, and nonprofit organizations have expressed interest in the 11,818-square-foot church and 4,488-square-foot rectory.

Notre Dame de Lourdes Church is among 80 of the archdiocese's 357 parishes slated to be closed, said Ann Carter, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese. The closings are part of a reorganization that began in January 2004 in the wake of the financial crisis prompted by the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

The church closed in September and the property went on the market in November.

Carter would not comment on the archdiocese's reaction to the temple's plans.

In a statement released in November, David W. Smith, chancellor of the archdiocese, said that each sale decision will based "on many factors, including proposed property use, price, and contingencies."

"It is our hope to maximize the financial consideration with the needs of the communities we serve," Smith said.

When the Notre Dame Church was built in 1962, it was in the heart of a French-Canadian Catholic neighborhood but that area is now largely Southeast Asian. There are about 30,000 Cambodians in Lowell, 90 percent of whom are Buddhist, Khoeun said. The Glory Buddhist Temple on Cambridge Street, a 4,000-square-foot converted warehouse, is the only Buddhist temple in the city. It's packed for funerals, cultural events, and worship, and Khoeun said the community needs more space to accommodate the population.

"With a new place of worship, the Glory Buddhist Temple will continue providing religious and cultural programs and social services," Khoeun wrote in a draft of the proposal that the temple plans to submit. "It will also create space for the development of new programs, including a senior day program, a drop-in center, a youth activities center, and a community technology center."

In an effort to sway the Archdiocese, the Cambodian community is trying to enlist the help of several Lowell politicians.

Mayor Armand Mercier said he does not know enough about the proposal to comment on it. But he said that "it is inevitable that [the Cambodian community] will need more houses of worship."

Notre Dame is among six parishes in Lowell to be closed by the archdiocese. The others are Sacred Heart in South Lowell; Holy Trinity in Lower Belvidere; St. Louis de France in Centralville; Ste. Jeanne d'Arc in Pawtucketville; and Nuestra Senora del Carmen Church in the Acre.

A forum to discuss the rehabilitation and reuse of the closing churches is scheduled for 9 a.m. tomorrow at the Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center at 40 French St. Khoeun said it is important that the city take into account the needs of the Southeast Asian community.

Cambodian refugees began arriving in Lowell in large numbers in the early 1980s after the Khmer Rouge decimated their country. Cambodian-Americans now make up about a quarter of the city's population but they have struggled with teen pregnancy, gang involvement, and post traumatic stress syndrome.

According to Khoeun, 41 percent of Lowell's Cambodians have less than a fifth-grade education and 29 percent live below the poverty rate. A religious and cultural anchor is critical to changing that, he said. "We need a place to call home again," Khoeun said. "Our bodies are here, but our soul and spirit is not being taken care of."