Evening star., 1948-10-26
|PHAMeetingSet
with Greenbe|t
Church Groups
Purchase Of Lund
For Religious Use
Will Be Discussed

VIII Dc GtSS uSSSU
Another attempt to arrive at
satisfactory solution of the ques-
ton Of allowing religious denom-
nations to buy land in Govern
ment-owned Greenbelt, Md, will be
made at II am. tomorrow.
Greenbelt church interests will
meet with officials of the Housing
and Home Finance Agency of the
Public Housing Administration.
The difficulties encountered were
viewed as one outcome of Supreme
Court decision last March narrow
ing the position of religion in the
State,
I'VE hope to have something def
mite to announce after tomorrow
an agency spokesman said.
The meeting has been called by
Mr.. Egan and Administrator Ray
mond M. Foley of HEIFA to discuss
possible courses of action to enable
the churches to obtain building
sites"
PHA Sympathetic.
John Taylor Egan, PHA commits
sioner, said his agency is complete
ly sympathetic to the desire of the
Greenbelt churches" He added,
however. that appropriate sites can
be made available to them only by
means within the legal limitations
which apply to this Government
owned property"
The following three possible
courses of action will be the basis
for tomorrow's discussion, Mr.. Egan
said:
Certain sites reserved for semi
public uses could be advertised for
sale to the highest bidder for such
uses. There would be no assurance
however, that the interested church
groups would be the successful bid
ders.
New legislation might be sought
frcm Congress to authorize PHA to
negotiate sales of the sites with
out competitive bidding.
Since Greenbelt eventually will
be sold to private owners, the
churches could delay their building
plans and negotiate with the new
owner who would not be bound bv
the legal considerations which apply
while the project is Government
owned"
Court Ruling Is Cited.
Since early this year, the church
groups have been trying to obtain
permanent sites for structures in the
town. Public Housing Administra-
ton officials interpret the Supreme
Court decision in the McCollum case.
involving released time" for reli-
gious instruction in public schools.
as preventing the Government from
giving land or special concessions for
church purposes in Greenbelt.
The churches ARE willing to buv.
So far they have been unable to do
so. First, PHA recently reversed it's
stand of last spring that Greenbelt
lsnd could be sold outright to
churches. And, having ruled that
the land can be acquired only bv
bidding, PHA has not yet worked
out a detailed procedure for the
church groups to bid.
The Greenbelt situation is re-.
garded as one of the disturbing
effects which some observers nre.
dlcted would follow from the Su-
preme Court decision in the NC
Colium case. That decision was
criticized in a minority opinion of
the court as well as In the Amer
ican Bar Association Journal and
by others. It was criticized as being
an unduly narrow and rigid inter.
probation of the constitutional bar.
rler between church and state at
a time when religion is forced tn
combat particularly powerful forces
of irreligion.
Current obstacles confronting the
relglous groups in Greenbelt are
seen as limiting freedom of action
OF thlse groups by preventing them
from functioning as quickly and
easily as, many commercial and
secular interests are able to do.
Five Religious Groups.
Greenbelt has five organized re-.
llglous groups. They are the Com.
munlty Church, which is an affiliate
OF the Congregational Christian
Church; the. Hebrew Congregation
st. Hugh's Catholic Church, a
Methodist Church and a Luthera n
Church. None has a permanent
site now.
Since 1887, when the town was
established, the Protestant and
Jewish denominations have held
services in the Greenbelt Center
School, while Catholics have held
services in the towns theater.
Last January representatives of
the Community Church BUILDING
committee and Board of Trustees
were told by PHA officials thcy
Woula De given price on a pro-
posed building site probably by
repfuary Is and certainly by the
end OF the month"
Early in March, the Rev. Eric r,
Braund. minister of that church, re-
minded PHA officials of that "assur-
ance." He earnestly" requested
that this transaction be completed
with all possible speed"
On March 4, he received from
Joseph c. Gay. PHA area director.
letter which stated: "Appraisals
nave been secured for the various
church sites. Arrangements are now
oeing made for a meeting to estab-
llsh sales prices for church pur-
poses. We shall communicate with
you just as soon as we are able
to negotiate further with you in
this matter"
Fund Raising Started.
Meanwhile, plans for the COM
munity church building were COM
pleted and Embarrassing campaign
was started with an immediate goal
OF S50,000. The group hopes to raise
$4,000 eventually in three one-year
campaigns.
Early this month PHA notified
Mr.. Braund. who is chairman of an
1nterfaith Committee working to
get the land for permanent church