{"id":12744,"date":"2014-09-02T10:10:06","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T14:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/?p=12744"},"modified":"2014-09-02T10:10:06","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T14:10:06","slug":"new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Church To Be Converted Into A Fraternity House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Abandoned churches being transformed into something new isn\u2019t really, well, new.<\/p>\n

Old churches have become everything from luxury apartments<\/a> to clubs to a mall\u2026and sometimes two out of the three<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If I remember correctly, there was a big controversy several years ago when I still lived in Nashville about an old church that was going to be turned into a strip club. I know, big shocker people got upset about that.<\/p>\n

But often people aren\u2019t too happy about the apartment transformation either.<\/p>\n

After all these are, or at least were, sacred spaces.<\/p>\n

In the latest incarnation of ecclesiastical conversions, an abandoned church in Troy, NY is set to become the fraternity house for the local chapter of Phi Gamma Delta.<\/p>\n

\"frat(Photo by J.S. Carras, Oneida Daily Dispatch<\/em>)<\/p>\n

According The Oneida Daily Dispatch<\/em><\/a>,<\/p>\n

The 24,000-square-foot location includes the former church, an area under the sanctuary and a former school building. Edelen said the downstairs area under the church would be used as an all-purpose room for dining and social functions. The upstairs section would be for a library, studying, seminars, guest speakers and formal functions.
\n\u00a0
\nThe former school \u2014 once the location of Troy Prep, which is now located in South Troy \u2014 is being retrofitted for dormitory space and common areas.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Personally, I don\u2019t see the appeal of having an old church as your fraternity house. It just seems a bit, well odd. But, whatevs. I\u2019m getting to be an old man. I don\u2019t know what the cool kids are into anymore.<\/p>\n

Regardless, I think these sorts of transformations raise some really interesting questions about what to do with former places of worship and I\u2019m curious to know what you think should be done with them.<\/p>\n

After all, these aren\u2019t just buildings.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re sacred space where bread was broken, bodies baptized, marriages consecrated, and souls saved.<\/p>\n

Or has that sacredness evaporated now that the congregation of the faithful has departed?<\/p>\n

Is this place, in fact, just another building?<\/p>\n

If so, why do so many of us get weird feelings when a church becomes a bar or a mall or anything other than what it was intended for?<\/p>\n

And if these former places of worship shouldn\u2019t be converted for other uses, what should be done with them? Should they just sit empty and eventually become derelict eyesores? Should they be torn down altogether? Or should they be persevered for some reason?<\/p>\n

Honestly, I\u2019m not sure what the answer is, but I\u2019m anxious to hear what you think.<\/p>\n

Let me know in the comments.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abandoned churches being transformed into something new isn\u2019t really, well, new. Old churches have become everything from luxury apartments to clubs to a mall\u2026and sometimes two out of the three. If I remember correctly, there was a big controversy several years ago when I still lived in Nashville about an old church that was going […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNew York Church To Be Converted Into A Fraternity House<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Abandoned churches being transformed into something new isn't really, well, new. Old churches have become everything from luxury apartments to clubs to a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New York Church To Be Converted Into A Fraternity House\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Abandoned churches being transformed into something new isn't really, well, new. Old churches have become everything from luxury apartments to clubs to a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-02T14:10:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/files\/2014\/09\/frat-house-church.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/\",\"name\":\"New York Church To Be Converted Into A Fraternity House\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-02T14:10:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-09-02T14:10:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\"},\"description\":\"Abandoned churches being transformed into something new isn't really, well, new. Old churches have become everything from luxury apartments to clubs to a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New York Church To Be Converted Into A Fraternity House\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/\",\"name\":\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\",\"description\":\"Zack writes about the intersection of faith and politics\u2026and sometimes BBQ.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\",\"name\":\"Zack Hunt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zack Hunt\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/author\/zhunt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New York Church To Be Converted Into A Fraternity House","description":"Abandoned churches being transformed into something new isn't really, well, new. Old churches have become everything from luxury apartments to clubs to a","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New York Church To Be Converted Into A Fraternity House","og_description":"Abandoned churches being transformed into something new isn't really, well, new. Old churches have become everything from luxury apartments to clubs to a","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/","og_site_name":"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt","article_published_time":"2014-09-02T14:10:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/files\/2014\/09\/frat-house-church.jpg"}],"author":"Zack Hunt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zack Hunt","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/","name":"New York Church To Be Converted Into A Fraternity House","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-02T14:10:06+00:00","dateModified":"2014-09-02T14:10:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226"},"description":"Abandoned churches being transformed into something new isn't really, well, new. Old churches have become everything from luxury apartments to clubs to a","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/new-york-church-to-be-converted-into-a-fraternity-house\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New York Church To Be Converted Into A Fraternity House"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/","name":"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt","description":"Zack writes about the intersection of faith and politics\u2026and sometimes BBQ.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226","name":"Zack Hunt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Zack Hunt"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/author\/zhunt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12744\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}