Cathedral for Rent

Bankers took over the biggest Episcopal church in the Pacific Northwest last week --Seattle's massive, unfinished St. Mark's Cathedral. So last Sunday St. Mark's congregation had an early Communion service in a Greek Orthodox church, the regular morning service at the Women's Century Clubhouse (150 present).

The cathedral's troubles began when an overenthusiastic congregation and architect went ahead on a $2,000,000 structure though only $400,000 had been raised. Work stopped early in the depression when $600,000 had been spent, one section completed. Since then, finances have gone from bad to worse. Last May the mortgage-holder, Mercantile-Commerce Bank & Trust Co. of St. Louis, foreclosed, offered to settle its $266,316 claim for $185,000, meanwhile started charging $500 a month rent. Because "even the rent had not been paid for six months, the bank at last took the keys.

Mum were liberal, trout-fishing Bishop Simeon Arthur Huston and fat, jovial Dean John D. McLauchlan. But the bank hoped that padlocking, stripping the altar, extinguishing the sanctuary lamp might stir the congregation into a drive to refinance its debts.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.