The impending closure of the beloved 111-year-old Saint Matthew\u2019s Episcopal Church in Woodhaven is sending shadows across a community whose residents worry the diocese could sell the site to someone with little reverence for the historical building and the cemetery behind it….<\/p>\n
According to a message in the church\u2019s May 8 service bulletin, the rector, the Rev. Tracey Williams, will continue to live on site until plans for the sale of the church are finalized. Diocese officials did not say when they expect to sell the church, nor to whom. They said the building will be deconsecrated during the last service.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis action has been taken after many years of faithful ministry in the midst of a declining population and dwindling resources,\u201d\u009d the Rev. Lawrence Provenzano, bishop of the Long Island diocese, wrote in a recent e-mail to supporters.<\/p>\n