On the siting of a mosque near Ground Zero

Fr. Ron Franco over at City Father (a recent Link of the Day here) has a well-reasoned, interesting take on the building of a mosque within two blocks of the site of the 9/11 tragedy. Only recently arrived in his new parish setting, Fr. Franco offers this interesting bit of history about the church he now pastors:

When the original Immaculate Conception Church was built in Knoxville, TN, in the mid-1850s – on a prominent hilltop overlooking what were then the northern limits of the city – some local people did object. The March 10, 1855 Knoxville Whig warned that Catholics “are a dangerous population much to be dreaded.” The Knoxville Protestant community, however, did not universally share this view. The Mayor, a Presbyterian, even donated an adjacent plot of land to the new parish. Had there been a more rational basis to the allegation that Catholics posed a danger and should be dreaded, perhaps the outcome might have been different.

For a well reasoned response to this vexed question of building a new mosque, read the complete post at City Father.


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