N Y DAILY NEWS WRITER
The board of trustees of a Staten Island Catholic Church
has rejected the controversial sale of an old convent
building to a Muslim group to build a mosque.
The sale had sparked two months of angry rallies when
word got out that Father Keith Fennessy of Saint Margaret
Mary church had quietly agreed to sell the vacant building
to the Muslim American Society for $750,000.
Fennessy later reversed course and said he opposed the sale,
which needed to be approved by the parish trustees.
The furor came amid a national controversy that has swirled
around efforts to construct a mosque near Ground Zero.
"The trustees of the parish have met, as legally required
under New York State law, and voted to ratify the pastor's
decision," Joe Zwilling, spokesman for the Archdiocese of
New York said Thursday. "The Muslim American Society has
been informed that the sale of the convent will not take place."
A message left with a spokeswoman for the group
was not immediately returned.
Residents of Midland Beach, where the property is located,
were infuriated by the move, saying they worried whether the organization had ties with terrorist groups.
Muslim community leaders denied the charges as outrageous.
"It is also our prayer that unity will now return to the parish
and to the Midland Beach community," Zwilling said.
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