Friday, October 15, 2004

Church Sacred to Paul Keating

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has lent his support to People trying to stop the redevelopment of the Sacred Heart Church on the corner of Victoria and Oxford Streets.

'If it's a case of God or dollars,' Mr Keating said, 'let's have God without the dollars.'

'These important buildings... have a civility of a kind that would be dramatically altered by a campus and any retail and commercial development -- let alone the added traffic and parking.'

'A development of this kind pays scant regard to the body of the Church community of the Sacred Heart and is typical of the kind of railroading over which some Diocesen administrators have earned a bad name,' he said.

The church dates from before 1850. Archbishop George Pell wants to demolish it and the associated buildings to erect a campus of the Catholic Notre Dame University plus commercial development on Oxford Street.

There will be a rally tomorrow Saturday 16 October, on the site at 12 noon, when Lord Mayor Clover Moore will speak.

Click the headline for the full story.

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