Buffalo News: Volunteers from near and far help restore Church of Scientology's new home
Bat Child (Sue M.)
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20030829/1007496.asp
====================
COMMUNITY
Volunteers from near and far help restore Church of Scientology's new
home
By MARK SOMMER
News Staff Reporter
8/29/2003
Rebuild it and they will come.
Volunteers from around the globe have been hard at work in the Church
of Scientology's new three-story, two-mezzanine home at 836 Main St.,
on the southwest corner of Main and Virginia streets.
Members have come from as far as Hungary, Lithuania, South Africa and
Italy to work on the 23,232-square-foot building's restoration,
scheduled for completion in mid-September.
Closer to home, Scientologists from Chicago, Miami, New York City and
Hollywood, where the church is headquartered, have joined in, too,
from painting walls and hand-carving woodwork to sanding brick and
reupholstering chairs.
"Any building that has had so much beauty makes it easy to be here,"
said Kevin Benac, standing on a ladder as he paused from applying
paint to the building's exterior. The renovated facade boasts buff
brick, glazed white terra cotta and limestone trim.
This week marks the fifth month that Benac, owner of a specialty
painting company in Chicago, has spent painting and plastering the
19th century building. His skillful hands have built up the bases of
the building's pillars by applying as many as eight coats of plaster
of Paris, and restoring the decorative egg and dart molding at the top
of the columns.
"This is in the traditional manner of how church buildings were done,"
said Teresa Reger of East Aurora, president of the church's Buffalo
chapter.
Reger said the Church of Scientology regularly updates its worldwide
chapters about new events through video or satellite, and that spurred
the interest of some members to help.
"We've had people who are artisans in their craft who saw a picture of
the building and wanted to help with restoring it," she said.
Not all of the labor has been volunteer. Hired contractors have done
some of the work. So did a crew of six inmates from the Erie County
Correctional Facility in Alden. They were removed after Sheriff
Patrick M. Gallivan was questioned by The Buffalo News about the
propriety of a government agency providing free labor to a church.
The Church of Scientology is temporarily housed at Franklin and Edward
streets. It was formerly in the Hurst building at 47 W. Huron St.,
before the city paid it $740,000 in December for the right to demolish
the building and expand the Owen P. Augspurger Parking Ramp.
The Scientologists then paid $300,000 for the Main Street building,
constructed in 1893 by the Buffalo Catholic Institute, a group of
German-American Catholics who used it for religious research and
lectures. The building has been vacant in recent years.
The new location heralds a large expansion of the church. The center
will be the home to scientologists in Western and Central New York,
Pennsylvania, and some parts of Ohio and Canada. The staff will
increase to 75 to 100, from about 25 six months ago, Reger said. She
said she couldn't say how many members the Buffalo church had because
of the broad area from which it draws.
The space, with cathedral ceilings as high as 19 feet, includes an
intimate, horseshoe-shaped sanctuary on the third floor and
"detoxification rooms," including saunas, that Scientologists use to
rid the body of impurities.
State-of-the-art flat screens, beaming videos about Scientology and
its founder, the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, are found
in the visitors entrance and third-floor lounge.
The Buffalo church raised $1.4 million for the renovation, Reger said,
in part through the aid of one donor whom she declined to identify.
Scientology - known to some for a number of Hollywood stars among its
ranks, including John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Jenna Elfman, and Lisa
Marie and Priscilla Presley - has been mired in controversy for years
over claims it is a cult.
e-mail: mso...@buffnews.com
====================
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Ted Mayett
<batc...@cox.net> wrote:
>Found at:
>
>http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20030829/1007496.asp
>
>The new location heralds a large expansion of the church. The center
>will be the home to scientologists in Western and Central New York,
>Pennsylvania, and some parts of Ohio and Canada. The staff will
>increase to 75 to 100,
Oh good, a Postulate.
> from about 25 six months ago, Reger said.
25 sounds about correct. This would be staff members on temporary
leave for the last 8 years or so. The staff member who comes in once
a week for a few hours to do finance or things like this. And new
staff members who have signed 'postulate' forms but haven't started
working a shift yet.
> She
>said she couldn't say how many members the Buffalo church had because
>of the broad area from which it draws.
Now when this is a lie, you have to figure everything is a lie.
Scientologists do nothing but count things, Stats, it is all they do.
They know the membership, but are apparently ashamed to list the
number of members.
>
>State-of-the-art flat screens, beaming videos about Scientology and
>its founder, the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, are found
>in the visitors entrance and third-floor lounge.
This is interesting.
>
>The Buffalo church raised $1.4 million for the renovation, Reger said,
>in part through the aid of one donor whom she declined to identify.
>
And this sounds correct. One 'live' one paid for it all.
It would be nice to know if this org had even 6 full time staff
members. Can anybody take a walk through there?
Android Cat
> On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 21:37:28 -0700, "Bat Child (Sue M.)"
> <batc...@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> Found at:
>>
>> http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20030829/1007496.asp
>
>> The new location heralds a large expansion of the church. The center
>> will be the home to scientologists in Western and Central New York,
>> Pennsylvania, and some parts of Ohio and Canada. The staff will
>> increase to 75 to 100,
>
> Oh good, a Postulate.
I still marvel at the inability of the 9 story Toronto class V org to
handle central Canada--there isn't much Canada where Buffalo is closer
than Toronto. Haven't they found the SP yet? Declaring "purpose of
visit" at the border must be fun. (The Most Ethical People on the Planet
tm wouldn't lie, would they?)
--
Ron of that ilk.
Kristi Wachter
I wonder why it's taking such an incredibly long time for the SF org to
vacate its old premises on McAllister. I mean, the new building they've
bought over near the Financial District is a beautiful building. Historic,
too.
From what I hear, org moves are pretty hard to accomplish these days. It's
hard to get enough volunteers together.
Well, whoever's working on a building, I'm always happy to see effort put
into keeping beautiful old buildings viable. What a shame the SF org
couldn't have bought and fixed up the Hibernia Bank building, just a block
from the org-that-is-to-be-vacated. It's supposed to be one of the most
stunning buildings in the city - or was, before it fell into disuse.
Personally, if I had complete control over Matter, Energy, Space, and
Time, I'd nod my head (a la "I Dream of Jeannie") and restore all the
beautiful old buildings in San Francisco - magically transfer title to
myself - and rent them out for shockingly low rates to nonprofits like
Amnesty International. (Except I would have already put an end to torture
and war, so it'd just have to be Amnesty International Party
Headquarters.)
<"You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" on:>
"When I grow up, Linus - I will be Queen!"
<"YAGM,CB" off>
Kristi
(Great musician joke I heard today:
Little boy: Mommy, I want to be a musician when I grow up.
Mother: Oh, honey - you can't be both.
--
Kristi Wachter
the activist formerly known as "Jour" (before $cientology outed me)
If I am not who you say I am, then you are not who you think you are.
- James Baldwin
I think $cientology is hurting people and breaking the law, and I
want them to stop it. See http://www.scientology-lies.com for more.
Kristi Wachter
>On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 21:37:28 -0700, "Bat Child (Sue M.)"
><batc...@cox.net> wrote:
>> She
>>said she couldn't say how many members the Buffalo church had because
>>of the broad area from which it draws.
>Now when this is a lie, you have to figure everything is a lie.
>Scientologists do nothing but count things, Stats, it is all they do.
>They know the membership, but are apparently ashamed to list the
>number of members.
Ah, but - correct me if I'm wrong - the Buffalo church doesn't HAVE *ANY*
members.
The official membership organization is the IAS.
>>
>>The Buffalo church raised $1.4 million for the renovation, Reger said,
>>in part through the aid of one donor whom she declined to identify.
>>
>And this sounds correct. One 'live' one paid for it all.
You know, I'm seeing indications that a lot of the "new" missions are
being headed up by missionholders who already have a mission or two (or
twelve), and they seem to be funded by a celeb - Jenna Elfman, Kirstie
Alley - who "sponsors" the mission. It might be interesting to try to
track this.
BatChild, thank you so much for this report and all you do - and Ted,
thank YOU for your fabulous comments. You two are two of my favorite
posters.
Kristi
Android Cat
> Well, that's interesting.
>
> I wonder why it's taking such an incredibly long time for the SF org
> to vacate its old premises on McAllister. I mean, the new building
> they've bought over near the Financial District is a beautiful
> building. Historic, too.
>
> From what I hear, org moves are pretty hard to accomplish these days.
> It's hard to get enough volunteers together.
Hopefully none of the vacated buildings will "have a fire". Co$'s record
of "having a fire" in buildings that they're in the process of moving out
of isn't very good. (And in buildings that they're just using in an
unsafe fashion.)
<Insert link to Fires in $cientology page> (I'm lazy)
All perfectly explainable by malfunctioning appliances and such.
Seems statistically improbable, but hey...
The Toronto org needs a *real* fire inspection. They have paper-piles
that have been growing for 20 years, and rooms like their "chapel" (with
only one exit) that are frequently piled high with junk.