From The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
A former Catholic church and school in South Milwaukee has been sold to a Muslim congregation for use as a mosque. The former St. Adalbert’s property, near the corner of 16th and Minnesota avenues, was sold last week for $600,000 to Masjid Al-Huda, said the Rev. Bob Betz, the pastor of Divine Mercy Catholic Community of South Milwaukee. Masjid Al Huda is currently located at 5075 S. 43rd St. in Greenfield. Leaders of the mosque could not be reached immediately for comment Monday. South Milwaukee Mayor Erik Brooks said in a blog post that Masjid Al-Huda Milwaukee plans to use the facility for worship services, five per day between the hours of sunrise and sunset, as well as religious education for primarily middle and grade school-age children. He added that the mosque hopes to move in by late January. “I want to officially welcome Al-Huda to South Milwaukee. We are a welcoming and increasingly diverse community, and the fact that Al-Huda sought out St. Adalbert’s is a reflection of that,” Brooks wrote in a blog post Monday. “I personally look forward to getting to know the members of Al-Huda more, and to see them become a part of this community, as they have pledged to do. They want to open their doors to introduce themselves to South Milwaukee and educate residents about who they are — and, perhaps just as importantly, who they aren’t.” He also acknowledged a spike in anti-Muslim rhetoric and incidents in the weeks since the deadly terrorist attacks by Islamic radicals in Paris and California. “I pray not to see that here,” Brooks wrote. “We are fighting extremists, radicalized terrorists who preach jihad. That is not Masjid Al-Huda Milwaukee.”
Photo: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
