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A half-million dollar renovation to the "weekend" home of the Archbishop of Newark has sparked a major controversy, raising questions about how money donated by church members is being used.

An online petition created by a D.C.-based website, Faithful America, has received more than 23,000 signatures to stop the renovation process, claiming that Archbishop John J. Myers does not need a 7,500-square-foot home for when he retires.

The house will become the retirement residence when he retires in two year, Jim Goodness, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark, told ABC News. There is an additional suite being added for guests and office space, as well as a whirlpool and an exercise pool being added for therapeutic use, because he has some health issues. This would be beneficial for him in retirement.

Mel Evans/AP Photo

Archbishop John J. Myers stands outside Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, in Newark, N.J, Sept. 22, 2012.

Protesters say the additions are unnecessary and lavish, and have contrasted Myers' lifestyle to that of Pope Francis, who lives in a small apartment in Rome with other priests.

Faithful America could not be reached by ABC News for additional comment. But the Rev. John Bambrick, pastor of a parish in Jackson Township, part of the Diocese of Trenton, said the lavish spending reflected poorly on the church and highlights the contrast between Myers and Pope Francis.

I think it makes people question where their donations are going," Bambrick told ABC News today. It's embarrassing to the church and the clergy and its an insult to the people and God."

Most of the congregation when they hear about it they just think it is outrageous. They think they should sell it," Bambrick said.

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Protesters Say $500K Construction on Newark Archbishop's Home Is Unnecessary

A half-million dollar renovation to the "weekend" home of the Archbishop of Newark has sparked a major controversy, raising questions about how money donated by church members is being used.

An online petition created by a D.C.-based website, Faithful America, has received more than 23,000 signatures to stop the renovation process, claiming that Archbishop John J. Myers does not need a 7,500-square-foot home for when he retires.

The house will become the retirement residence when he retires in two year, Jim Goodness, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark, told ABC News. There is an additional suite being added for guests and office space, as well as a whirlpool and an exercise pool being added for therapeutic use, because he has some health issues. This would be beneficial for him in retirement.

There will also be an elevator and three gas fireplaces added, Goodness said.

Protesters say the additions are unnecessary and lavish, and have contrasted Myers' lifestyle to that of Pope Francis, who lives in a small apartment in Rome with other priests.

Faithful America could not be reached by ABC News for additional comment. But the Rev. John Bambrick, pastor of a parish in Jackson Township, part of the Diocese of Trenton, said the lavish spending reflected poorly on the church and highlights the contrast between Myers and Pope Francis.

I think it makes people question where their donations are going," Bambrick told ABC News today. It's embarrassing to the church and the clergy and its an insult to the people and God."

Most of the congregation when they hear about it they just think it is outrageous. They think they should sell it," Bambrick said.

Its really astounding given the fact that the pope teaches the bishops to live simply, Bambrick added, noting that Pope Francis has admonished priests "dont buy fancy cars and live simply.

Pope Francis Suspends 'Bishop of Bling

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Newark Archbishop's Pricey Pad Causes Controversy

EDWARDSVILLE A proposed land deal between District 7 schools and First Presbyterian Church has some neighborhood residents and church members upset and asking questions before a school board vote planned for Monday night.

First Presbyterian Church has stood in a historic neighborhood of Edwardsville since 1923, and its next-door neighbor is Columbus School, which has been in use since 1886. A product of its times, Columbus has only 19 parking spaces for 45 employees, and so for many years the church has allowed the school to use its parking lot for parking and dropoff and pickup of students.

To improve the safety of students, the school district looked at acquiring the church property.

The school district has offered First Presbyterian Church $800,000 for the church property, and another $500,000 to pay for the building demolition and asbestos abatement, for a total of $1.3 million paid over 10 years. The church would handle the demolition and remediation of the site, at which point the school district would construct playground and parking space with a new dropoff and pickup system that also would require some rerouting of streets and/or traffic changes to be authorized by the city.

The sale contract still has to be approved by the District 7 school board, which will consider it on Monday night. The street changes also will have to be approved by the Edwardsville City Council in the future.

The money would be paid from the district's impact fees, which are funds paid by developers when they construct residential developments. Impact fees may only be used for acquisition of new property, new construction or renovations to address crowding, not for district operations.

Superintendent Ed Hightower said that it's getting crowded at Columbus, which is at 315 N. Kansas St., and he is worried about students' safety, particularly during the morning and afternoon rushes with 359 students exiting the building.

"We are very fortunate that we have not had an accident of major proportions," Hightower said. "It's a very unsafe condition, and with the number of kids that are transported and the number of parents picking up their children, it needs to be a better situation."

Meanwhile, First Presbyterian is going forward with plans to move its congregation to a new building on Ridgeview Road, out on the growing east side of town. Pastor John Hembruch said the old church has "many deficiencies" in terms of handicapped accessibility, asbestos and maintenance issues. In 2009, the congregation voted to proceed with the concept of a new building.

Hembruch said their plan was three-fold: a capital campaign to raise funds, selling their old property, and sale of some of the 29-acre Ridgeview property, as their new building will only require about 10 acres.

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Proposed land deal between Edwardsville District 7 and church has some upset

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MADAM, I write with reference to the caption below Tommy Woodward's photograph of Dilhorne Church in The Way We Were on March 29.

Although octagonal church towers are rare, others do exist including those at Hodnet in Shropshire and Hornby in Lancashire.

The parish churches of both Stafford and Nantwich also contain octagonal towers, although these are placed above the central crossing, rather than at the west end of the nave. The tower at Dilhorne may have existed before the church, being originally built as a defensive structure.

The abundance of round towers found in East Anglia, built for this purpose, were often incorporated into later churches. The fact that the tower has no doorway and only the smallest of windows at lower levels makes this theory more plausible.

It is unlikely, although not impossible, that this may be a Saxon construction. However, if the tower was built as a defensive structure, it is more probable this was erected by one of the first Normans who took the name of 'de Dulverne' after the Conquest.

In all likelihood, the first church at Dilhorne would have been a wooden construction.

St Chad first brought Christianity to Britain during the 7th century, although it is impossible to say precisely when Dilhorne's spiritual needs were strong enough to warrant the building of a church. If the first church did predate the tower, then this may have been attached to it or at least stood nearby.

The first mention of a church at Dilhorne in documentary sources is 1166 when Ruald de Dulverne presented the advowson, the right to appoint the priest, to the Priory of Stone with the agreement of his overlord Robert de Stafford.

This would have been a newly-constructed building of stone, occupying the area of the current nave and incorporating the tower.

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Way We Were: Kevin Salt talks about Dilhorne Church and octagonal...

CHURCH of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints allotted $1.4 million for basic needs right after Supertyphoon Yolanda.

After Super Typhoon Yolanda hit the Visayas, the country received an enormous amount of support from different parts of the world. Filipinos were moved by this generosity and thanked those who helped in any way they can.

For their part, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS, or also known as Mormons) immediately sent food and hygiene kits to church members in affected areas. They worked closely with the local government and other organizations in the assessment of the situation and distribution of relief goods.

The church also extended help to non-members through LDS Charities.

The LDS Charities manages the humanitarian aspect of the church and all of the members around the world are involved, one-way or the other.

Sister Linda Burton, president of Relief Society General Presidency of the LDS says, The church is trying to do what it did in Haiti years ago (and until now) by teaching people self-reliance. To achieve that, we try to help people find education that will lead to a job.

She, however, notes that Filipinos are quick to recover from the tragedy compared to other disaster-stricken areas the church has visited and helped.

But before setting up the livelihood programs, they first need to build shelters. At present, the group has built more than 1,000 shelters. Their aim is 3,000 by the end of May.

Right after the typhoon hit, we allotted $1.4 million for basic needs such as food, water and hygiene kits, says Brent Nielson, of LDS Philippines Area Presidency. Once everything calmed down a little bit, we assessed the needs of our members and found out that 3,000 families were homeless. Thats when we decided to help begin building shelters.

The group already started teaching the idea of self-reliance by involving them in shelter building. The church provided construction materials and tools while families helped in building them.

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What the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS did for the Visayas

Crossroads Baptist Church Construction Progression
I created this video with the YouTube Slideshow Creator (http://www.youtube.com/upload)

By: Scott Wiley

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Crossroads Baptist Church Construction Progression - Video

Start to Finish of Family Baptist Church Construction 2013

By: Bo Gillespie

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Start to Finish of Family Baptist Church Construction 2013 - Video

A crew from Haselden Construction remove forms from the freshly poured foundation at Light of the World church in Littleton on April 4. (Seth A. McConnell, YourHub)

JEFFERSON COUNTY The construction of a new sanctuary at Light of the World Catholic Church should take about 11 months altogether, but it's really 35 years in the making.

The church, 10316 W. Bowles Ave. in the Littleton area, has been open since 1979, but it never had a permanent sanctuary with pews and kneelers both common in the Catholic faith. Instead parishioners have been seated in removable chairs and kneeling either on the floor or a mat.

"Building the church provides us with greater opportunity to do other things," the Very Rev. Michael Pavlakovich said. Pavlakovich has been the head pastor for the past eight years.

Construction continues on Light of the World, near the intersection of West Bowles Avenue and South Kipling Parkway, which is building a permanent sanctuary next to its current facility, where parishioners have been worshiping for the last 35 years. (Seth A. McConnell, YourHub)

Construction on the new sanctuary began in January and should be complete by late December. The new worship area will hold approximately 1,300 people, roughly double what the church can support in its current state.

The room that currently serves as the place of worship will be used for several different events such as parish dances, lecture series, theater presentations and overflow rooms for Christmas and Easter masses. It cost $6.5 million for the new building and Pavlakovich said the congregation will pay for the structure. He said the church needed $3 million in hand before starting the project and they were able to raise that in "record time."

"This is really a great community. They've stepped it up on many levels," he said.

Parishioner Joy Jaeger said when she first came to Light of the World eight years ago, it didn't appear like any Catholic church she was used to, but she quickly realized it was only incomplete.

She said the congregation is excited to get in the new building.

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Light of the World Church building permanent sanctuary

WEST FARGO Construction will begin soon on a Catholic church and elementary school here, making the dual-purpose site home to the fifth Catholic school and one of the largest sanctuaries in the metro area.

Construction crews will break ground April 24 on a roughly 12-acre site at 2820 Bluestem Drive, which will be the home of Holy Cross Catholic Church and Trinity Elementary School.

Construction on the 76,000 square-foot site is expected to be finished by next year.

The school must be ready for occupancy by July 15, 2015, said Earl Wilhelm, property manager for the Fargo Diocese. The church doesnt necessarily have a deadline.

Bishop John Folda of the Diocese of Fargo said the $15.3 million, 76,000-square-foot project has been in the works for seven years, while West Fargo has been one of the fastest-growing cities in the diocese.

In December, Holy Cross Church sold its building at 1420 16th St. E. in West Fargo to the Lutheran Church of the Cross after the two churches shared a site for almost 30 years.

Both churches outgrew their respective houses, and Holy Cross already had tapped the southern West Fargo site as a place to grow. Holy Cross members will continue to attend at the current site until the new church is completed.

Its been talked about for a long time, and different options were explored, including building on the current location, Folda said. Unfortunately, the space there was inadequate and wouldnt work for the current needs and anticipated growth. With the additional elementary school and facility upgrades, we can successfully support Catholic advancement in this area. The entire faith community will benefit.

The Rev. James Meyer at Holy Cross said the new church will have a main sanctuary that can seat about 1,000, which is double the worship space available now.

Holy Cross has almost tripled in size since the mid-1990s. It now serves about 1,300 families, Meyer said.

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Catholics to break ground soon on new church and school in West Fargo

MUSCATINE, Iowa The old St. Mary's Catholic Church nestled on 417 Green St. sits tall among trees that havent come alive yet this spring. For the church, it will probably be its last spring intact.

The construction of St. Marys began in 1876, at the request of the communitys German Catholic population, and was complete in the fall of 1877. The first mass the building hosted was held two years later, in the cold of winter by the parishs first German-speaking pastor, the Rev. John Ignatius Grieser. It was under the guiding hand of Grieser that the church built St. Marys school and acquired its Pfeiffer pipe organ, which has become a part of the Organ Historic Societys database.

Now, nearly 140 years after it was built, St. Marys is about to be torn down.

Parishioner Coletta Logel, 81, is heartbroken over her churchs pending demolition.

Thats the only church Ive known, she said. She began attending St. Marys as a child in the 40s with her family. Though the parishes of St. Marys and St. Mathias, the other Catholic church in Muscatine, have been combined since 2000 and St. Marys has been out of use due to safety issues since last year, Logel says St. Mathias still doesnt feel like home. Not like St. Marys.

Everybody told me when I was so upset, Its just a building, Logel recalled, her voice impassioned by emotion. I know it is just a building. But in that building, it contains memories years. There is 70-some years of memories in that [building].

Those memories include her wedding. She wed Pete Logel as a sixteen-year-old girl while all the older women who she recalls always sat in the back of the church murmured about how her marriage would never work. That wedding, held before her god in her church, was the start of a marriage that would last nearly 60 years, until Petes death in 2006. St. Mary's framed her relationship with her husband, as it was from St. Marys that Pete was buried.

In between those times, Logel saw all five of her children baptized in St. Marys and a couple of them married there as well. Logels friend Maryann Hines four children were also baptized there.

Hines siblings, too, were baptized at St. Mary's as was she in mid- January, 1933. St. Marys was her church from birth.

Id still go when they tore it down if theyd leave us, she said. While she says she feels resigned to the churchs fate, the demolition of St. Marys still makes her sad. She recalls a time when there were 600 families in the church and she, too, has the memories of her childrens weddings in the building. Though she herself was not married there, the church did hold a nuptial mass for her and her husband Carl after they were wed on an army base in Georgia.

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For everything there is a season: 137-year old St. Mary's church's season is winding down