Mayor sides with church

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is offering to help Roxburys historic Charles Street AME Church avoid foreclosure and blasting the bank thats trying to seize the house of worship.

I get frustrated when the bank thinks (its) going to take over a church of this magnitude, the mayor told the Herald yesterday. How greedy can they be?

Menino yesterday called the Rev. Gregory Groover Sr. pastor of the church and chairman of the Boston School Committee to offer help in the congregations fight with Hub-based OneUnited Bank.

The nations largest black-owned bank, OneUnited is threatening to foreclose on the church even though the company itself received $12 million in federal bailout funds in 2008.

OneUnited has scheduled a March 22 foreclosure auction of the church, some nearby storefronts and a Milton parcel that once served as the congregations parsonage.

Charles Street AMEs $1.1 million balloon mortgage recently came due, and the church says OneUnited hasnt responded to an offer to keep making monthly payments while the congregation tries to refinance.

The two sides have long been locked in a bitter lawsuit over a separate $3.6 million construction loan that the church took out in 2006 to build an adjacent community center.

Construction stalled after OneUnited halted payment on the last $800,000 and sued to get funds it had already disbursed back.

Church lawyer Ross Martin claims OneUnited is threatening to foreclose on the church itself as a negotiating tacticin the lawsuit a charge OneUnited denies.

It is not the practice of this bank to take steps to foreclose on a mortgage in the absence of a borrowers default, bank lawyer Robert Cooper said, although he added that OneUnited is sensitive to and appreciates the important roles that (institutions like the church) play.

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Mayor sides with church