Chicago – Pilgrim Baptist Church, the South Side sanctuary that served as the birthplace of gospel music and the scene of a devastating 2006 fire, still wants the $1 million former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich promised.
Lawyers for what is now a shell of a church at 33rd and Indiana filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court today, asking a judge to order the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development to fork over the grant money it promised to help the church rebuild an administration building, which would offer myriad social services to the community.
For four years now, the church has been in a holding pattern with the state, awaiting the promised money.
The former governor first promised church officials $1 million in state money to rebuild just days after the January 2006 blaze.
A year later, the Chicago Sun-Times revealed the governor had failed to live up to that promise.
Instead, in what the governor dubbed a “bureaucratic mix-up,” the $1 million intended to help rebuild the church went to a clout-heavy private school that rented space from Pilgrim Baptist.
In 2008, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity signed off on a grant agreement that specified the funds were to be used to rebuild the burnt-out building next to the church that would be used as a community center for legal fairs, health clinics and other “non-secular” purposes- a stipulation designed to fend off church-state legal challenges.
“It’s such an odd situation that the old governor promised us a million dollars and gave it to someone else. It’s just crazy,” Michael Pope, part of the legal team representing the church, told the Sun-Times.
But there was some hope, he said, with the promise that the money would be flowing in. Church officials moved ahead and hired a contractor to demolish the remains of the administration building, clearing the way for a new one.
But Pilgrim, which paid $65,000 for the work, never saw a dime from the state.
The suit, citing an Illinois Auditor General’s report, alleges the state comptroller’s office decided to “hold the payment” of the grant to the church, pending the outcome of a 2008 lawsuit filed by atheist activist Rob Sherman who claimed the grant violated constitutional separation of church and state.
And in September, the state sent the church a “termination” letter, notifying them the grant had run out of money.
“I wish you well in your efforts to identify other means to support the rebuilding of the administration building of your church,” Warren Ribley, director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, wrote in the Sept. 4th, 2009 letter to the church.
A department spokeswoman did not offer an immediate comment on the case.
Lawyers for the church say they’ve hit a dead end in negotiations and are now looking to a judge to decide the case.
“Obviously nothing has worked out, the church has spent the money on that site and they haven’t gotten anything,” said John Litwinski, another attorney in the case.
His legal partner, Pope, added: “This poor church. A contractor burns it down. The contractor didn’t have much insurance. The million coming from the state would sure be a lot more than we’ve gotten so far.”
The million, too, would have paid for rebuilding the administration building, he said.
Originally reported by FOX News Chicago. Read the original article here.