In MA, St. Mary's Church is Transformed into Muslim High School

April 1, 2004

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/04/01/islamic_high_school_opens_in_renovated_catholic_church/

On April 1, 2004 The Boston Globe reported, "For nearly three quarters of a century, it served the Catholic community in Mansfield, first as a church and later as a place for religious education. Now, after sitting idle for nearly two decades, the former St. Mary's church is again filled with the voices of the faithful. But this time, they are the voices of Muslims. On March 5, Al-Noor Academy, the state's first Islamic high school, moved into the former St. Mary's building, relocating from the space it had been leasing at the Islamic Center of New England facility in Quincy. Al-Noor bought the Church Street building from a private owner... Robert Mond, a California native who was raised a Catholic and converted to Islam in 1988, is Al-Noor's principal. He said the academy hopes it can raise awareness about Islam, and show that despite the violent acts of a few fanatical Muslim militants, ''We really are people of peace.'"