With St. Hedwig in Chester no longer a church, there is a proposal to turn some of the former parish buildings in the vicinity of the church building into multifamily housing, writes Sean Collins Walsh for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The parish had served Chester’s Polish Catholic community for 121 years, but more recently ran into financial difficulties. Last week, Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson J. Perez issued a decree declaring the property was no longer a Roman Catholic church, effective Jan. 1, 2026.
A property across the street from the church was sold by the Archdiocese last January to a group of real estate investors. It included a former school, rectory, and convent.
Mario Rivello, a multifamily housing developer, is taking a look at that property.
“We’re very active in that city, and this may be a property that we further develop based on approval process,” Rivello said in an interview Sunday.
The goal is to convert the buildings into multifamily housing, which is “our expertise,” Rivello said. There are no plans to demolish the buildings.
“We’d rather not,” Rivello said. “The archdiocese — the bones of the buildings that they sell — usually these properties are in good condition or they’re well-built.”
Read more about the St. Hedwig church properties in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
