Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • August 24, 2011 Area Trinity Episcopal Church of Northern Bergen County, owner of the former Church of the Good Shepherd property at 497 Godwin Avenue in Midland Park and the small house next door, has sold both buildings to Saint Stephen’s Malankara Orthodox Church for approximately $1.1 million. Van Houten Parker LLC President Richard Van Houten Jr., the real estate broker who represented the sellers, reported that the 15,000 square foot church building is comprised of a sanctuary and a parish hall. Both sections of the church, which was built in 1963, have classrooms beneath them. Van Houten noted that the new Christian congregation cannot occupy the building until the parish hall has been renovated, since that section of the church was destroyed by a 2009 fire. Officials from St. Stephen’s are working with architects to develop renovation plans for the building, Van Houten said. “The challenge was finding a group that was financially qualified and could raise additional money to restore and renovate the parish hall,” Van Houten said of the sale. “The funds from the sale will be utilized for our mission and ministry,” Father Michael Allen, rector of Trinity Episco- Bergenfield congregation purchases church and house pal Church, told Villadom TIMES. “(The transaction) has created wonderful opportunities for the buyer and for Trinity Episcopal Church.” Bernie Milano, a warden of Trinity Episcopal Church, added, “I am thrilled that the Midland Park church and adjacent rental house will now house another congregation, St. Stephen’s Malankara Church.” The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd’s building in Midland Park was deconsecrated and secularized on Nov. 13, 2010. The congregation of the Godwin Avenue church, the fifth oldest in Midland Park, joined with the Church of the Epiphany in Allendale in 2010 to become Trinity Episcopal Church of Northern Bergen County in Allendale. Originally, plans called for the continued maintenance of Good Shepherd’s building for two years after the formation of Trinity Episcopal Church. The building in Midland Park would have been used for special functions and for the convenience of the nursery school and community groups that used the building. Those plans changed after the 2009 fire destroyed the original wing of the building that housed the meeting hall and the nursery school. St. Stephen’s has been based in Bergenfield, and has outgrown its current neigh- The former Church of the Good Shepherd building. borhood church. A real estate listing for St. Stephen’s Church states that the congregation’s current building, based at 52 East Johnson Street in Bergenfield, was built in 1900 and is approximately 4,000 square feet. According to the St. Stephen’s Church website, that congregation was formed in 1984 and held worship services at Clinton Avenue Reformed Church in Bergenfield before the purchase of the church on East Johnson Street. The St. Stephen’s website also notes that the church’s patron saint was one of seven men chosen to attend to the distribution of (continued on page 17)