Christian Scientists Selling Property

Fri Apr 14, 2006, 12:45 PM ET

The Christian Science Church said it plans to sell two homes where founder Mary Baker Eddy once lived, along with other properties in Boston and Washington.

It said it wants to better focus on its primary mission of healing through prayer.

Membership is down and one reason is the distraction of property management, said Nathan Talbot, chairman of the Christian Science board of directors.

The moves will "make certain that all of our activities and spending priorities are focused on the support ... of the healing work being done by all of our church members," Talbot said.

About 25 percent of the church's budget is spent on real-estate related costs, and the board hopes to reduce that, The Christian Science Monitor reported Friday. The church, known officially as Church of Christ, Scientist, does not disclose membership numbers.

Eddy founded the denomination 127 years ago on the principle of healing through prayer rather than medicine. Among the properties to be sold are her homes in Lynn and Newton.

Eddy lived in the Lynn house from 1875 until 1882, and wrote the denomination's textbook "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" there. She spent the last two years before her death in 1910 in the 35-room home in Newton's prestigious Chestnut Hill neighborhood. The church will retain historical items in the homes.

Church officials also plan to vacate and "seek revenue-producing uses" for a 26-story office tower and the Church Colonnade on its 14-acre campus in Boston. A seven-story building in Washington that houses the Monitor's capital bureau will be put up for sale.

Treasurer J. Edward Odegaard said the decision to sell the homes "was not driven by financial necessity."

Odegaard said the church would not comment on the expected sale prices. He said proceeds from the home sales would be placed in a fund to maintain the original Mother Church and extension, and another of Eddy's former homes.

Church executives told The Boston Globe the institution has assets of $600 million, two endowments totaling $150 million, and no debt. And after several years when expenses exceeded revenue, the church is operating in the black again in the first 10 months of the 2006 fiscal year, the Globe reported.

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