Dear Ones,

As I shared with you earlier, our parish previously allowed a dental clinic to use a suite in the Tileston Building free of charge. Our parish had available space, and we were pleased to put it to good use. During its time as a guest on our property, our parish never charged rent, and we always covered utilities. Recently, our school has undergone significant growth. This year, we asked the dental clinic which had been operating in the Tileston Building to find a new location so that our growing school can utilize the much-needed space. While change is always difficult, I regret that this process has been especially so.

The clinic’s operators have repeatedly and consistently refused to cooperate on a timeline that would allow them to vacate our premises and move to a new location by the end of the calendar year.  The court has told us that the dental clinic is a guest and that our only remedy is to give the clinic a trespass notice.

We did not want to give a trespass notice. But the center has continued to refuse any move-out timeline and the only option left to us, unfortunately, was for us to accept the court’s conclusion that the clinic operators are trespassers. This past Friday, we followed the court’s holding and gave the clinic a trespass notice.

This entire process has not been done without regard to the clients of the clinic. We provided the clinic with as much notice as we reasonably believed we could so they could make plans to coordinate patient care. We have and will continue to refer people to Med North, a medical clinic just eight blocks away, that provides dental care and has offered to accept any patients affected by this situation.

As our parish goes through this season of change, I ask you to join me in praying for our parish, our school, the clinic, and those among us who need our charity.

Father T Davis