Islamic group seeks to buy former Catholic church

The Islamic Community Center of Illinois (ICCI) is raising funds to purchase the former Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church and its convent in the Jefferson Park neighbourhood of Chicago, with plans to convert the 1.6-acre property into the first Islamic college-preparatory high school on the city’s North Side.

The effort has prompted controversy among some Catholics, who see the proposed sale as a painful symbol of declining Church vitality and the loss of a building long associated with Catholic life in the area.