And now one of Little Rome’s intellectual hubs is about to disappear, too.
Newman Bookstore, where top cardinals in town from the Vatican have brushed elbows with young seminarians and urbane laypeople since the store opened in 1955, is closing up shop in May.
In late January, the owners of Newman, and the building that houses it, posted a sign on the door saying that they got an offer from an unnamed renter they couldn’t refuse.
Ironically, the owners are the Paulist Fathers, a Catholic order whose core mission includes promoting Catholic books. A Paulist official said that the bookstore, which is on the Fourth Street campus of St. Paul’s College, is not breaking even and that the brothers cannot afford to subsidize it.
To some, the Brookland that the bookstore opened in decades ago was almost like one big, extended Catholic family. Catholics had more children then, and the migration of Catholic residents to Montgomery County had yet to take place. The vast, open spaces around spiritual spots like the Paulist seminary and St. Anselm’s Abbey added a feeling of seemingly God-inspired peace and quiet.
“When I came, you couldn’t walk down the streets without bumping into nuns and priests in black and white,” said Bob Malesky, a Brookland resident since the late 1960s. Now, of the Little Rome moniker, Malesky says, “I have to explain that nickname a lot to people these days, because it doesn’t seem as self-evident.”
Bells rang every quarter-hour at the Basilica and other spots, and devout Catholics might cross themselves at every block as they drove at midday, passing multiple Catholic institutions where daily Masses were underway.
Bells still ring — albeit at fewer locations — and multiple Masses are still held, but the Catholic stamp is fainter.
The Paulists had already sold a swath of their fields for the development of the smart-looking Chancellor’s Row condos. Catholic University agreed to tear down some housing for a $200 million town center-type project that will add hundreds of apartments, acres of retail, artists’ studios and a large plaza. Ads depict elegantly appointed lofts. And Catholics have gone from being the the vast majority of Brookland residents to perhaps 40 percent, estimated John Feeley Jr., 58, a teacher who grew up in Brookland and has written about its history.
“I thought there were only Catholics and Jews in the world until I was 12,” said Feeley, who is among those concerned about development pushing out Catholic institutions and disturbing Brookland’s meditative feeling. “There is some concern that the strong neighborhood feeling will dissipate, especially if all the housing is developed for people who are transient. It’s been so stable.”
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