Cleveland balks at church stained-glass removal

CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland’s city council is balking at a move to allow the Roman Catholic diocese to remove stained-glass windows from closed churches.

The council delayed a vote Monday on a measure allowing the windows to be removed without prior approval of the Cleveland Landmarks Commission.

At least a dozen closed churches have landmark status.

Diocese spokesman Robert Tayek tells The Plain Dealer newspaper that the stained-glass windows are religious artifacts and the church has the right to take them for use in other churches.

The eight-county diocese has closed or merged 50 parishes, blaming declining numbers of priests, parishioners and finances.