After months of ironing out details, St. Brigid's Church was putting the finishing touches on a lease agreement that would have allowed SCO Family of Services (SCO) the ability to operate Westbrook Preparatory School, New York State's first co-ed residential school for adolescents ages 14-21 with high-functioning autism/Asperger's Syndrome, out of the parish's vacant convent. Community meetings were held, plans were revised and, in August, the Westbury Village Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved the agency's request for a special use variance.

But late last month Glen Cove-based SCO, a nonprofit Catholic yet non-sectarian human services agency, notified the parish that they would most likely not be leasing the convent after all. According to SCO's executive director Bob McMahon, property currently owned by the agency and therefore rent-free recently became available. The Suffolk County site, he said, would enable the agency to accommodate 42 students - rather than 24 as proposed for the convent on St. Brigid's Lane-and hosts such onsite commodities as science labs, a gym, an outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts and athletic fields, among others.

While McMahon is confident the Suffolk site will enable the agency to provide more students with more services, he is disappointed that Westbury will not be the host community. "We really appreciated how welcoming people were. A lot of people would have not only accepted us, but went out of their way to help. We were positively overwhelmed," said McMahon. "Westbury is a unique community and there are not many like it. A big negative to us not going there is that we will not have that kind of community surrounding us."

Since SCO has not received final approval from New York State for the abovementioned site, the agency has not withdrawn its proposal before Westbury Village. McMahon, however, is confident the agency will get the green light and has encouraged the parish to seek another tenant.

As a result, the parish is back to square one in terms of finding a suitable tenant to reduce the financial burden St. Brigid's has faced since the Nassau County Police Department moved its satellite office out of the convent in February 2007. Since then, St. Brigid's has lost over $250,000 in rental income it relies on to support its various ministry programs; had SCO leased the property, the parish would have been guaranteed $216,000 a year in rent.

To Father Ralph Sommer, pastor of St. Brigid's, the agency's decision not to lease the convent is "both wonderful and disappointing." While he is happy that the agency, in relocating the school, will be able to provide services to more children in need, the parish itself is once again faced with the challenge of finding a suitable tenant.

"We're very disappointed that we can't welcome the children into our community," the pastor said. "We're also left with the challenge of an empty building. We're seeking tenants suitable for our neighborhood and I invite the community to reach out to those who might benefit from using our building. An abandoned building is not good for the neighborhood."

Father Ralph urges residents to spread the word that the convent, an 18,000-square foot building, is available_. Prospective tenants can obtain information online at http://www.saintbrigid.net/conrent/convent.html.