Diocesan News

Rising Costs Force Closure of Affordable Housing Effort in Queens

June 27, 2025
By
Sister Marie Mackey, CSJ (left) with two residents in 2024. She says that even though the Christus Vivit Community had to close, she still believes the housing program was a success. “We established a community of like-minded people that shared our Catholic values,” she adds. (Photos: Paula Katinas)

JAMAICA ESTATES — A program founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood to help young adults in New York City combat high housing costs has come to an end. 

Citing escalating expenses — estimated in excess of $150,000 a year — the sisters announced the closure of Christus Vivit Community, a dormitory-like home in a converted convent on the grounds of Immaculate Conception Church in Jamaica Estates. It offered housing, meals, and a prayerful atmosphere to young adults navigating their way through graduate school and work in the Big Apple. 

The Christus Vivit Community, which opened in 2021, officially closed on June 1. 

Sister Marie Mackey, CSJ, who established the house and lived with the residents as a dorm supervisor, building superintendent, and spiritual guide, said 27 young adults — including Americans and international graduate students — lived there at various times during the four years of its existence. 

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In the end, five residents remained and moved out a few weeks before the closure date.

The high costs, which included rent to the church, maintenance and repairs, combined with the relatively low rent the sisters charged the residents — between $1,000 and $1,200 a month — made for a difficult financial picture, Sister Marie said.

In addition, the building needs repairs, which would have meant an even heavier financial investment on the part of the sisters. Back in 2021, the sisters pumped $270,000 into repairing the old convent to establish Christus Vivit Community.

“It was a difficult decision to close but it was a decision that had to be made,” Sister Marie said. 

The sisters named the community Christus Vivit (Latin for “Christ is Alive”), in honor of the late Pope Francis’ call in 2019 for the Church to do a better job of serving young people.The idea behind Christus Vivit Community was to give graduate students and young professionals just getting started in their careers a safe, affordable place to live, Sister Marie explained. More than that, Christus Vivit Community was set up as a peaceful, prayerful place where residents could feel like they were part of a community of like-minded people, she noted.  

Each person in the house pitched in to perform chores such as washing dishes and sweeping the floors.

Everyone who lived at Christus Vivit had their own room, but everyone ate meals together. The space also had a chapel where residents often gathered for prayer.

One former resident, Nazanin Foroutan, said the closure is heartbreaking. 

“For so many of us, it wasn’t just a chapter in our lives. It was a sanctuary where we grew in faith and found unforgettable friends,” Foroutan said. “Living at the convent gave me a sense of peace, belonging and spiritual grounding that I never experienced before.”

Sister Marie said what she’ll miss most is the quiet time in the house, when she would sit and watch television and talk with the 20-somethings who resided there.

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“Everyone has their own unique story and challenges in life, and I think that it was mutually transformative to hang out in the living room and have conversations about many, many things, whether it was their faith, their job,” she said. “It also gave me a window into the reality of young adults.” 

The residents came to think of Sister Marie as a surrogate mother, said Christina Aguilar, who lived at the Christus Vivit Community for several months. 

“In thinking of Christus Vivit and the time I lived there, I think of Sister Marie and her welcoming hospitality,” Aguilar said. “And, of my years living in New York, Christus Vivit was the only place where I felt safe and comfortable. And the most wonderful thing was that we had a chapel to go to at every moment.”

The residents also participated in community service projects, like filling blessing bags to distribute to the homeless and sewing blankets to give to elderly residents at a local nursing home. 

Sister Marie said that while she is sad to see Christus Vivit shut its doors, she has no regrets. “It has really been an honor and a privilege to have lived with these young people for the past four years,” she said.