MECHELEN, Belgium (AP) – The confessional boxes, in which generations of Belgians confessed their sins, stood stacked in a corner of the former Sacred Heart of Jesus church, proof that the stalls – like the Roman Catholic house of worship – served their purpose had survived.
The building is slated to remain closed for two years while a café and concert stage are added. The church is to be transformed into “a new cultural hotspot in the heart of Mechelen”, almost within earshot of where the Belgian archbishop lives. Just around the corner, a former Franciscan church is now a luxury hotel where music star Stromae spent his wedding night amidst the stained glass windows.
Across Europe, the continent that has nurtured Christianity for nearly two millennia, churches, monasteries and chapels stand empty and will increasingly fall into disrepair as faith and church attendance have declined over the past half century.
“It’s painful. I won’t hide it. On the other hand, going back to the past is not possible,” Monsignor said. Johan Bonny, Bishop of Antwerp, told the Associated Press. Something needs to be done, and now more and more of the once sacred buildings are being repurposed for everything from clothing stores to climbing walls to nightclubs.
It is a phenomenon seen across much of the Christian heartland of Europe, from Germany to Italy and many countries in between. Of particular note is Flanders in northern Belgium, home to some of the continent’s grandest cathedrals and the finest art that fills them. If only there were enough believers. A 2018 study by the PEW research group in Belgium showed that of the 83% of respondents who say they were raised Christian, only 55% still see themselves as such. Only 10% of Belgians still went to church regularly.
Today, visiting international choirs may find that their singers outnumber the congregation.
On average, each of the 300 cities in Flanders has about six churches and often not enough believers to fill a single one. Some become an eyesore in inner cities, and maintaining them is a constant drain on finances.
Mechelen, a city of 85,000 north of Brussels, is the Roman Catholic center of Belgium. There are two dozen churches, some of which are near St. Rumbold’s Cathedral with its bell tower, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mayor Bart Somers has been working for years to give many buildings a different purpose.
“In my town we have a brewery in a church, we have a hotel in a church, we have a cultural center in a church, we have a library in a church. So we have a lot of new targets for the churches,” said Somers, who as Flemish regional minister is also involved in the conversion of around 350 churches in the densely populated region of 6.7 million people.
A groundbreaking repurposing project in Belgium was Martin’s Patershof-Hotel in Mechelen, where the interior of the church was gutted to create rooms where the beds have headboards reminiscent of organ pipes, and a breakfast room next to the altar, above which are wafers in gold leaf hover. “We often hear that people come here to relax and enjoy the stillness of their former identities,” said hotel manager Emilie De Preter.
With its understated luxury, it offers contemplation and more.
“In hotels, people sleep in a church, maybe have sex in a church. So you could say: Is it ethically a good idea to have a hotel in a church? I don’t have that many concerns,” Somers said. “I’m more concerned with the actual architectural value.”
In nearby Brussels, nightclub Spirito has taken over a desecrated Anglican church and sports a drawing of a priest kissing a nun as its logo.
It’s not exactly what Bishop Bonny had in mind.
Even though the Roman Catholic religion is on the wane, there is still a sense of the sacred or a need for reflection in society, whether one is religious, agnostic, or atheist. And the aura of calm that emanates from a church is hard to beat. So for Bonny there is no reason to turn churches into supermarkets or discotheques.
“These are places of reflection. And isn’t that exactly what Church care should be about?” he said. Bonny feels that the most successful and gratifying conversion has been the transfer to other Christian communities, be it Coptic or Eastern European.
In his office, however, things can get boring just watching the procession of applicants for vacant Roman Catholic buildings. His heart is heavy when a real estate agent shows up. “You see opportunities. And you can’t believe how pious they can suddenly become when a financial opportunity presents itself. Suddenly they are more devout than a nun.”
Bonny knows the checkered history of Christianity over the centuries and thinks long-term, as the near future does not look rosy. “Every 300 years we had to start almost from scratch,” he said. “I’m sure something new will happen. But it takes time.”
At Martinspatershof there is even a condition that the church can reclaim the building if it is needed again, De Preter said. The hotel elements were erected on steel girders and could be completely dismantled and removed again. “If at some point the church wants the building back — which is probably very unlikely — that’s possible.”