Alan Hustak: Quebec Fears Potential Loss Of Heritage Buildings
Walk along any street in Montreal and you can't help but be confounded by the number of churches, convents, chapels, monasteries, shrines and other religious properties in need of repair.
Faced with declining congregations and stuck with parishes on shaky financial ground, the Quebec government is looking for creative ways to preserve what is left of the province's religious heritage and at the same time deal with the overwhelming number of aging buildings that religious denominations themselves can no longer afford to maintain.
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Last week, the National Assembly's standing committee on culture under the direction of MNA Bernard Brodeur held two days of public hearings in Montreal.
"Religious movable property and works of art are also in jeopardy," Brodeur said. "It's urgent that we act now to find a long-term solution, because even five or 10 years from now it may be too late."
Of 246 Roman Catholic parishes in the diocese of Montreal, for example, the commission was told that 123 can no longer afford to remain open. In some cases, heating and electricity bills alone average about $125,000 a year in huge churches that are supported each Sunday by fewer than 100 active parishioners.
Most of them are in low-income neighbourhoods and they include such impressive landmarks as St. Jean Baptiste in Plateau Mont Royal and St. Nom de Jesus in Hochelaga.
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In its brief, the Assembly of Quebec Bishops said amending the act for the sake of religious heritage didn't appear useful.
"It is obvious that religious heritage is a treasure for all Quebec society," the bishops stated in their brief, "even if the heritage is collective, ownership of church treasures and properties remains private, belonging to well-identified owners, be they the fabriques or individual religious congregations."
Montreal's Roman Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, who has the most church real-estate to manage, suggested a moratorium on the construction of new public buildings until the government can determine how best to recycle existing religious properties.
"Couldn't the new administrative offices for the Cirque de Soleil have been housed in a church?" he asked.
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One of the most radical solutions pitched to the committee came from architectural historian Luc Noppen, who called on the government to expropriate cathedrals, basilicas and major churches and to turn the smaller, uneconomical properties over to the municipalities to dispose of as they see fit.
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Quebec's religious heritage buildings by denomination
Roman Catholic 2,023
Anglican 238
United 181
Baptist 78
Presbyterian 49
Pentecostal 48
Evangelical 43
Orthodox 32
Faced with declining congregations and stuck with parishes on shaky financial ground, the Quebec government is looking for creative ways to preserve what is left of the province's religious heritage and at the same time deal with the overwhelming number of aging buildings that religious denominations themselves can no longer afford to maintain.
...
Last week, the National Assembly's standing committee on culture under the direction of MNA Bernard Brodeur held two days of public hearings in Montreal.
"Religious movable property and works of art are also in jeopardy," Brodeur said. "It's urgent that we act now to find a long-term solution, because even five or 10 years from now it may be too late."
Of 246 Roman Catholic parishes in the diocese of Montreal, for example, the commission was told that 123 can no longer afford to remain open. In some cases, heating and electricity bills alone average about $125,000 a year in huge churches that are supported each Sunday by fewer than 100 active parishioners.
Most of them are in low-income neighbourhoods and they include such impressive landmarks as St. Jean Baptiste in Plateau Mont Royal and St. Nom de Jesus in Hochelaga.
...
In its brief, the Assembly of Quebec Bishops said amending the act for the sake of religious heritage didn't appear useful.
"It is obvious that religious heritage is a treasure for all Quebec society," the bishops stated in their brief, "even if the heritage is collective, ownership of church treasures and properties remains private, belonging to well-identified owners, be they the fabriques or individual religious congregations."
Montreal's Roman Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, who has the most church real-estate to manage, suggested a moratorium on the construction of new public buildings until the government can determine how best to recycle existing religious properties.
"Couldn't the new administrative offices for the Cirque de Soleil have been housed in a church?" he asked.
...
One of the most radical solutions pitched to the committee came from architectural historian Luc Noppen, who called on the government to expropriate cathedrals, basilicas and major churches and to turn the smaller, uneconomical properties over to the municipalities to dispose of as they see fit.
...
Quebec's religious heritage buildings by denomination
Roman Catholic 2,023
Anglican 238
United 181
Baptist 78
Presbyterian 49
Pentecostal 48
Evangelical 43
Orthodox 32