What will happen with church buildings once the RCC is gone?

haulagebasher

Another thread got me thinking about the fate of the, many splendid, buildings which are currently in RCC ownership once the organisation either a) can no longer afford to keep them due to dwindling numbers b) is forced to sell them to pay for debts and compensation or c) simply impodes and ceases to exist as a significant body in Ireland? I could see a situation where the church would be forced to dispose of the bulk of it's property occuring in the next 30-40 years. Since many of the buildings are of great architectutral and historic significance I would be saddened to see them gutted and converted into appartments or someting. What do the godless heathens of A&A think will or should become of church property?

Seifer

http://www.thechurch.ie/

haulagebasher

Cool!! I've just become a regular church goer!!

Blowfish

The acoustics in them are quite often pretty good. Christchurch and some of the other larger ones could be converted into mini concert halls.

seamus

The church would never go bust en masse. It would likely break and fragment into various Catholic sects who would then purchase their own churches from the "old" catholic church. You can see from the building of the VC in Firhouse that there are plenty of small groups with cash at their disposal, so purchasing properties off the church could be done by committed congregations.

In other areas, the property may not have to be purchased at all and would instead be placed into the trust of the order who are currently running it; Blackrock College, etc.

As mentioned above, some churches would be turned into restaurants, pubs, civic buildings or even homes, if the church is in the right location.

Very significant buildings would likely be snapped up by the OPW and other similar organisations - places like Gouganbarra. The government would not be slow in marching in with protection orders on older churches to ensure that they weren't levelled.

However a lot of churches built in the last 50-100 years have little or no architectural or cultural significance, so would probably be abandoned or bought and bulldozed.

Ciaran0

There's an old church building in my town that was converted into a library. It's a really lovely building. Hopefully we'll end up with new concert venues, bars, museums, libraries, art galleries. I'd love to buy a church building to live in. I think that'd be awesome!

Ciaran0

Also, I'm thinking that an old cathedral or church would make an excellent setting for a casino. A really snazzy, vegasy kind of casino.

Solair

Christchurch in Cork City was turned into a very nice arts centre as part of the Triskel.

http://www.triskelart.com/

http://wearenoise.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/emperor1.jpg

Or, as a non-religious wedding venue :

http://triskelartscentre.ie/weddings-at-christchurch/

You get all the architectural pomp without the religious bits.

Nervous Wreck

I've so far seen churches converted into pubs/clubs, concert venues, tourist information centres and McDonalds. All of those things are infinitely more useful than actual churches. Amazing.

Turtwig

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

I've so far seen churches converted into pubs/clubs, concert venues, tourist information centres and McDonalds. All of those things are infinitely more useful than actual churches. Amazing.

Sorry but this doesn't compute : infinity times nothing is still nothing. :pac:

Blowfish

Jernal wrote: »

Sorry but this doesn't compute : infinity times nothing is still nothing. :pac:

He didn't say infinitely times more though, just infinitely more, so it could just be summation. 0 + lots = lots.

/pedant

Nervous Wreck

0+McDonalds=BigMac.

Turtwig

Blowfish wrote: »

He didn't say infinitely times more though, just infinitely more, so it could just be summation. 0 + lots = lots.

/pedant

Curse you and your use of logic.

GLaDOS

Anyone ever been to a gig in a converted church? What's the sound like?

robindch

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Anyone ever been to a gig in a converted church? What's the sound like?

Pretty much identical to what it's like in an unconverted church.

Blowfish

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Anyone ever been to a gig in a converted church? What's the sound like?

I've played in one myself and been to a few others with all performances being non-religious, despite the churches still being in active use at the time.

Sound was pretty decent, though all of the concerts were classical music. I'd imagine speakers might need a different acoustic space, though I'm no sound expert so couldn't tell you for sure.

68Murph68

There is a Tapas Bar in a Kerry Church

http://www.solysombra.ie

While some of the cathedrals and larger churches are undoubtedly architecturally significant, I'd imagine that there are a fair few that have little or no architectural worth.

Also in terms of converting them to alternative use I'd imagine that it would be a lot easier/cheaper to knock these rather than refurbishing them for alternative use.

I would imagine that the major issue facing the Catholic Church will be a lack of priests. Overall I think it will proceed as follows - lack of priests=> die-out of the regular mass-going generation => churches being closed/repurposed.

Nervous Wreck

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Anyone ever been to a gig in a converted church? What's the sound like?

I saw some big band in The Church and the sound was great despite the band being awful.

equivariant

robindch wrote: »

Pretty much identical to what it's like in an unconverted church.

Ah now;)

MrPudding

My plan is to buy one and turn it into a really tasteful multi-service venue. It will house a walk-in multi-storey abortionplex, free contraception handout centre and an IVF consultation clinic. I will only keep original features that are required for the new services that will be offered. So I will get rid of most of the interior, though I will need the alter for all the gay weddings I will also be doing.

There will also be a small cafe that won't serve fish on Fridays.

MrP

Sarky

Will the food be laced with drugs that turn people gay?

haulagebasher

Yeah. You could carry out the free abortions on the high altar. Imagine if Una Bean Mhic Mhathuna were to see this thread. She'd explode.

MrPudding

Sarky wrote: »

Will the food be laced with drugs that turn people gay?

Don't think I need to. I was just going to tell anyone that turned up that being gay is ok. Apparently that should be enough.

MrP

MagicMarker

Grand Designs would be set for the next 30 series anyway.

fitz0

MrPudding wrote: »

My plan is to buy one and turn it into a really tasteful multi-service venue. It will house a walk-in multi-storey abortionplex, free contraception handout centre and an IVF consultation clinic. I will only keep original features that are required for the new services that will be offered. So I will get rid of most of the interior, though I will need the alter for all the gay weddings I will also be doing.

There will also be a small cafe that won't serve fish on Fridays.

MrP

You can also give little boys dolls to play with. In the grand tradition of the building, start 'em young.

charlemont

There's probably as many practising Muslims where I live than practising Catholics, The area has a large but empty former Church of Ireland which I think should stay as a religious building, It would be a nice gesture to hand the building over to the Muslims in the area.