On April 7, the death knell was sounded for the Saint-Blaise church in Tourcoing (59), in the Hauts-de-France. The last Mass of the day was celebrated in a building built in 1932 that belongs to the Diocese of Lille. The church will be put up for sale by the diocese. Its distinctive brick architecture was familiar to the residents, which explains their great consternation. Why sell this church? The declining number of parishioners and the work required to maintain it led to this decision. “The diocese can no longer support this type of work», summarizes Father Vandemoortele k Voice of the North before adding: “We avoid desacralization as much as possible, but when we are faced with financial difficulties, we cannot do otherwise.“. He sees this department as “death“.
The price of the church and presbytery is not yet known, as well as the date the church will be put up for sale. “Once a church has been desecrated, it is no longer sacred at all», summarizes diocesan treasurer Jean-François Delaby. The price will therefore be negotiable as for classic real estate. The furniture is about to be moved and studies will be carried out to assess the price of the church. The altarpiece will be reclaimed by the Sacred Art Commission to be placed in a church that needs it. “This can be considered a failure of our pastoral ministry, a loss of our Christian values. We can also see positive signs», confides the dean of Tourcoing, Father Maurin Van Meenen, during his homily, according to Actu.fr.
Sorrow of believers
Rather than regret the fate of this deconsecrated church, which will be put up for sale, the dean prefers to focus on the new life of the building, which will open a new page in its history. What will become of the building? Maybe a nursery if rumors are to be believed. However, his fate is not yet sealed. “Desacralizations remind us that faith is not only experienced in places of worship, but in our daily lives. God does not allow himself to be closed in a building“, he adds. But residents do not see the closing of the church in the same light: “I lived there my profession of faith, my wedding in 1979, the funerals of my parents, in-laws, the communion of my children”, complains Pascale, faithful.
This is not the first time the future of the church has been called into question, but this time it is definitive. In 1980, the church was planned to be destroyed when a nearby highway was created. It’s time to say goodbye to the church. Only her name survives with that of the neighboring school, which is also called Saint-Blaise.