France: Religious Buildings Abandoned?
Saint-Augustin church in Paris.
According to an article published on the French newspaper Le Figaro’s website on February 3, 2014, the churches of Paris are being abandoned by the public powers, in particular the Township of Paris. Since 1905, with the law of the separation of Church and State, the French capital is in charge of 96 religious buildings, including 9 temples, 2 synagogues and 85 churches. For the spokesman of the Observatory of Religious Patrimony, Maxime Cumunel, “in twelve years, the Township of Paris has let things go, preferring to finance the Jean Bouin stadium and the Gaîté Lyrique.” According to him, “it is all a question of priority when one is at the head of an eight billion euro budget.” Among the most beautiful churches that are in “dubious” condition are “jewels” like Saint-Augustin, the Madeleine, Saint-Eustache, Saint-Sulpice, Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Saint-Merri and Saint-Séverin.
The socialist mayor of Paris claimed in his defense, in the same article, that it was “particularly false to present the churches as being in a state of disrepair, even more so to speak of a lowering budget.”
Le Figaro pointed out that during the two socialist terms (2001-2014), 150 million euros have been consecrated to cultural buildings. Between 1990 and 2001, the right-wing township had launched a plan to safeguard the churches for several years on a similar budget, but this plan was never finished.
Besides the faithful, the parish churches are visited by 28 million tourists every year.
(sources: apic/lefigaro – DICI no.290 Feb. 14, 2014)
