The New York Times has an engaging piece about the decline of religion in Quebec, and the repurposing of defunct churches.
The radical makeovers of Quebec churches reflect the drastic decline of the Catholic Church in a majority-Catholic Canadian province, where 95 percent of the population went to Mass in the 1950s but only 5 percent do so today.
The sharp drop in church attendance, coupled with spiraling maintenance costs, has made heritage groups, architects and the church itself think creatively to conserve historic buildings at risk of being shuttered or demolished.
As of April, 547 churches in Quebec had been closed, sold or transformed, according to the Québec Religious Heritage Council.
Little theater, comedy clubs, community centers, boutiques … all better uses than striving to convince people that they’re no damn good. Can’t happen fast enough, so far as I’m concerned.