French organisation tries to preserve the country’s Christian heritage
The French association Heritage Emergencies (Urgences Patrimoine) launched a wide operation named "Thousand and One Chapels" in order to save the threatened "small testimonies of the Catholic faith of France". It is looking for donours, and is also implementing the first few projects.
The Urgences Patrimoine Association was founded in 2014 as a response to the liquidation of subsequent churches and chapels that were not awarded the status of historic monuments.
The organization’s president is Aleksandra Sobczak, who mentions “an unimaginable number of chapels that have been desacralized or destroyed with general social indifference, and which are part of the essence of French heritage.”
There are more such initiatives, and they indicate a certain awakening of Catholics, but also of people who realize that chapels and churches are part of the identity of France, without which this country will fall.
However, this does not stop the redistribution of closed churches for other functions. In France, old religious buildings are being converted into seniors’ homes or cultural projects. A chapel in Nantes, for example, has already been transformed into a mushroom farm.
