{"id":12833,"date":"2023-06-21T00:35:28","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T00:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/?p=12833"},"modified":"2023-07-03T00:37:20","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T00:37:20","slug":"church-repurposing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/2023\/06\/21\/church-repurposing\/","title":{"rendered":"Church Repurposing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/churches-europe-religion-reuse-hotel-belgium-d137b114ea729fc514f704676b981237\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">from AP<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">In Europe\u2019s empty churches, prayer and confessions make way for drinking and dancing<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>BY\u00a0RAF CASERT<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Empty churches get second life in Belgium\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DVkh4HWuK6g?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>MECHELEN, Belgium (AP) \u2014 The confessionals where generations of Belgians admitted their sins stood stacked in a corner of what was once Sacred Heart Church, proof the stalls \u2014 as well as the Roman Catholic house of worship \u2014 had outlived their purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The building is to close down for two years while a cafe and concert stage are added, with plans to turn the church into \u201ca new cultural hot spot in the heart of Mechelen,\u201d almost within earshot of where Belgium\u2019s archbishop lives. Around the corner, a former Franciscan church is now a luxury hotel where music star Stromae spent his wedding night amid the stained-glass windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Across Europe, the continent that nurtured Christianity for most of two millennia, churches, convents and chapels stand empty and increasingly derelict as faith and church attendance shriveled over the past half century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[ <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/churches-europe-religion-reuse-hotel-belgium-d137b114ea729fc514f704676b981237\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">click to continue reading at AP<\/a> ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>from AP In Europe\u2019s empty churches, prayer and confessions make way for drinking and dancing BY\u00a0RAF CASERT MECHELEN, Belgium (AP) \u2014 The confessionals where generations of Belgians admitted their sins stood stacked in a corner of what was once Sacred Heart Church, proof the stalls \u2014 as well as the Roman Catholic house of worship [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12833\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}