Archbishop Léonard: “Saint-Catherine is to remain a church”

Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, André-Joseph Léonard, has announced that the closure or desecration of Brussels’ Saint-Catherine Church is out of the question, reports brusselnieuws.be. The announcement cancels out a competition organised by the City of Brussels to come up with ideas for a repurposing of the building.

Five years ago the Saint-Catherine Church was in dire need of maintenance and other costly renovations. At the same time, there was a noticeable decrease in the number of parishioners. Finally, in 2011 the church closed.

In order to find a new purpose for the building, the City of Brussels last year launched an ideas competition. Out of a total of 41 entries, the City had narrowed it down to three possibilities: an egg-shaped workspace for Brussels media and theatre school RITS, an open community centre with lots of glass, or a combined space made up of conference rooms, museum and commercial areas. In all three cases there would be a small prayer room incorporated into the new building.

But the competition came to a halt when Archbishop Léonard took the file into his own hands, stating that he would do everything possible to preserve the emblematic church in the centre of Brussels. Léonard had already been consulting with the City on the project, to help determine the size of the prayer room.

Since the re-opening of the Saint-Catherine Church last September, The commitment of several young priests has already paid off, with an increasing buzz of activity around the church. The church is always open and there are daily liturgies, rosaries and confessions. From September there will also be weekly liturgies in Dutch.

On an average weeknight, about 30-40 people attend the mass, while on Sunday it attracts more than 300. For Léonard, it is clear: "The church remains open," he said in an interview with La Libre following his resignation this week.

Yvan Nobels, Chairman of the Kerkfabriek, considers it unlikely that anything will happen with the proposed projects. "It must be an economically viable idea, and each of the three projects would have to carry out substantial renovations while protecting the building both inside and outside.”

But Nobels realizes that Leonard’s successor may have a different view, and perhaps again bring up the idea of repurposing. "That would be a tragedy for the Brussels Catholic Church," he says.