“Pews, tabernacle and Co.” – what to do with Catholic Art?

(Above: art warehouse for the diocese of Erfurt. This art warehouse currently is the storage center for around 2,000 works of art of the diocese of Erfurt, Germany, which either don’t have a place anymore in their parishes or where the churches in which they were located have been deconsacrated (photo 11.29.2022 © epd-bild/Steve Bauerschmidt )

Since the year 2000, the number of churches deconsecrated or torn down in certain German dioceses has reached two or even three figures. Author Gabriele Höfling asks what is to be done with, as she puts it, “pews, tabernacle and Co.”? Of course, according to this article, the art of the 19th century no longer accords with modern tastes. The same, however, seems to be true of the “art of the Council” dating to the 1960’s and 1970’s (when Catholic art was still being produced in significant quantities).

In some cases the artworks can be moved to another building in the same parish or even to a “private church.” Martina Außermeier of the Archdiocese of Munich art office reports (“with pride”) that: “we were just able to furnish a newly constructed private neo-gathic chapel more or lesss completely with used litugical objects and church furnishings.” Other art can be “recycled,” given – often free of charge – to new churches that are still being built in Eastern Europe or Africa.

Yet sometimes more imagination is required. Wooden objects can be burned in the paschal fire. Others can be placed in a coffin as “grave goods” (like in early medieval times): “such as a lectionary for a deceased reader.” Others are “upcycled.” Deconsecrated stone altars have been made into beautiful gravestones or headstones. A baptismal font has been refashioned as a fountain in a cemetary. Although “reverential, ” this takes a lot of time and expense and is not generally feasible. It seems that the dump may be the fate of art that cannot find another home or use.

The German dioceses are developing a central database of sacred objects. At this time it largely contains links to the relevant diocesan offices.

SOURCE: Höfling, Gabriele, “Von Upcycling bis Grabbeigabe: Was mit altem Kircheninventar passiert,” katholisch.de ( 3/28/2023)

Compare the same situation and function in the New York Archdiocese: Catholic “relics”