Abandoned Religious Art of Europe finding new homes in Latin America, Africa and Asia
RUETERS
By Tom Heneghan
NETHERLANDS - In the Netherlands, where faith has faded more dramatically than in many other parts of Europe, two churches close down on average every week. The sacred art left over is piling up in cellars and storerooms around the country. Some congregations elsewhere have the opposite problem. New Catholic and Protestant churches are springing up in Latin America, Africa and Asia, and pastors in eastern Europe are seeking to refurbish churches used for decades as warehouses or factories. A pioneering network of Dutch religious art experts, concerned by the accumulation of objects with both artistic and spiritual significance, has been struggling to match some of their supply to this new demand. [link]
By Tom Heneghan
 |
| Eugene van Deutekom, diocesan archivist and historian for the Catholic diocese examines the sacred objects from closed churches |
