While we understand how and why the prevailing belief that conversion for secular or non-Catholic use is the best way to preserve Catholic churches came to be, we know there is another, better method of caring for them. The St. Stephen Protomartyr Project is solely dedicated to ensuring that Catholic church buildings are retained as Catholic sacred spaces. We are quite aware that when a Catholic Church faces closure, one strain or another has brought on this situation. Often a congregation is greatly reduced from the days when worshipers packed the pews for multiple weekend masses. We know the traditional sources of funding to maintain a struggling church (weekly collections, local fundraising activities, etc.) may be non-existent. To save these churches, funding for their retention must come from another source, which is where the St. Stephen Protomartyr Project comes into play.
Instead of relying upon the weekly donations of only the congregation present in the pews, an alternative source of financial support must be found to allow a church facing these challenges to continue to exist. In some nations, state funding can be called upon. In those cases where it can’t (such as in the United States,) it is up to Catholics to personally step forward and provide the funding necessary to retain Catholic churches as Catholic sacred spaces.
The St. Stephen Protomartyr Project focuses especially on Roman Catholic churches of an advanced age or which are important to the faith for another reason (such as being the site of an event important in the development of Catholicism, the life of a saint or beatified person, or for some other reason that the board of directors of the project deems it important for us to become involved, such as the presence of sacred art within the church which we feel to be significant.) When the St. Stephen Protomartyr Project chooses to become involved in the case of a threatened Catholic church (one which press reports or other information indicates is in danger of permanent closure,) we will write to the leader of the entity which owns the church, most often the ordinary (bishop or archbishop) of the diocese or archdiocese in which it is located. After briefly explaining our mission, we ask the ordinary to open a dialogue with us aimed at allowing us to assume responsibility for the church in question so that it can remain a Roman Catholic sacred space and so that he can be relieved of the responsibility for its care.
Concurrently with our reaching out to local Catholic leaders, we may also make contact with any Catholics who have expressed an interest in avoiding the loss of the church. If church leaders respond favorably to our initial request for dialogue, discussions concerning the future of the church are then undertaken between the project and officials of the entity which owns the threatened church with the aim of reaching an agreement which allows the church to remain a Roman Catholic sacred space and frees it from the danger of the conditions which precipitated discussion of its closure. Such an agreement may take the form of the project leasing the church from the diocese, archdiocese or religious congregation in question and assuming responsibility for all aspects of the church’s maintenance and care, or it may involve the conveyance of the civil title for the church to the project, with the St. Stephen Protomartyr Project gaining canonical recognition within the diocese or archdiocese in question as an entity which can validly own one or more churches. Under either scenario, the St. Stephen Protomartyr Project will following its assumption of care for the church begin making any repairs necessary to it in order that it may be restored as completely as possible to pristine condition. At no time will the St. Stephen Protomartyr Project undertake liturgical activity in any church placed in our care without the express permission of the bishop or archbishop under whose jurisdiction it lies.
When possible, the Project prefers to partner with individuals in the local area who have an attachment to the church in question, to include them in efforts to care for and maintain the church. As a nonprofit corporation, contributions to which are tax deductible in the United States under Chapter 501 section C3 of the tax code, the St. Stephen Protomartyr Project can directly take custody of unneeded Catholic churches in order that they can continue to be maintained as Roman Catholic sacred spaces and raise the funds necessary for their care. Following its assumption of care for a church, the St. Stephen Protomartyr Project will seek to identify those who attended the church at some point in the past but no longer attend, those who have moved away, and the descendants of former parishioners scattered about the country and the world. We work to identify these individuals in order that they can be contacted and asked to help ensure the funds are present to guarantee the church will remain a Catholic sacred space and also to increase the number of people personally invested in the church’s continued existence. An instruction issued by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy in 2013 clearly states that all sources of funding which could support the upkeep of a church must be found lacking prior to a determination that financial hardship must force a church to close permanently. By financially providing for a church’s care, the grounds which might justify its permanent closure can be eliminated.