Historic Churches in Venice Shutting Down for Lack of Churchgoers
Churches in Venice, Italy are shutting down as fewer and fewer churchgoers attend mass each year.
Their grand architectures and collection of artifacts and religious art have not helped the churches in stemming the outflow of parishioners.
The decline of church attendance has been blamed on Venice's decreasing population. In 2009, The Telegraph reported that the number of people who lived in the city went down below the 60,000 mark, which is almost a third of Venice's population before the Second World War.
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While tourism continued to boom in the historic and scenic city, job opportunities are limited to those who have been associated with the city's canals and hotels.
As people continue to leave Venice to look for job opportunities elsewhere, parish churches, which once flourished, are finding their pews almost empty.
In the Venetian island of Le Vignole, Santa Maria Assunta parish priest Mario Sgorlon now only hold mass on a "per request basis" if a large enough congregation show up. It is not uncommon anymore to read a sign outside the church saying, "Mass is cancelled because of a lack of parishioners."
Father Sgorlon said it is worse during winter.
"Nobody turns up in the winter, because it is cold and damp and everyone stays at home," he said. "One time there were just three of us."
Despite this challenge, he holds the Liturgy of the Word once a month in the parish church.
But because of the drop in the number of church attendees, the city now has more churches than what it needs. The diocese of Venice is now seriously considering converting some of its churches into museums and welfare centers.
Finances gathered from these converted churches can then be used to fund the maintenance of these churches as support from the state is very minimal.
Meanwhile, other priests remain firm in their stand amid the rising secularism in the city
Torcello parish priest Monsignor Ettore Fornezza told Corriere della Sera newspaper that he will remain in his post and celebrate the Liturgy of the Word whenever he can.
"As long as I have a single parishioner, I will celebrate Mass," he said.
