Swiss Review 6/2018

Swiss Review / November 2018 / No.6 6 Focus DÖLF BARBEN How simple things used to be in Swit- zerland. Everyone was either Catho- lic or Reformed. Everyone paid church taxes. Almost everyone attended church services. Up until the 1970s. And today? Only six out of ten inhab- itants are still Catholic or Reformed. The free churches have increased in popularity. Every twentieth person professes Islam. And those with no re- ligious affiliation, who have turned their backs on the once powerful na- tional churches – especially the Re- formed Church – now account for 25% of the population. Things are particularly tough for the parishes in the large, traditionally Reformed cities. In the city of Bern, for example, the number of Reformed Church members has shrunk by over a third in the last 30 years alone, from around 84,000 to just under 52,000. But the churches and other church properties are still the same size. Maintenance costs are as high as ever. In Bern, the Reformed Church has long since sounded the alarm: if noth- ing changes, it was said five years ago, the equity capital would be used up within a very short time and the church would be declared bankrupt. Since then the talk has been about how the church should cut its coat ac- cording to its cloth. The solution pro- posed is that it should invest in peo- ple rather than in walls – in other words, spend money on establishing a church community that impresses people through its work rather than preserving impressive but barely used buildings. The first step is obvi- ous: the 12 parishes in Bern are tasked with halving their building expenses. Surrender the church? But churches, parish houses and rec- tories cannot be replaced as easily as clothes. Especially not the churches. Beatrice Tobler and Franziska Huber, the president and vice-president of the Paulus parish, know this only too well. One of them is a lawyer, the other a theologian. The Paulus Church, which was consecrated in 1905, is not just any place of worship. It is regarded as one of the most im- portant Art Nouveau churches in Switzerland. “We are sitting in a na- tional monument with a high conser- vation value,” says Beatrice Tobler, “this church is a complete work of art”. Nevertheless, there is a proposal to give up the church and move the pa- rishioners to another church in the city. Give up this church? “No”, the twowomen say in unison. Church life also needs “large and dignified rooms”. They have other ideas. They are looking for a forward strategy. Johannes Stückelberger’s work- place is not far from the Paulus Church. The art historian is a lecturer at the Faculty of Theology of the Uni- versity of Bern and is regarded as the expert for all things regarding the conversion of churches. He is the one who established the Swiss Church Construction Day, which arouses great interest. Strictly speaking, it was originally a Church Dismantling Day, since the first conferences in 2015 and 2017 focused on the question of how churches can be converted. Even the third meeting in 2019 will not be able to avoid the question. “This is an issue that is currently topical in Swit- zerland,” says Stückelberger. “A strongly increasing trend” But it hasn’t been for long, it must be said. In countries such as the Nether- lands, Germany and Great Britain it has been virulent for decades. In Swit- zerland, the trend to convert was ini- tially curbed by the complex financ- ing of the national churches, which was interlockedwith the state. Never- theless, in the last 25 years alone around 200 churches, chapels and monasteries have been used for other purposes. This is shown in Stückel- berger’s database. But not every con- version project ismade public. The ex- pert therefore assumes that in the meantime “many more buildings are involved and there is a strongly in- creasing trend”. So, what are good ideas for dealing with surplus churches and what are bad ones? Demolition, sale, renting out and extended use: according to Stückelberger, these are the possibil- ities at the moment. So far, the demo- lition of Catholic or Reformed churches remains an exception though. Buildings from the post-war era that are in need of renovation and God only knows what will happen to all the surplus churches For hundreds of churches in Switzerland the question is whether they should be demolished, sold, rented out or put to a completely different use. These surplus churches are tangible proof of the rapid change in Switzerland’s religious landscape. And this raises new questions: is the church in the village centre just a place of worship, or something more? Church expert Jo- hannes Stückelberg- er: “Churches must open themselves up to a non-religious so- ciety and show that they are not giving up on themselves”. Photo: Werner Rolli