Montreal parish fights to demolish derelict church that’s become a TikTok destination
Global News
Tacked on the plywood fence keeping intruders away from the long-closed St-Eusèbe-de-Verceil church in Montreal, next to "Free Gaza" and anti-police graffiti, is a poem.
Tacked on the plywood fence keeping intruders away from the long-closed St-Eusèbe-de-Verceil church in Montreal, next to “Free Gaza” and anti-police graffiti, is a poem.
“This church is no more,” begins the unnamed poet. A few lines later, the handwritten verse concludes: “Why is the building moulding too?”
Officials at the once-stately Montreal Catholic church are asking the same question.
After years of neglect, a fire, hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines from the city and repeated break-ins from urban explorers and teens seeking TikTok fame, the church has taken the unusual step of taking the City of Montreal to court to have the building demolished.
With the number of parishioners dwindling and as provincial funding to restore religious buildings dries up, underused churches across Quebec are in a race to transform into something more relevant to the times before they slowly fall into pieces like St-Eusèbe-de-Verceil.
Keeping intruders out has become a huge effort for the parish fabrique — the legal entity that owns the church — and for 77-year-old priest Roger Dufresne.
“They use all kinds of tools to break the windows, break the doors, get inside,” he said. “For young people, it’s mostly to make videos, TikTok challenges.”
Inside the church, the floor of the cavernous sanctuary is covered with debris, bird droppings, beer cans and the mangled remnants of the church’s organ, which Dufresne said intruders ripped from the walls. They’ve also broken heads off statues and repeatedly climbed to the roof, trying to ring the church bell.
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