How many Catholics & Protestants share church buildings?

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So having successfully overcome the anxiety disorder that has kept me away from mass for a long time (WOO-HOO!)…I’ve decided to try and attend a mass at every parish in my diocese. (Which covers the whole state of VT.)

And last week, I finally tracked down a teeny-tiny parish not that far from my house…and discovered that both the Catholic parish (Our Lady of the Mountains) and the local United Church of Christ share the same church building! Really! The Catholic mass is on Saturday afternoons, and the Protestant service is on Sunday mornings.

I’ve never seen this sort of thing before! (Mind you, the mass was wonderful!) And I guess I can see the need for this, in such a small town. (The church had 9 pews on each side, which could each hold 4 people…so I’m talking SMALL here.)

And I just wondered…is this sort of thing very common? Sharing the building, I mean?
Tif
 
I would guess that such situations are more common in rural or resort areas that have small congregations. I believe it is also usual for military facilities to have a chapel used by all denominations. It can cost thousands of dollars just to get the permits to build a church now days, let alone actually build one, so finances definitely play a role.

I’ve seen more situations where a new Catholic parish worshiped in a protestant church or a new protestant community met in a Catholic church until such time as the young congregation could afford its own church. In such cases the tabernacle, (if there is one), is to be removed or somehow screened when the building is used by the protestant community.
 
It is very common for college campuses to have an interfaith chapel which is shared by different faith communities.
 
I know of a breakaway Anglican church in Florida who also lent their sanctuary to be used by an “independant” traditional Catholic congregation.
 
Yeah, I kinda figured that schools, hospitals, the military, etc., would be sharing buildings. (My parents were married in a military chapel.)

I was wondering more about regular parishes. I had never seen such a thing before. It was a little strange not having kneelers or a tabernacle. (Do you still have to genuflect when there’s no tabernacle?) But it seemed like such a vibrant little group…and I really liked the priest, lol.
Tif
 
There is a parish in my diocese that shares the building with an Episcopal parish. They have two separate tabernacles. The church building is in an inner-city neighbourhood that has declining membership in both the Catholic and the Episcopal parishes. They could not afford to maintain their own separate buildings, and the Episcopal parish’s building was in such disrepair that they could not even have services there. The Catholic Mass at 10 a.m., and the Episcopal service is at 12 p.m. on Sunday.
 
In a nearby city, there is a Catholic Church and a Jewish temple built right next to each other. Before the church was built, they held masses in the temple. Or maybe it was the other way around, it was more than 20 years ago. It was before I moved into the area, so I can’t give any specifics.

My church now holds it’s services in a high school cafeteria… awaiting a groundbreaking.

A building is just a building.
 
VAC said:
In a nearby city, there is a Catholic Church and a Jewish temple built right next to each other. Before the church was built, they held masses in the temple. Or maybe it was the other way around, it was more than 20 years ago. It was before I moved into the area, so I can’t give any specifics.
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The Brevard Jewish Community does Shabbat at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Brevard, NC.
 
TraderTif said:
Yeah, I kinda figured that schools, hospitals, the military, etc., would be sharing buildings. (My parents were married in a military chapel.)

I was wondering more about regular parishes. I had never seen such a thing before. It was a little strange not having kneelers or a tabernacle. (Do you still have to genuflect when there’s no tabernacle?) But it seemed like such a vibrant little group…and I really liked the priest, lol.
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Tif
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Genuflect to what? No reason to genuflect if there is no tabernacle.

Which makes for some interesting situations in some parishes. At All Saints in Manassas, VA you have to kneel to the right of the aisles (mostly, it’s kind of roundish) because the tabernacle has been moved to a side room.

At the Church of St. Therese in Chesapeake, VA you don’t have to kneel because there is no tabernacle at all.
 
I used to belong to a parish that had two Church buildings - one in town and another on the outskirts (mission). At the mission Church, there was only one Mass on Sundays. The Baptist congregation did not have a Church building yet so they had services after ours. Once a month, we all shared a potluck lunch in between Mass and their sevice. 👍
 
Paganus said:
Genuflect to what? No reason to genuflect if there is no tabernacle.
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Well that’s what I thought, lol. I just noticed everyone else genuflecting. (I think, just force of habit, you know…)

Tif
 
TraderTif said:
Well that’s what I thought, lol. I just noticed everyone else genuflecting. (I think, just force of habit, you know…)

Tif
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I don’t know if there’s any real harm in it. Of course, you still have to kneel (if you can) even without the kneelers. Our cry room has no kneelers, so it’s hardwood for me. On a recent business trip I was stuck with marble flooring. That really hurts! But their crucifix had a very realistic corpus, so it was a little tough to look at it and then wimp out over my poor little knees. Still, I’ll take wooden flooring any day.
 
In my home city of Galway, Ireland, the Anglican Church of Ireland church of St. Nicholas was used by the Augustinian community for about a year while their church was undergoing renovations. This was a very historic occasion as the church was built in the 1300’s, so it was originally a Catholic church but came under Protestant ownership at the Reformation. Therefore it was the first time in over four centuries that Mass was celebrated in that church. The church is the largest medieval parish church still in use in Ireland and tradition tells us that Columbus came to Galway and prayed in the church before his expedition to America. The Augustinians have now returned to their own church which in my opinion has been destroyed by the renovations (supposed Vatican II reorganisations etc…), but that’s another story! The sharing of the church undoubtedly strengthened ties between the two denominations and they continue the relationship with joint prayer services, harvest festivals etc. which is quite special really.
 
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