A HUMBLE CHURCH WITHOUT A ROOF
The small church in Manacor had only been open on certain occasions prior to the roof caving in last week.
What do you do when the roof of a church collapses? Pray to God perhaps, though God may not be in a position to deliver the funds required to put a new roof on. Where would you pray anyway? Not in a church with a load of rubble, the consequence of the collapse.
This said, the small church in the hamlet of Son Negre in Manacor had only been open on certain occasions prior to the roof caving in last week. A wee place with 21 houses, three of which are by the church, there isn't a great call for services, which are of course available elsewhere in Manacor, such as at the splendid Nostra Senyora dels Dolors in the centre of Manacor and which provides a stark contrast in terms of splendour to the Son Negre church.
Matins on Christmas Eve, the Com
pline service for Sant Antoni in January, and that was pretty much the lot at the church. The local people could, one suppose, organise a benefit paella lunch or similar in order to raise funds, paella lunches being quite common for fundraising for works at various religious buildings in Mallorca. But as there aren't that many local people, unless they bus more in, the funds wouldn't get them very far. No one has actually put a cost on restoring the roof, but it will certainly be more than, say, a couple of hundred of euros from the sale of paella lunches.
As God and a benefit event would be of limited use, the inevitable question arises as to who actually pays. Strictly speaking, it's a matter for the diocese, the Mallorca Bishopric therefore. But it is already being said that this will be too much for the bishopric to deal with on its own. At Manacor town hall, one of the opposition parties, Vox, was swift in stating that an urgent meeting with the mayor, Miquel Oliver of Més, would be requested. The dust from the collapsed roof had in fact barely settled when Vox announced that they were totally in favour of restoration work starting as soon as possible. “It is a place of worship, which has a great deal of sentimental value to the people of Manacor. We don't believe that it can be lost in any way. We are not talking about ideology, but about an urgent need.”
The mere mention of ideology implies that ideology is at least being hinted at. Vox want the town hall administration to rapidly initiate procedures for work on the roof. Which the administration can and would almost certainly do, as it grants licences for such work. This doesn't mean that the town hall has to put its hand in its pockets and pay for the work, an implication of the Vox call being that they perhaps believe this should be the case. If not pay, then at least a challenge to an administration with a mayor from a party not naturally inclined to be sympathetic to the Church, unlike Vox.
The Council of Mallorca, where Vox are in coalition with the Partido Popular, has also been mentioned in respect of a reconstruction project. The Council has a heritage department, but - and here's where things start to get a tad complicated - the church isn't listed by the Council. It is in fact catalogued by the town hall, which afforded the church a certain level of protection by giving it the status of a listed building. However, even this doesn't mean that the town hall has a financial obligation. It is normally the case that the burden for the upkeep of listed buildings falls to the owners, which in this instance is the diocese.
There are questions as to the church's maintenance prior to the collapse. The rector of Manacor, Antoni Amorós, says that work was carried out on the roof four years ago. But residents dispute this, insisting that it has been decades since there was scaffolding or anything to suggest work. If there was four years ago, it was clearly insufficient.
Whatever work there may or may not have been, one comes back to the contrast with churches such as Nostra Senyora dels Dolors. Humble churches won't of course have the same attention as parish churches or, for example, Palma Cathedral. But while Son Negre's church may indeed be humble and may be barely used, it does form part not only of the religious heritage but also Mallorca's. Whether one is a believer or not (and I'm not), there are things worthy of maintaining, and churches are among them.
I have no idea what insurance there may have been, but insurance was certainly not enough when Lluc Sanctuary was damaged by a ‘cap de fibló' tornado twelve years ago. Fundraising was needed to meet the total cost of 1.1 million euros.
Maybe a benefactor will come forward; that would solve a lot of potential problems. Meantime, the town hall wants the Bishopric to ensure the church is covered. It needs protection or there will be degradation, and then some will start asking whether it is worth keeping.