Citizens rise up to defend chapel built by their ancestors

The sale of Notre-Dame du Fer- Our Lady of Iron by the Diocese of Nancy does not pass

Due to a lack of funds, the Diocese of Nancy has decided to put the Notre-Dame du Fer chapel in the town of Chaligny up for sale for 100,000 euros. The problem is that the chapel was built in 1957 by miners and volunteer steelworkers, who then offered it to the diocese. The inhabitants refuse to allow the diocese to benefit from a work done by their ancestors, and refuse to allow the heritage to be sold off.

No to the sale of our chapel

Workers, protect your inheritance

The sweat of the donors is not negotiable

Only to emphasise that the Diocese is playing games in an ethical vacuum

"The town hall of Chaligny is also up in arms against putting the place of worship up for sale," France Bleu reports. "It's hard to accept that it should be resold when it was built voluntarily by the Chaligny people, I have a problem with that," confided André Bagard, the mayor of the town. But no choice, says the Church, the parish no longer has the means to maintain the chapel. "With the decline in the number of churchgoers and resources, it is becoming difficult to maintain it, and Chaligny already has another church," insists Father Jean-Michaël Munier, Vicar General of the diocese of Nancy and Toul.

The town council would like to buy it back, but the price offered by the bishopric remains very high: "Faced with the intransigence of the Diocese, the town council is proposing to buy back the chapel to make it a cultural venue. The Church is prepared to sell it for 58,000 euros, a sum too high for the town hall. "We don't have the money, we have to find a compromise with a lower and reasonable price", says André Bagard. A meeting is due to take place in June between the mayor and the Vicar General to try to find an agreement.

Source

The main church before and after the Council.