Hollowed Ground: Reconstructing an Abandoned Catholic Space Through a Queer Lens

Abstract

In the United States, the share of Americans who identify as Catholic has been on the decline over the last fifty years. Many young people today cite differing views on gender and sexuality from organized religion as their reason for leaving. The continued alienation of queer and female populations, further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to the closing of churches, monasteries, and convents across the country, as well as other vital services often provided by organized religion such as schools and hospitals. Catholicism, as a religion with a deep-rooted history in architecture and the arts, inevitably leaves behind many historical buildings imbued with tradition vacant though difficult to repurpose. There remains a certain reverence for sites of worship – as such, any reuse of a spiritual building forces us to question what constitutes a sacred space, and for how long sacrosanct veneration should be upheld. Despite the socially imposed moral odds, can queer and feminist theory be used to reclaim and recreate spiritual spaces for new communities? Using a former Catholic Church in Hell’s Kitchen, New York, a neighborhood that presently draws in the queer community, this thesis first explores the history of the neighborhood’s demographics to gain clues on how different groups have used and repurposed the same space. Through deconstructing and reevaluating the spiritual space of a Catholic church this thesis offers a new, queer understanding of spaces of worship. By re-using, and existing in the shell of organized religion’s past this project provides a broader understanding of spirituality and community.