The Closing Times
The Closing Times is a project I started several years ago, before the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID) pandemic. I had to bring it to a halt entirely, just as it started to gain traction.
My intention for this project is to document the impact on individuals - and, by extension, their friends, families, their towns, their villages - of the closure of local places of worship. As the United States begins to mirror western Europe’s rapidly declining levels of religious adherence, there is an opportunity afforded to documentarians to record these developments, and the ways in which they change both society and the individual within society.
This project was inspired by two events, the first being my own apostasy in my early 20s, after many years of questioning my faith, within a family of very devout followers of the Christian religion. I remember well the impact on me: a sense of loss, of anger, more than a dash of foolishness, and an enduring loneliness for some time after the full renunciation of religion.
The second is the reporting - by entities like PEW Research - a think tank based out of Washington, DC - of the rapidly declining numbers amongst us who identify as religious, and the rapidly rising numbers identifying as the “nones”, those with no religious affiliation. We are at a tipping point in religious practice worldwide, and I intend to document what I can of this. I will post here some of my own work, and I invite others to send me details of their experiences as their local mosque, synagogue, temple, or church enters its final phase, and perhaps share a photo or two that represents this moment in time.
Forestville Church of Christ, Forestville, CA - Destroyed by Fire November, 2019. i visited this location twice, probably six months apart, and besides very, very little ground clean-up work, no other repairs had been undertaken in that time.
Old Saint Hilary's, Tiburon, CA - a bit of cheat here as this church closed decades ago and was relocated closer to town. Here as a filler. :-)
Manada Hill Church, Daulphin, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania - God's own country - is also feeling the dearth of young, eager parishioners filling the pews. Much has changed in this respect in the nine years between my most recent visits..
Scar of The Cross. Shuttered Prayer Mission, Ingleside, San Francisco. Clicking on this image takes you to a piece published in Curbed SF in 2019, detailing how the property where this shuttered mission was located was worth quite the pretty penny. The photo published with the piece - which now appears to be missing from the article - showed the full front of the mission building, with the cross attached. When I got there some weeks later, it had been removed, leaving the scar you can see here.
Saint Paul's Presbyterian Church, 43rd Avenue, San Francisco, CA. Saint Paul's was open but struggling when I took this shot in 2021, and it appears it shuttered soon after. Other losses may have been the daycare on site, and the community garden. I loved this sign when I saw it on the building. It hinted at the chaos that might be going on inside.
Old Saint Mary's, California Street, San Francisco - This is a beautiful old building, and I took these shots because rumblings were being heard about its possible imminent closure, due to loss of critical funding as a result of COVID restrictions. That hasn't happened yet (May 2023), it seems, though the church has been forced to close many of its services, including a preschool and a book store.