Renewed purpose: Shrinking congregations lead to reuse of historic church buildings

On the recent St. Patrick’s Day, the Maine Irish Heritage Center celebrated with music, talks and a getaway sweepstakes. Appropriately, the center is located in a centerpiece of the Irish diaspora’s heritage. The former St. Dominic Church, at 34 Gray St. in Portland’s West End, has been in multi-year renovations since the nonprofit incorporated in 2002 and acquired the property for $1 from the city. “It’s a never-ending, infinite amount of work,” says Eric Brown, the center’s executive director. The use of church buildings for other purposes isn’t new. The topic is relevant for many congregations around the state, says the Rev. Jane Field, executive director of the Maine Council of Churches in Portland. The availability of church buildings is largely due to shrinking congregations. “Declining memberships and attendance at worship means you don’t need these giant buildings,” Field says. Church sale proceeds can allow a congregation, which might have consolidated or moved, to continue its ministry in other ways, she says. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that the life in those congregations is less vital or vibrant,” she says. “It just looks different now than it did 50 or 100 years ago.” 200-year history Today, housing the Maine Irish Heritage Center, St. Dominic was the first Catholic Church in Portland, established in the 1820s in response to a burgeoning population of Irish Catholic immigrants. By the 1880s, with almost 4,000 parishioners, a larger building was needed. The cornerstone for the present building was laid in 1888. In the late 1990s, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland consolidated St. Dominic Parish and Sacred Heart Parish, also in Portland, and gifted St. Dominic to the city. A proposal from the Irish American Club of Maine and legacy parishioners included turning over the St. Dominic’s parochial school for low-income housing and creating the Maine Irish Heritage Center. Today, the center’s programming includes traditional Irish performances and shared immigrant experience. Its success was recently illustrated when over 700 people, its largest showing, visited on just one day. Blown-out window Since 2020, restoration has included the grand entry doors, granite stairway system and the final piece of an internal accessibility project. For the first time, the center recently installed exterior signage. Projects transforming the former church into a vibrant community center are funded in part by Government of Ireland’s Emigrant Support Programme and the city of Portland. Additional funding has included $3 million in congressionally designated funding awarded in 2002 to restore and renovate the building envelope. Programming continues to evolve. Last year, the center started a storytelling series with local restaurants. Discussions are underway regarding potential acoustic and seating upgrades for the sanctuary and event hall. “There are challenges, especially in the sanctuary space, with leaning into a state-of-the-art performing arts space, the way other churches have,” notes Brown. “We’re discussing whether that’s a direction we should go.” Generally, the building is in good shape — although it has a tendency to make its needs known. About 20 years ago, the 4,000-pound bell, consecrated in the 1890s, fell through the tower. “They restored it to its additional place,” says Brown. “One of the best things [about] going through the sanctuary is ringing the bell on special occasions.” Water has cascaded down interior columns. A stained-glass window blew out in a storm two years ago. “But it’s pretty incredible to think, ‘Wow, those windows weathered every other storm over time,’” he says. ‘A little bit of love’ At 15 Chestnut St. in downtown Portland, Chestnut Street Church, dating to 1836, was repurposed by local restaurateur Anne Rutherford. She bought it in 2007 and created a restaurant called Grace, then converted it to an event venue. The restoration honored the structure — including historic stained-glass windows, woodwork, exposed beams and cathedral ceilings — while introducing updates. The property recently sold to Tanner Herget of Herget Group LLC, a Portsmouth, N.H., investment management firm. “Our plan is to preserve what makes the building so iconic while expanding the ways the community can use it — from private events to wellness classes, concerts, comedy nights and nonprofit fundraisers,” Herget says. Upgrades have included new paint and lights, renovation of bridal and groomsman suites, ceiling and crown molding repairs, HVAC and technology improvements. In Grace, Herget says he saw “a beautiful building that needed a little bit of love.” Adopt a window The Bridgton Historical Society has been renovating the 19th century United Methodist Church building, at 214 Main St. in the Cumberland County town, to serve as its new headquarters. Build-out includes a gallery and exhibit space on the main floor, museum shop and lobby in the entrance, and educational areas in the basement. Upgrades include the electrical and alarm systems. “This project is finding a new purpose and writing a new chapter for one of Bridgton’s most historical buildings while providing a new space for BHS to tell the stories of Bridgton residents from settlement through the 21st century,” Kerry Cushing, the society’s executive director, said last year. The church operated until 2019 when it closed for want of membership. The society acquired it in 2021 and began fundraising for improvements. The Carl M. Lindberg Family Foundation funded the acquisition and contributed to repairs and the society’s endowment. Twelve stained-glass windows placed in 1915 honor local families who contributed to construction or played important roles in the church’s history. Recent repairs and stabilization were a major undertaking. An “adopt a stained-glass window” campaign garnered donations covering the project, including the 1915 acknowledgements plus plaques acknowledging today’s donors. Fundraising is underway to create flex space in the basement. A July 3 grand opening is scheduled. Compared with the previous headquarters tucked onto a side street, the new one has great visibility. “This gives us a presence right on Main Street,” Cushing says. “We can have an education series, which we don’t have a space to do right now. This is going to be beneficial for the historical society.” Sweat equity My Place Teen Center, a nonprofit that provides youth services, has locations in two renovated churches — 755 Main St. in Westbrook and 75 Bacon St. in Biddeford. Renovations of the former St. Andre’s Church in Biddeford were completed last year. Partnerships with city leaders, contractors and community members made the renovation possible. Jim Godbout, the owner of Provencher Fuels and Jim Godbout Plumbing & Heating Inc. in Biddeford, is a longtime volunteer for the center and was general contractor on the project. He and his wife Lynn attended St. Andre’s for many years. “Her mother and grandmother were married and baptized there,” he says. Renovation of the church, dating back more than a century, began around 2020. The project addressed things like failing brick walls, slate-copper roof leaks, removing pigeons and several inches of bird waste, installing new mechanical systems, fixing the plasterwork and painting. Tables were made from reclaimed pew wood. The stained glass windows had previously been replaced by clear glass, but they weren’t sealed well. “We had to rebuild every window, a monumental job,” he says. “Some windows were 50, 60 feet high.” Dozens of volunteers and contractors worked on the project. “It took an enormous amount of community sacrifice and sweat equity,” he says. “We kept the core of the building, but rebuilt everything else and made it into one large venue.” Community center Godbout’s son, Jonathan Godbout, has begun planning a similar project in Waterville. The last mass at the former Sacred Heart Church, at 74 Pleasant St., was about 15 years ago, says Jonathan, a Waterville resident, Colby College graduate, technology executive and social entrepreneur. The adaptive reuse project will convert the century-old church into a mixed-use community center called Ticonic Commons while preserving its architectural character. The plan, pending code and planning approvals, is to turn the main sanctuary into a flexible, open-air-style indoor space for community events, performances, seasonal programming, and a place for families to simply hang out. Other areas will house a café, a commercial test kitchen, food stalls, basement performing arts studios, co-working space, and comfortable family gathering areas. Godbout acquired the property in 2025, self-financing the deal. “This project was inspired by my father’s project at St. Andre’s, which was my home parish as a kid,” he says. With his father as advisor and site managers Drake Zimba and Katya Shevchenko, the team includes experience in historic building redevelopment, creative housing finance and capital-raising. Godbout’s development company, Nova Nord, previously redeveloped a 10,000-square-foot building in Cincinnati, using historic tax credits. He became aware of Sacred Heart Church as a potential project through Dirigo Labs, a local entrepreneurship organization where Godbout has had various roles. Foundation funding has come in for the building’s basic upkeep while formal plans and a capital campaign are pulled together. “This is a church that has a lot of emotional attachment in the community,” he says. On the market A number of former churches are on the market. They include 98 Main St. in Madison, where the United Church of Christ held its last service in 2014. It has also housed a supper club and event hall, called Somerset Abbey. Listed in November 2025 for $650,000 by Pamela Cairnie at eXp Realty, the building includes a working bell tower, original stained-glass and vaulted ceilings. “A number of these beautiful old buildings have come on the market in recent months,” says Cairnie. She adds, “I’ve had a number of people say, ‘Please don’t sell it to someone who will tear it down.’ That tells me that the community is invested.” Motivated users Charles Hippler at CORE has two church listings. At 15 Green St. in Augusta, a former Methodist church that’s one of the city’s oldest buildings is marketed as a well-preserved historic property with a mix of architectural character and modern commercial functionality. At 17 Union St. in Hallowell, a former church built in 1824 has original stained and rippled glass, woodwork, bell and high ceilings. The property also has a detached parsonage and chapel that are now residences. “I’m the first private owner in its history,” says the seller, Matthew Rolnick, who bought the church in 2016 directly from the congregation, which moved to another location. Rolnick performed upgrades such as a new roof and rescued original pews that had been left in a field and original front doors from the basement. Today, it’s a residence and event center called the Happy Hollow. “It’s really three buildings for the price of one — a sanctuary, a chapel and a full house — each waiting for the right vision,” he says. “It deserves someone who loves it as much as I do.” Generally, Hippler finds the buildings were well-maintained throughout their history. Whether the seller is the congregation or a subsequent user, both groups take pride in the buildings, he says. The buyer pool could include housing developers, community groups, even other congregations. “Generally, they’re motivated to make something happen with these spaces,” he says. “Architecturally, these buildings are beautiful.”