Clémence Legros – The integration of local churches into local policies: public action between the management of local heritage and the reshaping of the relationship with religion

In France, 95% of Catholic churches are owned by local authorities. These buildings are therefore affected by changes in local public policy, particularly with regard to the management of public heritage. At the same time, as places of worship, churches are also affected by developments specific to the religious institution to which they are allocated. They thus act as interfaces between local public policy and the religious institution, revealing the shifting nature of their relationship. This thesis therefore examines the management of municipal churches by the local authorities that own them, and in particular their use in local public policy through local energy and cultural policies. It is structured around three main themes: firstly, an analysis of the development of national policy frameworks (financial, regulatory and organisational) concerning local public action by and in relation to municipal churches. The aim is to understand how the current treatment of municipal churches at national level encourages, constrains and shapes their use by the local authorities that own them. A second strand focuses on the design of public policy involving churches, examining both the characteristics of local authorities that engage their local churches in local initiatives, the process of designing local policy, and the influence of the buildings’ specific characteristics on this design. Finally, the third strand examines the latent effects produced by the political integration of churches, both on public policy in general, sector-specific policies in particular, and church-local authority relations. This project therefore aims to identify the conditions and reasons underlying the inclusion of parish churches in local public action, as well as its effects, in order to determine what the management and inclusion of these buildings in public action reveal about the relationship between public authorities and religious bodies.