It is because he wishes to have his future child, whose birth is planned for March, baptized in the church of Messein (Meurthe-et-Moselle) that Jean-Louis Olivry has decided to roll up his sleeves.
“And yet, I don’t know much about construction,” warns this 32-year-old soldier.
“I am a practicing Catholic and it bothered me to see no life in this almost abandoned church.
» He then contacted the mayor to discuss his project to renovate the building dating from the 18th century.
“There are almost no masses left, so the municipality did not see the point in taking care of it.
It wasn’t even a question of money,” explains the mayor, Daniel Lagrange.
Certainly, inside, there is no structural work to be undertaken, the place is healthy, but above all it is dilapidated.
“We can imagine the result and it will be a great satisfaction”
“The bell tower was invaded by pigeons, we recovered 4 m3 of droppings.
We are re-plastering the walls, redoing the paint and the benches,” explains Jean-Louis Olivry.
He has been on the job every weekend since the beginning of the month, surrounded by Serge, a 70-year-old former carpenter, responsible for the rails and flooring, and Michel, who takes care of the goldsmithing.
The latter is responsible for repainting the altar six hours a day, Monday to Friday.
“It’s meticulous work but we can already imagine the result and it will be a great satisfaction.
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The town hall of this town of some 2,000 people finances the supplies.
“It’s rare for residents to take on such a project.
It’s a great little team,” concludes the mayor, not a little proud.