Quebec City's St-Jean Baptiste church could become genealogy centre

A beloved Quebec City church that was forced to close its doors last year may be getting a second life.

gliseSt-Jean Baptiste, located on St-Jean Street in the heart of the city, could house a genealogy centre for francophones across North America.

• Quebec City's 134-year-old St-Jean Baptiste church to close its doors

Built in 1881, the parish held its last mass in May 2015 because it couldn't afford the $10 million in necessary renovations.

Espacesolidairehopes to not only open a digitalgenealogy centre, but alsoto reopen the closedcommunity spaces and develop a welcome centre.

"We want to keep the space in the basement for the community," said Marc Chamberlandof Espacesolidaire.

"It's in the core of our project, it needs to be there."

The organization also hopes to work with the parish to resume mass, if the project is given the go-ahead.

The City of Quebec has provided a$45,000 subsidy to Espace solidaire to conduct a feasibility report.

Chamberland says the centre could also become a cultural hub for tourists of French-Canadian descent.

"There are about 14 million people who are of French-Canadian descent in the northeastUnited States," Chamberland said."We want to track them to come and walk back in the steps and paths of their ancestors in Quebec."