ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways in which the Centro leaders (re)define the role of their organization in the face of the ebb and flow of London Italian life. It proposes to unpack the ways in which the Centro and its church are defined as cultural objects; not only as spaces of belonging, but as places that belong to Italians. The Centro Scalabrini of London is part of the Scalabrini congregation, an Italian missionary order founded in 1887 to minister mainly to Italian emigrants and their descendants around the world. Gaetano Parolin argues that 'ethnic churches' place less emphasis on religious beliefs and more on the possibility of expressing beliefs in a way familiar and habitual to immigrants. In order for a place to be recognized as a 'habitual space', some kind of 'architecture of reassurance' is required.
