ABSTRACT
Drawing from the religious auditory culture developed in early 20th-century Montréal, when a large number of sizable Roman Catholic churches were built, this chapter explores the profound rooting of churches’ sonic realms in collective and individual memories. It considers the links between acoustic and anthropological dimensions of churches’ sonic environments through the phenomenology of memory and the notion of sound effect. Our empirical survey into ‘post-secular’ Montréal highlights the complex interactions between the symbolic and experiential aspects of church soundscapes. Their significances, as well as their affective or spiritual connotations, are entangled with physical and kinaesthetic impacts on the body. In this regard, sound effects that are independent from worship activity help to create a specific spatio-temporal setting that provides leads for re-thinking new uses and physical interventions for redundant church buildings.
