Old Belgian church closing, turning into museum It's the latest closing as the church copes with a priest shortage For The News-Chronicle St. Mary's of the Snow, a Catholic parish established in 1860 to serve the growing Belgian settlement in southern Door County, has closed its doors for good. After a final service Sunday, the building no longer serves as a church and will begin a new career as a museum. The closing is largely a result of a widespread effort by leaders of the Catholic Church to resolve a shortage of parish priests needed to cover a large number of churches. "It's hard. It's very hard. We know it has to be done. We accept the fact that there are not enough priests. But we don't like to see this," said Theresa Alexander, a lifelong parishioner who grew up across the street from the church in Namur. "It's kind of the end of an era - a generation. It's an ending and it's hard for us to see this. But we have to be realistic and go on," Alexander said. She and her husband, Allen Alexander, grew up in separate homes near the church, attended confirmation and catechism classes there, were married there in 1957 and raised five sons under the ministry of the parish. "We've seen a lot of baptisms, confirmations, weddings and funerals here," said Allen Alexander, whose great-great-grandfather donated the land for the church. Closing the church "takes away from the community," said Christine Chaudoir, owner of Chris and Jack's Belgian Bar, which sits on State 57 adjacent to the rectory that stands next to the church. "Once your church closes, the community isn't going to be the same anymore," Chaudoir said. "We all felt so bad (when the closing was announced) because the church was all such a part of our lives. Especially living so close to the church," Chaudoir said. "Before, the priests always lived here and we got to know them all so well. They were like part of the family. The whole church was like an extended part of our family." Long-standing parishioners from the St. Mary's congregation share the sorrow of leaving the brick sanctuary that was built in 1893 to replace the original Namur church, which was built in 1875 and destroyed by fire in 1892.