WALTHAM, Mass. — His church started in his living room, growing steadily as it moved wherever it found space, from public parks, to a YMCA, to a former woodworking shop.

By 2002, the New Covenant Christian Church of Cambridge and the Rev. Thomas St. Louis knew more room was needed. Then the Boston Archdiocese's financial stress provided an opportunity for this Haitian-American congregation.

St. Louis' church now meets at the former St. Joseph Church, one of 44 church buildings shut down as 62 Roman Catholic parishes were dissolved in a broad consolidation in the Boston Archdiocese that began in 2004.

About half of the 26 church properties that have been sold are being used for new housing; eight were purchased by other churches, including New Covenant, a 400-member evangelical Protestant church.

Now when St. Louis delivers his sermons in Creole, he's preaching to empty pews that his church has a chance to fill.

"Honestly from my heart, I wish the Catholic church in Boston and greater Boston never had any problems to force the cardinal to sell those churches, because I know what those churches meant to the parish," St. Louis said, but added that a positive result is that "the church could be used again as a church."

Other churches with strong ethnic identities found homes in former Catholic properties, including another Haitian congregation, a Serbian Orthodox church and a Greek Orthodox Church.

Jubilee Christian Church in Boston, one of New England's largest churches, purchased Our Lady of the Rosary in Stoughton as a satellite for about 2,000 members who live in that area. Another Protestant congregation, Greater Faith Pentecostal Worship Center, bought St. Joseph in Boston's Hyde Park. The little-known Swedenborgian church purchased Our Lady Help of Christians in Concord. And a Nazarene congregation bought St. Alphonsus in Danvers.

"Obviously we would have preferred to continue to operate these as Catholic churches," said Terry Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese. But, he added, "in many cases, we have helped other congregations carry on many good works in communities, where they work to benefit people in need."

The church closings were prompted by declining attendance, a priest shortage and money woes brought on in part by the clergy sex-abuse scandal. When the archdiocese put its properties on the market, top price was a priority, but it wasn't the only factor. Community impact and planned use of the property were also considered.

For example, a proposal for a healthcare center at St. Boniface in Quincy was nixed because it could have involved counseling for abortion, which the church opposes. The property is now being used by a YMCA after-school program.

Fourteen of the 26 church buildings sold were slated for housing — ranging from subsidized units to luxury housing. Two other buildings were sold separately to Tufts University and Northeastern University. The former Immaculate Conception in Winchester is a daycare center and Asuncion in Lawrence was sold to be used for commercial space.

In one of the most controversial sales to date, one East Boston church was sold by the archdiocese for $850,000 to become a photography studio, then was quickly resold for a $1.8 million profit to the Universal Church. The deal raised questions about why the archdiocese had apparently undervalued the property so seriously.