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Assumption Church(Windsor, Ontario, Canada) , the oldest Catholic parish in Canada west of Montreal, may close due to mounting costs to repair crumbling walls, the church’s pastor said Thursday.
A report completed last week, based on a half year of exploratory work which ended in November, pegged the cost of repairs at $9.8 million, significantly higher than an earlier $6.1-million estimate.
Perhaps worse, the architectural report suggests that the outside walls should be repaired by no later than the end of 2009, lest falling pieces pose a danger to passers-by.
“It’s a real concern,” said Father Paul Walsh, who intends to discuss the situation further with his parishioners on the weekend. "At some point the building would have to be closed. Whether that happens two years from now or 10 years from now, who knows?
“But if no work is done then the damage will escalate. And at some point, pieces will start falling.”
Water damage worsens at the top of the building, where the stone cornice is visibly falling apart and pinnacles must be rebuilt.
Walsh said the Roman Catholic Diocese of London, which oversees churches in Windsor, cannot likely afford such a costly refurbishment.
“The funding resources are not at all clear,” Walsh said. “This is just a parish of 800 families. A parish of this size could be expected to raise only $1 million or $2 million, perhaps, if it’s a well-off parish. And the diocese has very serious financial considerations.”
The London Diocese has been closing and reorganizing churches in the wake of declining membership, a lack of priests, and settlements in recent sex-abuse lawsuits. The diocese’s outstanding debt includes half the projected $5.2-million cost of a restoration project for St. Peter’s cathedral in London and $1.2 million for its contribution to the Pope’s World Youth Day in Canada in 2002.
Larry Brennan, spokesman for the London Diocese, said the issue must be further investigated.
“This is a huge estimate, in terms of projected costs,” he said. “We just received the report. So we need to discuss it further internally. Then we need to meet with Father Walsh and parish representatives to fully investigate what our options are.”
Walsh thinks the church holds sufficient cultural and historic significance that senior levels of government should provide a lifeline. The parish, after all, started in 1728 in Detroit and moved briefly to Boblo Island, before settling in 1742 at its current site as a mission church for Huron natives - for which Huron Church Road was named.
It also formed the foundation for Assumption University, a forerunner of the University of Windsor.
With the oldest section of the current church completed in 1846, it is the fourth church built on the site, and is remarkable in the area for a number of reasons, including its age and size, given it can hold 900 people.
Details include figures of white stone carved into the altar, the ends of wooden pews in the sanctuary carved into angels, woodwork of vines carved into the altar backdrop, tiles decorated in fleur-de-lys and crosses, a painting from 1845, and the church’s oldest artifact: a wooden pulpit from the third church.
“Losing it would be hard to measure. It would be a tragedy,” Walsh said. “This is national heritage. It’s French Canadian and Canadian heritage dating back to the settlement of this area.”
MP Brian Masse (NDP - Windsor West) agrees the federal government should help preserve the building on cultural grounds.
“It’s a significant icon, not just locally but also for the country,” said Masse. "We’re the oldest European settlement in Canada west of Montreal. It was aboriginal, then French, then later British, and now multicultural. That parish has seen everything Canada has seen.
“It represents the history of Canada.”
MORE AT - canada.com/windsorstar/features/soundoff/story.html?id=10384cd4-4709-43ca-9257-5ba30d46e10c&k=65316
A report completed last week, based on a half year of exploratory work which ended in November, pegged the cost of repairs at $9.8 million, significantly higher than an earlier $6.1-million estimate.
Perhaps worse, the architectural report suggests that the outside walls should be repaired by no later than the end of 2009, lest falling pieces pose a danger to passers-by.
“It’s a real concern,” said Father Paul Walsh, who intends to discuss the situation further with his parishioners on the weekend. "At some point the building would have to be closed. Whether that happens two years from now or 10 years from now, who knows?
“But if no work is done then the damage will escalate. And at some point, pieces will start falling.”
Water damage worsens at the top of the building, where the stone cornice is visibly falling apart and pinnacles must be rebuilt.
Walsh said the Roman Catholic Diocese of London, which oversees churches in Windsor, cannot likely afford such a costly refurbishment.
“The funding resources are not at all clear,” Walsh said. “This is just a parish of 800 families. A parish of this size could be expected to raise only $1 million or $2 million, perhaps, if it’s a well-off parish. And the diocese has very serious financial considerations.”
The London Diocese has been closing and reorganizing churches in the wake of declining membership, a lack of priests, and settlements in recent sex-abuse lawsuits. The diocese’s outstanding debt includes half the projected $5.2-million cost of a restoration project for St. Peter’s cathedral in London and $1.2 million for its contribution to the Pope’s World Youth Day in Canada in 2002.
Larry Brennan, spokesman for the London Diocese, said the issue must be further investigated.
“This is a huge estimate, in terms of projected costs,” he said. “We just received the report. So we need to discuss it further internally. Then we need to meet with Father Walsh and parish representatives to fully investigate what our options are.”
Walsh thinks the church holds sufficient cultural and historic significance that senior levels of government should provide a lifeline. The parish, after all, started in 1728 in Detroit and moved briefly to Boblo Island, before settling in 1742 at its current site as a mission church for Huron natives - for which Huron Church Road was named.
It also formed the foundation for Assumption University, a forerunner of the University of Windsor.
With the oldest section of the current church completed in 1846, it is the fourth church built on the site, and is remarkable in the area for a number of reasons, including its age and size, given it can hold 900 people.
Details include figures of white stone carved into the altar, the ends of wooden pews in the sanctuary carved into angels, woodwork of vines carved into the altar backdrop, tiles decorated in fleur-de-lys and crosses, a painting from 1845, and the church’s oldest artifact: a wooden pulpit from the third church.
“Losing it would be hard to measure. It would be a tragedy,” Walsh said. “This is national heritage. It’s French Canadian and Canadian heritage dating back to the settlement of this area.”
MP Brian Masse (NDP - Windsor West) agrees the federal government should help preserve the building on cultural grounds.
“It’s a significant icon, not just locally but also for the country,” said Masse. "We’re the oldest European settlement in Canada west of Montreal. It was aboriginal, then French, then later British, and now multicultural. That parish has seen everything Canada has seen.
“It represents the history of Canada.”
MORE AT - canada.com/windsorstar/features/soundoff/story.html?id=10384cd4-4709-43ca-9257-5ba30d46e10c&k=65316
