Louise LeBlanc grew up in the small community of St. Bernard, NS, and remembers how the great Gothic church was the pride of the Acadian community and the center of many of his family’s milestones.
“My sisters and brothers got married at church,” she said. “My brothers and sisters were baptized in that church. He was really a part of us.”
With declining population, declining attendance and a building that needs a lot of repairs, these community traditions will end on Sunday when the iconic church is deconsecrated.
The purpose of deconsecration is to disable the building as a church or for profane use.
LeBlanc said a flood of memories is expected on Sunday.
“I’m definitely going to look at where our bench was in the church and where my whole family was sitting and thinking, you know, it’s the passage of time,” he said.
Louise LeBlanc grew up around the church and says it was an important part of her family’s life. (Denise LeBlanc)
“I think for us as Acadians, we don’t want to see the church go, but we’re also very realistic and understand that there’s no way a community our size can keep the church going.”
The idea for the church was conceived by the neighbor Edouard LeBlanc, who became rector of the parish in 1907.
The apex of the Gothic ceiling rises to 21.5 meters above the ground. (Vernon Ramesar / CBC)
According to Louise LeBlanc, the chaplain had a “great” idea of building a church that resembled European churches and got the community behind it.
The first stone of the structure was laid in 1910 and the community spent the next 32 years completing it.
A church booklet said more than 8,000 blocks of granite were dragged by oxen from Shelburne to the site for 20 years and cut with hand tools.
The imposing building is 65 meters long, 28 meters wide in the transept, and the apex of the Gothic ceiling rises to 21.5 meters above the ground.
The imposing structure was completed in 1942 after 32 years of work by members of the Acadian community. (Vernon Ramesar / CBC)
Despite the old appearance of the building, the walls are supported by steel beams and what appears to be a stone roof is, in fact, plaster on a metal mesh.
“I guess there’s a sense of pride in this church … because people built it,” LeBlanc said.
“My grandparents who were fishermen, who were farmers and other things, actually came and did the masonry work and, and the hard blood, the sweat and the tears to build that church.”
During its heyday, LeBlanc said there were two masses on the weekends with more than a thousand people each. When COVID-19 arrived, he said about 35 people were attending a weekend Mass.
In the years immediately before the pandemic, masses were held in the basement because it had become too expensive to heat the entire building, LeBlanc said.
CBC Radio reported Friday morning that the small congregation simply could not afford the heating and repairs needed to keep the church running.
There are currently areas where the gypsum covering the slats that make up the roof is collapsing as water seeps into the structure.
Water is seeping into the roof and causing damage to the gypsum roof. (Vernon Ramesar / CBC)
LeBlanc said it would cost millions to return the church to its original glory and the decision was made after consultation with the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth.
Describing the church as a “centerpiece of the community,” Rev. Robert Doyle, deacon of the Archdiocese of Halifax, said it was a sad day and that desecrating the church was not an easy decision.
Doyle said there would be a liturgy that people in the area could attend. In the end, people will leave, and the doors will close.
“Any religious items that can be removed will be removed,” Doyle said.
Akkadian flags were highlighted inside the church. (Vernon Ramesar / CBC)
“The altar itself would not necessarily be removed during the liturgy, but would soon be removed from the church or destroyed. If it is a fixed element, it will be destroyed so that it will not be used again.”
He said sacred objects like statues will be removed.
LeBlanc is accepting the fate of the church.
“You can’t think of church as religion,” he said. “The church is a building. You just bring your religion to that church.”
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