By Craig Westcott \ May 18, 2023
A group of volunteers in Cape Broyle who are raising money to buy their community church are pleased with the support they're getting along the shore, and are fully aware of the financial obligation they are taking on, says Wayne Kenney, a spokesperson for the group.
Immaculate Conception Church is among the long list of Roman Catholic Church properties being sold to pay settlements to some of the victims of sexual and physical abuse at Mount Cashel Orphanage. Kenney said the parishioners and members of the Cape Broyle Church fully support compensation for the victims.
"We are 100 per cent behind the support the victims are getting now," Kenney said. "We're not trying to lowball our bid, or trying to keep anybody else from supporting the victims... And we feel that the contribution we're making by buying this church is going to the right people, it's going to the victims of Mount Cashel."
Under the stipulations of an agreement between the foundation and the Archdiocese, the Cape Broyle group can't say how much they are paying for the building.
"The church still hasn't been settled away quite yet," said Kenney. "We have an offer in that has been tentatively accepted, but financing and all the other paperwork that needs to be done hasn't been completed yet. So, we are (still) in the process of buying the church.”
Kenney said to the best of his knowledge, the foundation was the only bidder for Immaculate Conception. He describes it as beautiful inside with "priceless" stained glass windows donated by local families. But he allowed it would be a big expense for most people to take on. The church needs a bathroom, upgrades to the windows and wiring, new insulation, and the wood in the bell tower needs to be replaced. The bell is actually situated on a steel stand outside the church, but is still rung on special occasions.
"It's an old building and it needs a lot of work, but it's something we're willing to do over time," Kenney said. "It's a lifetime of work. There's obviously no way of getting it all done the one time, but over time, over many years I would assume, by the time we finish doing the last thing, the first thing will need to be redone."
The people of Cape Broyle built Immaculate Conception themselves in the 1940s. Local men cut and milled the timbers for it, the community's fishermen donated part of their wages, and the women raised money by selling dried fish. The first Mass in the building was Christmas Eve 1947. The building replaced an earlier church that has since been converted into Cape Broyle's community hall.
"Everything went to the church, to build the church," said Kenney. "It would be a terrible thing to lose it. Just the significance of the forefathers of this community building it and worshipping there since 1947, it would be an absolute sin to lose it at this stage through something that's no fault of the community."
The church is still used for Mass every weekend. With parishes on the Southern Shore being reorganized, Cape Broyle worshippers are hoping they will be able to keep their parish priest, Fr. Joe Morz, or at least get to share one.
"We do hold other things in the church," said Kenney. "We held a community concert there Christmas, we held quilt shows there for Come Home Year last summer. So, we're trying to utilize it more than a Sunday morning, Saturday evening church service. We want it to be there for baptisms and we want it to be there to say goodbye to our loved ones. It's not like you're going to use it everyday, but when you need the church, we want it available to the community."
Kenney said the people of Cape Broyle have been maintaining the Church and paying the power bills on it since at least the 1970s. Most of the members of the church committee are still working, Kenney noted, and maintaining day jobs while devoting increasing amounts of time to the needs of the building.
The announcement that the church would be sold came as a surprise, but not a shock.
"I would say the biggest emotion was disappointment," Kenney said. "You sort of felt the Archdiocese was only holding the church for us in trust. Even though it's in their name, it's our church. And then to be turned around and told that everything you put into it is not yours and you have no rights to it? It's disappointing."
Since then, the foundation put its finances in a position to be able to take on the burden of a mortgage and entered the bidding process. “We made several bids and were refused several times," said Kenney.
The property was listed at $189,900 initially.
"Obviously the little community of Cape Broyle cannot afford that," Kenney said. "We were well aware as a committee what we could afford, because once it was all said and done, the church had to be paid for... So, we bided our time and we only bid what we thought we could afford to pay after the process was done."
After several bids, the latest one was tentatively accepted.
"The survey has to be done for the lot," Kenney said. "And then I guess it's up to the real estate (agents) when they want it closed and how they want to do it. We're just following along as we're being told what to do."
Kenney said the group is working really hard to raise money. It has a GoFundMe page on the internet, holds a weekly Chase the Ace lottery at Riverside Lounge, and stages an occasional concert to bring in donations. This Sunday, the organizers of the Chase the Ace will turn over the 14th card in the deck. The jackpot is estimated to be around $3,000. The Go Fund Me page is at https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-our-church-for-our-community.
"We're slowly getting there, I must say. I'm very pleased," said Kenney. "We're a small community with a small population base and we totally understand that people can only give what they can give."
Kenney said people along other parts of the shore, who are also struggling to keep their churches in some cases, have been more than generous with financial advice and encouragement.
"The support is great, we couldn't ask for more," Kenney said. "The road is a long road... But we are very determined that the church will stay in the community... It's the focal point of this community and has been since 1947. We just want to keep what's ours.”
