KEARNEY, Ont. - Everyone’s heard of seeking a second opinion for medical issues, but it turns out it can also be good for the health of a parish.
St. Patrick’s parish in Ontario’s cottage country did exactly that and today they are celebrating the completion of a restoration project that had seemed a distant dream not so long ago.
Built by Irish lumbermen in 1904, St. Patrick’s is a heritage-designated church that, engineers had said, required $700,000 worth of repairs in order to re-open after being closed for five years. The parish has just 25 permanent families and “swells” to 39 families in summer. A fund-raising drive under Fr. John Albao started strong but slowed down well short of its ambitious target.
According to one parishioner, “Fr. Albao went out every day for two years praying at the church’s outdoor Marian shrine for assistance.”
His prayers were answered one day at Holy Spirit Church in nearby Burks Falls where he met a parishioner named Brian Peever, the owner of a masonry business.
“We got to talking and he told me he had a special feel for St. Patrick’s,” Albao said.
When Peever heard about the stalled restoration project he offered to get another estimate from an engineering colleague. That estimate came in at just $89,500 for the major structural work. Other improvements required an additional $60,000, so the original project cost of $700,000 was reduced to about $150,000.
Buoyed by this unexpected news, the parish fundraising drive was invigorated and enough money was found to repair the beams, posts, pillars and exterior masonry. Toronto’s Portuguese community had already covered the $20,000 cost for a new roof. So the church was recently re-opened.
Peever has long ties to St. Patrick’s.
“My wife and I were married there,” he said. “My son was baptized there. My father-in-law is buried there and I plan to be buried there.”
When asked if he had given the church a special rate for the work, Peever replied, “No, it was an honest quote. It was what I would have given to anyone for similar work.”
With the major work complete, all that’s left is finishing a wheelchair ramp and reinforcing the steps to the choir loft.
“The response of our regular and summer visitors has been so generous,” Albao. “It is not me who has done this. It is the loyal parishioners.”