A long-standing church in Point St. Charles is in desperate need of repair or it may be forced to close.
St. Gabriel's Parish needs its east tower fixed.
Built in 1890, the Catholic church on Centre St. was the first church built in Point St. Charles.
It now offers the community more than a place to pray.
“It's the outreach that we do,” explained Sister Diana Lieffers. “Whenever somebody is in need of something, they come here. No matter what it is. Sometimes they need furniture, they come and ask for that. Sometimes they just need to come and talk and they come,” she said.
Large cracks have formed on the crumbling east tower and there are concerns it may fall.
The repairs are estimated at about $300,000.
“We are using every mechanism we can. We're using gofundme, which is crowd funding. We're using can and bottles, we're using some of the kids to help us sell bricks,” said warden Mike Meagher.
The wall of the rectory that stands beside the church fell in March – more money is needed to fix that as well.
“We're in a poor district, so we're also a poor parish and we don't always have funds to fix things right away so sometimes it's just pushed. Just wait, wait, wait, so we are in great need right now,” said Lieffers, who has been the church's pastoral assistant for 41 years.
A few thousand dollars have been raised so far.
The church says the money needs to come before the cold.
“If we go past winter or even into winter, there could be problems and we could actually have stones falling,” said Meagher.
Heavily damaged by fire in 1956, the community came through to fix the church, but with a dwindling congregation, money is slow to trickle in.
“It's not enough. So we're asking people to help us out if we can. Even if it's $5, it's $5 we didn't have before,” said Lieffers. “If we can't raise funds and fix what needs to be fixed. The city can just come and close us down. That's what the big fear is.”
Lieffersm, however, prefers to see what's possible.
“I have lots of faith,” she said.
